The novel coronavirus outbreak that is spreading across the world, and has killed six people in Washington, may be confirmed in Clark County by midweek.

On Monday, Clark County Public Health sent seven specimens for testing to Washington’s Public Health Laboratories in Shoreline. Public Health is supposed to receive test results today or Wednesday. Three more specimens that were collected at PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview were sent to the state for testing. One test has returned negative, and the other two are pending.

The seven Clark County people don’t have recent travel history or known exposures to any confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19, according to an email from Clark County Public Health Public Information Officer Marissa Armstrong.

That means those cases have met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s testing criteria for people without known exposures, Armstrong said. In order to be tested without known exposures, people need to have a subjective or confirmed fever with a severe acute lower respiratory infection, such as pneumonia, requiring hospitalization and no other explained diagnosis, such as influenza, according to the CDC.

Hospitals preparing

Five of the county’s specimens were collected at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, said Dr. Lawrence Neville, chief medical officer.