"It’s nothing we can’t get through," the mayor said.

QUINCY — The City of Quincy has its first coronavirus case.

City officials confirmed Monday that a Quincy woman in her 40s is Quincy's first case of the coronavirus. The number of presumed positive cases in the state has jumped to 40 in Massachusetts, Quincy Health Commissioner Ruth Jones said at city council 's Monday night meeting, and 10 of those people reside in Norfolk County.

Like a majority of the state's cases, the Quincy woman was infected at a Biogen employee conference in Boston last month. She "appears to have had little community exposure since falling ill," and has no connection to Quincy Public Schools, said Mayor Thomas Koch in a statement. The woman is recovering at home.

"This is nothing unexpected or unanticipated, and the threat to the general public remains quite low," Koch said. "That does not mean we do not take it seriously, and we are confirming this local case to provide as much information to our residents as possible."

Quincy has had dozens of residents self-quarantine as a precaution over the last month, but this is its first presumptive positive for a resident. A presumptive positive means the patient tested positive for coronavirus in a state lab, but will not be a "confirmed case" until the tests are verified by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since the onset of the coronavirus, local health departments have been monitoring residents who returned from China and Iran with a 14-day self-isolation period.

As of Monday, 35 other people remain in quarantine in Quincy. None of them have symptoms, officials say.

“The public discourse can sometimes be heavily weighted to the two extremes, and that’s what we are going to avoid," Koch added. "There is no reason to overreact and amplify fears people may have, but at the same time, our residents and families should be prepared for some level of disruption to their daily lives in the coming weeks. It’s nothing we can’t get through."

The new coronavirus, also called COVID-19, is an illness that has affected more than 100,000 people worldwide and killed more than 3,000. The coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, in December and causes pneumonia-like respiratory symptoms including fever, cough and shortness of breath.

In the city's statement, Quincy Health Commissioner Ruth Jones asked residents to remember that symptoms have been relatively minor to date.

"We do not ring alarm bells. We protect the health and well-being of our residents. That mission doesn’t change," she said.

So far, the World Health Organization says the virus has a death rate of about 3 percent and, like the flu, is more likely to affect the elderly or those with underlying medical conditions. Last week, The Patriot Ledger spoke to Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health Systems, who said the severe "social and financial disruption" is what makes coronavirus seem more prevalent than other illnesses.

"In many ways, it seems that most of the measures taken may be disproportionate to what this virus does to people," Ellerin said. "But nonetheless, it is highly contagious. We don't have background immunity to it. We don't have a vaccine. We don't have antivirals, and if you are immunocompromised or elderly, it can kill you. So we're trying to do our best."

Reach Mary Whitfill at mwhitfill@patriotledger.com.