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A respiratory infection that has killed six people and caused hundreds more to fall ill has reached the Pacific Northwest.
Last Wednesday, the Seattle Times reported, a man infected with the Wuhan coronavirus flew into the Seattle-Tacoma airport. At the time, he did not have symptoms. But on Sunday, he went to his doctor with pneumonia symptoms.
A day later he tested positive for coronavirus and was hospitalized at the Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington—roughly four hours north of Portland.
Seattle Times reports that the man is a Snohomish County, Washington resident and that he is "in good condition and isn't considered a threat to medical staff or the public." The individual, who is in his 30s, had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, where officials say the outbreak originated.
The mysterious coronavirus was first linked to workers at a market that sold live fish and other animals, but Chinese scientists now say the infection is capable of passing from person to person.
Symptoms of the illness include difficulty breathing, high fever and flu or cold symptoms.