https://nypost.com/2020/03/13/how-coronavirus-was-transmitted-in-first-person-to-person-case-in-us/
This article provided a detailed account of how the first person-to-person transmission of the virus occurred.
The individual had contact with hundreds of people who tested negative for the virus, indicating that transmission is more likely through close, extended contact, not through brief or casual interactions.
This article provided a detailed account of how the first person-to-person transmission of the virus occurred.
The first case of person-to-person coronavirus transmission in the US happened when a woman who traveled from China to Illinois in mid-January likely passed on the bug to her husband through “prolonged, unprotected contact,” new research reveals.
The woman, in her 60s, traveled to Wuhan on Christmas Day and returned to Illinois on Jan. 13, according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet.
While In Wuhan, she regularly visited a hospitalized relative and other family members who were ill.
None of them had laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, but it’s unclear if any were tested.
Back at home, she went to an outpatient clinic for fever, fatigue and a cough — and was hospitalized that day for pneumonia.
She reported to medical professionals that her symptoms began as early as six days before admission, according to the findings.
Researchers learned that she had “frequent, close contact” with her husband — who had not traveled to Wuhan — on each of those days, while she had an active cough. She was also suffering from nausea, abdominal discomfort and dizziness.
The individual had contact with hundreds of people who tested negative for the virus, indicating that transmission is more likely through close, extended contact, not through brief or casual interactions.
Researchers identified 347 people who may have had contact with the couple — 195 health-care personnel and 152 community members who may been in their presence.
Forty-three people did develop symptoms and became “persons under investigation,” but no one tested positive for the virus, the study found.
The findings suggest that the virus transmits most easily through extended contact with infected people, not brief, casual interactions, Dr. Jennifer Layden, the chief medical officer of the Chicago Department of Public Health and co-leader of the research, told CNN.