OMAHA, Nebraska - The Douglas County Health Department is reporting the first local COVID-19 coronavirus case caused by community spread. That's a case that is not connected to travel or to a person who traveled.
The case is a woman in her 60s who was first reported as a travel-related case on Friday, but medical investigators determined that the woman had the symptoms before she traveled.
Douglas County Health says the woman was tested for influenza by her doctor. That test was negative.
Then she was tested for respiratory infections, but that came back negative.
Then came the coronavirus test. Positive for COVID-19. She received final confirmation of the test results on Saturday.
Two more cases of coronavirus are now confirmed in Douglas County, both travel-related. One case is a man in his 50s who just returned from Spain and the other is a man in his 30s who came from Singapore. Both are in isolation but not hospitalized.
The Health Department is advising the public of another possible low-level exposure site at the Athletic Club at 200 South 31st Avenue between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on March 12. Anyone who may have been there been asked to self-monitor for 14-days. This possible exposure site is related to one of the travel cases
Douglas County is now at 15 confirmed cases.
Governor Pete Ricketts reminds the public to stock 2 weeks of food in case of quarantine.
The governor says if a second community spread case is confirmed, rules limiting group gatherings to 20-50 people will go into effect. Right now, groups of no more than 250 are recommended.