Sacramento County Monitoring At Least 20 People Who May Have Been In Contact With Coronavirus Patients

Update, Feb. 29: The UC Davis student tested for coronavirus disease COVID-19 had a negative result and has been released from isolation.

Officials in Sacramento and Yolo counties are monitoring patients after an announcement Wednesday that the first potential case of community transited COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, was being treated in Sacramento County.

UC Davis confirmed early Thursday the patient, a resident of Solano County, was being treated at its medical center in Sacramento. 

Solano County has declared a local emergency. However, the California Department of Public Health said that risk to the public remains low.

Sacramento County health officials confirmed Thursday it has four of the 33 positive coronavirus cases in the state. 

Only the patient at UC Davis Medical Center is showing symptoms, according to a county official. The other three are asymptomatic and have had no close contact with the public. Two are under isolation orders and one is under self-quarantine. The individuals must be approved for release by the Sacramento County Department of Health Services.

The majority of coronavirus cases in the United States, 45 of 60, were contracted overseas. 

Approximately 20 people are currently quarantined and under supervision of Sacramento County Department of Health Services in connection to the patient being treated at UC Davis Medical Center, according to Sacramento County spokesperson Brenda Bongiorno. 

The quarantine is self-imposed. Bongiorno said the individuals are asymptomatic and were placed in quarantine “out of an abundance of caution.” All are hospital care workers.

Meanwhile, UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said in a statement that, while no one in Yolo County or on the UC Davis campus has tested positive for COVID-19, three people who had been living at UC Davis' Kearney Hall were in isolation, and one was being tested for the disease. May said there were no plans to cancel classes.

CPDH Director Dr. Sonia Angell said Thursday there is no evidence the case at UC Davis Medical Center is connected to the group of people brought into Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, though the patient is a Solano County resident. 

She added that the state is actively in communication with anyone who may have come into contact with this patient, but stressed that risk for the general Solano County population and other California residents is still low. 

In Sacramento County, Los Rios Community College announced two students who work as medical professionals, one each from American River College and Cosumnes River College, were exposed off-campus to someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. County health officials believe there is no risk of potential exposure at either campus.

The two students were advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and notify the county if they experience symptoms.