El Dorado County resident tests positive for coronavirus on trip to relatives, officials say
El Dorado County authorities have announced the first confirmed case of coronavirus in a resident there, but said Friday morning that the infected person was exposed while visiting family in a different California county and has not yet returned.
The county in a news release said a female resident of El Dorado County traveled to an unspecified county in Central California and “was visiting sick family members” when symptoms arose. It was not specified whether the family members were believed to have been suffering from COVID-19 or another illness.
“She is fully recovered from mild symptoms and has remained in the Central Valley,” the news release said. “Health officials are monitoring the case.”
With that disclosure, all four jurisdictions in the four-county Sacramento region — Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado counties — have reported cases of the potentially deadly virus.
“Given the rapidly increasing number of confirmed cases in our region and across California, we have expected and prepared for the inevitability of a confirmed case in an El Dorado County resident,” El Dorado County’s public health officer, Dr. Nancy Williams, said in a prepared statement.
“It’s safe to say that more residents will test positive, even in light of the shelter in place directive I issued and the statewide directive issued by Governor (Gavin) Newsom,” Williams continued. “But it’s important to remember that most people who become sick with coronavirus will recover on their own.”
As of early Friday afternoon, Sacramento County had confirmed 53 cases and reported three coronavirus deaths; Placer County reports nine infections and one death; and Yolo County reports five cases with no deaths, but says the most recent patient is an elderly person who is hospitalized in critical condition.
A survey count by McClatchy based on county public health officials statewide showed more than 910 total confirmed cases across California and a total of 18 deaths as of Friday morning.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 11:00 AM.
