In St. Louis, community exposure feared after person with COVID-19 kept going to work
The second person to test positive on a preliminary basis for the new coronavirus in St. Louis continued to go to work while exhibiting symptoms, the city’s mayor said.
In a statement on Twitter, St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson said there was reason to believe there was community exposure to the virus.
“While we still don’t have any detected signs of community transmission at this time, this case underscores the importance of what our healthcare professionals have been telling us,” Krewson said.
The person is now said to be in self-quarantine. The mayor urged anyone with symptoms to seek medical attention and not go to work.
The second St. Louis case brought the number of people infected with COVID-19 in Missouri to 17.
Two people in eastern Jackson County, including a woman in her 80s who had not recently traveled, have tested positive for the virus.
On Tuesday evening, Gov. Mike Parson said state officials were expanding capabilities to test people for the new virus.
He also said he would not order schools, restaurants or bars to close as governors in some other states have.
Nationwide, more than 7,300 cases were confirmed and 115 deaths had been reported by Wednesday afternoon, according to a database maintained by Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there were more than 211,000 cases and 8,724 deaths.
