Officials: 1st suspected case of coronavirus in NYC, 1 case in Boston

New York City’s first suspected case of the coronavirus is at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, according to the city health department, and a Boston man has tested positive for the virus in Massachusetts, the first case in that state, health officials said Saturday.

The United States has eight reported cases of the virus, including the one in Boston and one in California announced Friday. There are about 14,000 cases of the virus around the world, with 305 deaths.

The Manhattan patient is younger than 40, had recently traveled from China — the epicenter of the virus — and has symptoms including fever and cough, or shortness of breath without another cause such as the flu or another cold virus, the city health department said. 

At a press briefing Saturday night at Bellevue, where the patient was hospitalized, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city health department, upon a positive diagnosis, would seek to identify and connect with anyone who had “substantial” contact with the patient.

He urged people who had symptoms — fever, cough, shortness of breath or otherwise feeling unwell and had traveled to China or had contact with someone who had — to seek medical help immediately.

“I have to emphasize ‘immediately,’ ” de Blasio said.

City Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said the patient was in stable condition and doing well.

She also said it wasn't too late in the flu season to get a flu shot if you hadn't already done so.

The testing of the patient at Bellevue won’t be completed for another 36 hours at the earliest, the health department said.

De Blasio said the episode brought back memories of the Ebola outbreak — though it’s not as serious. “It is very frightening, but it’s not Ebola,” de Blasio said.

Bellevue also handled the first case of Ebola to come to New York in 2014.

De Blasio said care would be free for people who couldn’t afford to pay for it.

The virus is spread by droplets, such as coughs or sneezes by someone who doesn’t cover his mouth — not like measles, which is airborne, Barbot said. She said it was likely to be transmitted in a household, not on the subway or bus.

The person was not staying with family or friends and had come from China, de Blasio said.

“We know for sure they were not staying with any individual here in New York City,” de Blasio said.

The health commissioner hopes New York City will be able to test for the virus — without help from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta — within a week or two.

Barbot said, if there's a positive diagnosis, the city’s “disease detectives” would retrace the individual’s steps. She said the patient would “in very excruciating detail, account for every single 15-minute interval” since waking up, sharing eating utensils, kissing, etc."

“We get into the very nitty-gritty,” she said.

New York City was notified early Saturday that the patient had presented very late Friday night with coronavirus symptoms. The patient had been in the United States for two days before developing symptoms, Barbot said.

De Blasio said he hoped the federal government would help to pay to cope with the virus fallout if necessary.

The health commissioner said there was no cure for this virus. She suggested it was possible there were people who hadn’t been diagnosed, particularly in China, but were infected with the virus.

De Blasio urged the CDC to speed the authorization for the city to do the test, so it doesn’t have to be sent to Atlanta, as is happening with this patient, who came to the hospital by ambulance. 

“We asked for it a week ago. We’re still asking for it. They better pull out all the stops," he said.

Michael Lanza, a city health department spokesman, declined to provide other details about the patient, such as gender or exact age.

 The Boston man, who is in his 20s and a student at the University of Massachusetts Boston, recently traveled to Wuhan, China, and sought medical care soon after his return to Massachusetts, according to that state's Department of Public Health and the Boston Public Health Commission. They said they were notified by the CDC of the positive test results late Friday.

The student is being kept in isolation at his home until he is cleared by public health officials, which is safer than transferring him and potentially exposing others in a hospital setting, they said in a conference call with reporters Saturday.

The student returned to Boston's Logan International Airport from China on Tuesday and went to a medical facility the next day, said Dr. Jennifer Lo, medical director at the Boston Public Health Commission.

Lo would not say where the man lives due to privacy concerns, but said he doesn't live in a dormitory and did not participate in any university activities after returning to the country. He's doing “quite well” at home and public health nurses are checking on his condition regularly, Lo added.

With AP

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.