When a man with a persistent fever showed up at Providence Regional Medical Center Jan. 20 the 35 year old probably wasn't the only person in America with COVID-19, but he was the first doctors know about.
The man had just come back from Wuhan, China. Nurses suited up in protective gear to care for him inside an isolation unit and a team of contact tracers started searching for the people he'd crossed paths with since arriving at Sea-Tac Airport.
Public health traced dozens of people who’d had close contact with this patient zero and didn’t come across any secondary cases. Health officials assured the public the risk was low.
Dr. Chris Spitters, the health officer with Snohomish Health District, said at that point no one realized the virus had gotten loose before that first patient was isolated.See Full Article
