OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Hospital officials say an evacuee from the virus zone in China being held in quarantine in Nebraska who had developed a mild cough has tested negative for a new virus that has infected more than 67,000 people globally.
The woman is one of 57 US evacuees being quarantined at a Nebraska National Guard training base just southwest of Omaha. She was taken Friday to a special isolated unit of an Omaha medical center to undergo testing after developing a mild cough. Officials with Nebraska Medicine said Saturday that tests came back negative for COVID-19.
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OMAHA, NEB. (AP) — ONE of 57 evacuees from the virus zone in China who is being held in quarantine in Nebraska was transported Friday to a special isolation unit of an Omaha medical center to undergo testing after developing a mild cough overnight.
Officials with Nebraska Medicine said the woman's symptoms are “extremely mild” and that she did not have a fever when she was taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus' federally funded National Quarantine Unit. The woman had samples taken Friday out of an abundance of caution," officials said, and the samples will be tested for COVID-19.
The unit is separate from any of the buildings on campus where patients receive care.
The group of evacuees was flown into to Omaha on Feb. 7 and is be quarantined at a Nebraska National Guard training base just southwest of Omaha.
In addition, a second wave of flu is hitting the U.S., turning this into one of the nastiest seasons for children in a decade. Health officials Friday said 92 flu-related deaths have already been reported in children. Experts say it is potentially a bad time for an extended flu season, given concerns about the new coronavirus out of China.
If the coronavirus starts spreading in the U.S., there could be confusion about whether people are getting sick with it or the flu. But health officials are trying to use labs that test for flu to check for coronavirus, too.