photo by: Chris Conde

LMH Health is pictured in a file photo from October 2018.

A potential case of coronavirus being treated at LMH Health remained unconfirmed Friday.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported Tuesday that the patient, later identified as male, is a Douglas County resident. KDHE said in a statement at the time that specimens would be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing and that results were expected “later this week.” Efforts were underway to identify people with whom the individual had been in contact.

KDHE spokeswoman Kristi Zears said in an email to the Journal-World Friday afternoon that the KDHE would send out a news release once the results of the test were known. KDHE had not sent a press release as of Friday evening and Zears did not immediately respond regarding when the KDHE expected the test results to be available.

The CDC has confirmed seven cases of coronavirus in four states: Washington, California, Arizona and Illinois. The CDC has tested about 250 cases in the U.S., with about half of those tests being negative and the other half with results still pending, according to the CDC’s website.

Local health officials have confirmed that the Douglas County patient is being treated at the Lawrence hospital. On Tuesday, LMH Health spokeswoman Amy Northrop said the hospital received a patient with symptoms of a respiratory illness and that the patient had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, where the first case of the respiratory disease was identified. The patient, who was described as “not severely ill,” was put in an isolation room specifically designed for disease prevention.

Chinese health officials have reported about 10,000 infections in China and more than 200 deaths, and the virus is reportedly spreading from person to person in many parts of the country, according to the CDC’s website. Infections have also been reported in about 25 other countries, most of them associated with travel from Wuhan. The U.S. reported the first confirmed instance of person-to-person spread of the virus on Thursday.

As the virus continued to spread in China and beyond, the World Health Organization on Thursday declared a global health emergency. The U.S. has also taken several steps to deter the spread of the virus.

The U.S. State Department has warned Americans not to travel to China, issuing its highest advisory against travel to the country. On Friday, the U.S. government declared the coronavirus a public health emergency and announced that those returning to the U.S. from the affected area of China must undergo 14 days of mandatory quarantine, according to national media reports.

The CDC states the complete clinical picture regarding the infection is still not clear. Reported illnesses have ranged from infected people with little to no symptoms to people being severely ill and dying. Symptoms can include fever, cough and shortness of breath. The CDC believes at this time that symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 14 days after exposure.