ST. LOUIS — The City of St. Louis has its first confirmed case of COVID-19.
Mayor Lyda Krewson and Dr. Fredrick Echols made the announcement during a news conference Monday evening at City Hall.
The patient is in their 20s. They recently traveled abroad and flew back to the U.S. to an airport in another state. After they flew in, they began driving home to St. Louis. During the drive, they started feeling ill, at which time they contacted health officials in St. Louis.
The patient drove straight to a healthcare facility to receive treatment and to get tested.
The test was sent off to the Missouri state health lab. The result came back positive at 5:15 p.m. Monday.
The patient has since gone home to stay in quarantine. Mayor Krewson said the city has checked in with the individual and they are complying with the quarantine.
A statement from Saint Louis University said the patient is a student of the university who lives off-campus.
The statement from SLU said a second student returned from the same trip and was not showing symptoms but has also been tested. The results from that test are pending.
City leaders did not release any further details about where the patient traveled other than saying they were in a “source country.” SLU said it was one of the countries the CDC has identified as a Level 3 Avoid Non-essential Travel notice.
Mayor Krewson and Dr. Echols said the patient did not expose anyone else to the virus.
During the news conference, Mayor Krewson also announced that beginning Tuesday, the city will start checking the temperature of everyone who comes into City Hall, employees included. They’ll use devices that look like small radar guns that can check the foreheads of people from a distance.
Just moments after Mayor Krewson wrapped up her news conference in the city, St. Louis County health officials confirmed the county’s third confirmed COVID-19 case. The patient recently traveled abroad and is between the age of 50 and 60 years old.
Before these two cases were revealed, there were six cases reported in Missouri. As of 8 p.m., the state's website still lists just six cases.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services launched that page on its website that lists the state's current number of coronavirus tests and tracks the negative and positive results.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson Tweeted out just before 8 p.m. that the state's number had jumped to eight, and that a total of 207 people had tested negative.
