Chicago Couple Is First Person-To-Person Case Of Coronavirus In U.S.
January 31, 2020 5:18AM CST
A woman, who declined to give her name, wears a mask, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020 in New York. She works for a pharmaceutical company and said she wears the mask out of concern for the coronavirus. “I’d wear a mask if I were you,” she said. For the first time in the U.S., the new virus from China has spread from one person to another, health officials said Thursday. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Health officials are confirming that a Chicago woman sickened with the coronavirus has transmitted the illness to her husband. This is the first person-to-person case of the virus in the U.S. It is also the sixth confirmed case in the country and the second in Illinois. The woman was diagnosed with the coronavirus after traveling to Wuhan, China to care for her sick father and returning to Chicago earlier this month. The couple is hospitalized in isolation in northwest suburban Hoffman Estates. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak an international public health emergency. The respiratory illness has killed over 200 people in China.
