The Kern County Department of Public Health is currently monitoring two patients in Kern County who have met Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) recently expanded guidelines for coronavirus testing. The two patients are being kept in isolation at Kern County hospitals. KCDPH has declined to identify the hospitals where the patients are being monitored. This announcement was made on March 2. 

  “Currently, there are no confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Kern County, and the immediate health risk remains low for the general public,” said Kern County Public Health public relations officer Michelle Corson. 

  The novel coronavirus, which the CDC has now labeled covid-19, has infected 43 people inside the United States, including a health care worker and patients living in a long-term care facility. All of these patients are in Washington state, and are in addition to the 47 people who had been quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked at Yokohama, Japan and returned to the U.S. against the advice of the CDC. 

  As of now, there are six confirmed deaths from covid-19 infection in the United States, all of which happened in Washington state. 

  “We continue to monitor this very fast evolving situation. It’s all hands-on deck for us. This is public health’s purpose. This is what we do. We work to protect the health of our community, and we take it very seriously,” Corson said. 

  For advice on how to prevent on contracting and spreading the virus visit the CDC website and view a previous article here: https://therunneronline.com/25406/uncategorized/corona-virus-alert-for-csu-bakersfield-students/