Coronavirus Has Not Been Found In Florida

By News Service of Florida

Published January 28, 2020 at 8:26 AM EST

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that have a halo, or crown-like (corona) appearance when viewed under an electron microscope.

The coronavirus has not been found in any people who have traveled to Florida recently from the area of China where an outbreak of the respiratory illness began, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday.

“We have had a number of people that have been in that area of China and had some concerns about whether they had contracted the coronavirus,” DeSantis said during an appearance at Omni Middle School in Boca Raton. “Everybody to this date that has been tested has come back negative.”

All the tests were conducted through the Florida Department of Health and sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, DeSantis said. “I think the people that have reported and got tested and came back negative did the right thing,” DeSantis said.

As of Monday, the CDC website said five cases of the illness had been found in the United States, 32 people had tested negative and 73 results were pending. The states with confirmed cases were California, Illinois, Washington and Arizona.

The CDC noted on its website it is closely monitoring the outbreak, first identified in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, China.

“Chinese health officials have reported thousands of infections with 2019-nCoV in China, including outside of Hubei Province,” the CDC website said. “Infections with 2019-nCoV also are being reported in a growing number of international locations, including the United States.”

People traveling to the U.S. on direct and connecting flights from Wuhan are now being diverted to five locations for screening: Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco.