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New Case Of Coronavirus Confirmed In Maricopa County

Another case of COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus has been confirmed in Maricopa County.

The new patient is a male in his 20s in the Phoenix area. He came in close contact with another individual outside of the state who had traveled to a community where the virus has spread.

The patient is stable and expected to fully recover. Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine is the medical director for disease control for Maricopa County Public Health.

“It’s important for people to know they should take all those prevention measures to make sure keep themselves healthy, but we are not at a point where we have community spread of COVID-19 in Maricopa County," Sunenshine said.

Dr. Sunenshine also said the best way to prevent the spread is to wash your hands, cover your cough and stay home when sick.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 60 cases of coronavirus and six deaths in the United States. Twelve states have reported cases as of midday Tuesday. Many states have started to use independent and commercial testing in support of the CDC’s tests.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier says while these tests are accurate, they still need to be sent into the CDC to confirm the presence of the virus. If the commercial tests come back positive, action will still be taken, like recommending self quarantine.

“And we expect that by the end of this week, the public health labs will be able to test up to 75,000 people. That will be a small part of the overall testing that will be available,” Messonnier said.

Health officials have said it is likely the number of cases will increase as more people are tested.

Greg Hahne started as a news intern at KJZZ in 2020 and returned as a field correspondent in 2021. He learned his love for radio by joining Arizona State University's Blaze Radio, where he worked on the production team.