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A college student in St. Louis has tested positive for coronavirus, marking the city’s first confirmed case, school officials announced.
The St. Louis University undergraduate, who was not identified, was diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning Saturday to the St. Louis area from a trip overseas, university president Fred Pestello told students in a message late Monday.
The student had traveled with another St. Louis University undergrad to a country designated as a hotspot for the coronavirus by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Pestello’s letter.
It’s unclear where the pair traveled, but St. Louis University has a campus in Madrid, Spain, where at least 11,279 people have been diagnosed countrywide, according to a Johns Hopkins University database.
The student with coronavirus is now isolated at an off-campus residence, while test results on the second coed who has not shown symptoms are still pending, university officials said.
“As I noted on Saturday, our students responded exactly as they should have,” Pestello wrote. “They returned Friday night, and while driving back to St. Louis, called ahead about emerging symptoms and were immediately directed to a hospital for consultation and testing.”
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson first announced the diagnosis during a press conference late Monday. The mayor and the city’s health director, Dr. Frederick Echols, provided few details about the student in their 20s, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Health officials believe the student did not expose other people to the virus, KMOV reports.
“It’s really important to note the individual followed the instructions given by the City of St. Louis Department of Heath, and because of this, there were no additional exposures,” Echols told reporters. “So no other individuals are at risk of developing COVID-19 from this individual.”
A university spokeswoman declined to provide additional details on the student when reached Tuesday by The Post, citing privacy concerns.
