The first case of coronavirus in North Carolina was reported on Tuesday, and officials said the patient traveled to a Washington state nursing home where five of its elderly residents have died from the virus.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced the case at a Tuesday press conference, the results of which were based off of state testing, according to The News and Observer. Cooper called the case “presumptive” since the positive results still need to be confirmed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The person from Wake County, North Carolina, traveled to the state of Washington and was exposed at a long-term care facility where there is a current outbreak of the new coronavirus,” Cooper said.
The governor didn’t specify which facility the patient was linked to, but CNN reported it to be Life Care Center in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland in King County.
All nine coronavirus fatalities in the US are in Washington state, five of which were residents from Life Care Center, CNN reported.
The North Carolina patient is “doing well and is in isolation at home,” Cooper said Tuesday.
The patient traveled through Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Feb. 22 and was not showing symptoms of the virus at the time, according to Wake County public health officials.



