2 health care workers in Northern California contract coronavirus

Two health care workers in Solano County, California, contracted coronavirus after being exposed to a patient who was not immediately tested for the virus, officials said Sunday.
The patient was treated at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, but was not tested for COVID-19 coronavirus because she did not fit the federal testing criteria at the time; the woman had not recently traveled overseas or had contact with anyone known to have coronavirus. The patient is now considered the first U.S. case of community spread, where the source of infection is unknown. She has been transferred to UC Davis Medical Center.
"Our two health care workers who tested positively have been in isolation at home since the day we learned they had contact with the patient who had contracted the virus," Aimee Brewer, president of the NorthBay HealthCare Group, said in a statement. "We took immediate and comprehensive measures intended to stop any further spread of the virus, including working with public health officials to trace the contacts the two workers may have had."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
There are more than 60 known cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., with new cases reported Sunday in California, Rhode Island, Washington, and New York.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Entitlements: DOGE goes after Social Security
Feature Elon Musk is pushing false claims about Social Security fraud
By The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Amazon Bond
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
6 grand homes in Boulder
Feature Featuring a mountain-facing balcony in Lower Chautauqua and a clover-shaped home in Flagstaff
By The Week US Published
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study finds
Speed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addiction
Speed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Study finds possible alternative abortion pill
Speed Read An emergency contraception (morning-after) pill called Ella could be an alternative to mifepristone for abortions
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
California declares bird flu emergency
Speed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published