Test for coronavirus in Montana comes back negative

Results for a Gallatin County person who was tested for the novel coronavirus following travel to China have come back negative, according to a press release from the City-County Health Department.

Earlier this week the Gallatin City-County Health Department said a person was being monitored for the virus after traveling to mainland China and then falling ill after returning to Montana. This is the first patient who was under investigation in Montana.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta announced the negative test result Friday.

The person has been in isolation at Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital since Monday.

Jim Murphy, the state health department’s Communicable Disease Control and Prevention Bureau chief, said Monday the state has been notified by federal health officials of about 15 people with a recent travel history in China and is working with those people to monitor their health. Matt Kelley, the health officer with the Gallatin City-County Health Department, said five of those people are in Gallatin County.

As of Thursday evening, the CDC reported 15 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the United States, mostly associated with travel to China though some cases involve person-to-person contact with people who traveled to China. That’s out of 427 people who have been monitored.

More than 1,384 people have died from the virus worldwide, with all but three of those deaths in mainland China, where more than 64,300 have fallen ill with the virus.

Montana has had four deaths from influenza this year, with 4,033 cases reported in the state and 186 hospitalizations. All counties have reported at least one case.

Source: helenair.com