ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland’s health department on Friday announced a potential risk of exposure to the new coronovirus at a retirement community in Rockville, Maryland.
One of the three people who has been confirmed in Maryland to have the COVID-19 virus attended at gathering at The Village at Rockville on Feb. 28, Gov. Larry Hogan said at a news conference.
The time period of risk of exposure was from noon to 6 p.m. that day, the governor said. Between 70 and 100 people who attended the event in the Maryland suburb of the nation’s capital may be at some risk for acquiring COVID-19, Hogan said.
“We are providing these updates not to unnecessarily raise alarm but in the interest of full transparency and out of an abundance of caution,” Hogan said.
The health department is recommending people who attended the event monitor themselves for symptoms of a respiratory infection including fever, cold-like symptoms, cough, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath until March 13.
Until then, the department said people who attended the event should check their temperature twice a day and notify their health care provider and local health department if their temperature is greater than 100.4 degrees or they develop a respiratory illness.
Officials also said one of the three Maryland residents who has tested positive for the virus attended an event in the Philadelphia area with a group of children and staff in the Central Bucks County school district. The school district closed five schools Friday as a result, Hogan said.
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