Update, 7:45 p.m.: State officials have now announced a fourth novel coronavirus case in New Jersey.


 

The new coronavirus is now in Camden County.

State officials on Friday afternoon confirmed that the state's third presumptive positive case of the coronavirus disease of 2019, or COVID-19, was of a 60-something man who has been hospitalized since March 3. They did not give an exact location.

The state's first two cases were reported in Bergen County, where a 32-year-old part-time Fort Lee resident who works in the healthcare industry in New York was first hospitalized — also on March 3 — at Hackensack University Medical Center.

On Thursday, the state confirmed a second case in a woman in her 30s who has been released from Englewood Hospital and is in self-quarantine at home.

Officials said the woman may have been in the same New York building that the man who became New Jersey's first case had been working. Officials did not identify the building.

The state is referring to the cases as having "presumptive positive" test results because the CDC has confirm the state lab's result.

"State and local public health authorities are proceeding with the public health investigation and response activities as if this was a confirmed case and following all infectious disease protocols," the Murphy administration said in a written statement Friday.

Throughout the state, 11 people were awaiting testing results as of Friday afternoon.

In neighboring states, New York had confirmed 33 cases and Pennsylvania had confirmed two as of Friday.

Worry about the virus has led to schools, government agencies and businesses taking precautions. State agencies have restricted out of state travel, for example. Public schools have been preparing for the possibility of having to close or have students take remote-learning classes from home.

State regulators also have warned retailers against price gouging on items like face masks and hand sanitizers, which have been selling out.

Nationally, 14 people have died from COVID-19, which has symptoms similar to the flu.

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Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-359-5348 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.

 

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