This story and a headline were updated at 7:50 p.m. March 6, 2020, to correct the date of the event at the Village at Rockville. Gov. Larry Hogan originally gave the wrong date.
A Montgomery County resident who tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday attended an event at a retirement home in Rockville last weekend, along with between 70 and 100 people, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Friday night.
Frances Phillips, the deputy secretary for public health services for the state, said people who were at the event — residents, staff and visitors — are being monitored, but no one has reached the level of showing symptoms that require testing.
On Thursday, state officials announced that three Montgomery County residents tested positive for the virus after traveling abroad, but released few details about the trio’s travels.
Friday, Hogan said the three patients — a couple in their 70s and a woman in her 50s, not related to the couple — were passengers on an Egyptian cruise along the Nile River. He said he did not have additional information about the ship’s path, including where it returned to the United States.
The Maryland cases are linked to six in Texas, Hogan said, and Friday’s announcement by the World Health Organization that 12 passengers and staff on the same cruise ship were being quarantined for 14 days.
Montgomery County’s health officer, Dr. Travis Gayles, told reporters earlier in the day that the ship had not docked in Baltimore.
After returning to the United States, and before being tested for the disease, one of the patients attended an event on Feb. 28 at The Village at Rockville on Veirs Drive, near Lakewood Country Club. Between 70 and 100 people were at the event, Hogan said.
Anyone who was at the event, from noon to 6 p.m., should immediately contact their primary health care provider, Hogan said. Additionally, anyone who has visited the facility since and feels ill should seek medical care.
Late Friday night, The Village at Rockville issued a statement saying it heard from the Maryland Department of Health that the risk of potential exposure during the public event was low. Still, it is working with the state to monitor the conditions of people who were there.
None of the residents or employees had symptoms of the virus.
Monitoring will continue through March 14. The Village at Rockville has postponed all gatherings and public events until then.
One of the other Montgomery County patients with coronavirus disease attended an event in the Philadelphia area and was in contact with students and staff from the Central Bucks School District. Maryland health officials notified school and health leaders in Pennsylvania, and, “out of an abundance of caution,” five schools in the Central Bucks district were closed on Friday, 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. “We are committed to doing everything in our power to contain this virus and limit its spread in our state.”
State health officials have identified five family members of the three Montgomery County patients who will be tested.
In a message to families with students at nearby Robert Frost Middle School, Principal Joey Jones wrote that state officials told them “members of the school community” who visited The Village at Rockville after the Feb. 28 event “are not at risk of contracting the virus.”
Details about how many people with connections to the school visited the facility and when were not available Saturday.
“While there is no specific concern for these students, all of our families should remain vigilant with their health and follow CDC guidelines and best practices,” the message said.
Richard Montgomery High School Principal Damon Monteleone sent a message to families on Saturday saying a “fake news story circulating through the community on social media” claiming that a student had contracted coronavirus is not true.
Statewide, 44 people in Maryland had been tested for coronavirus as of Saturday. Besides the three positive tests from Montgomery County, the rest have come back negative.
The state said it will no longer post updates on the number of pending tests, since testing capacity has expanded to include commercial laboratories, which will report results to the Department of Health. Immediate updates will be given on positive tests.
Hogan has said 374 people are being monitored after having “indirect contact” with coronavirus patients.
The Village at Rockville said in its statement that, even before learning Friday afternoon about the possible exposure, it has been “diligently educating residents and staff members weekly” and is following recommendations set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Hogan said he asked the Maryland insurance commissioner to require all state health insurers to waive costs associated with testing for coronavirus. Prior authorization requirements by health carriers for disease testing will also be removed.
“It is critical that anyone experiencing symptoms and meets the criteria for testing is able to do so right away without having any concerns whatsoever about the costs associated with it,” Hogan said.
During a press conference Friday morning, Gayles said the three Montgomery County patients who tested positive this week sought medical care shortly after returning to the United States. At the time, they did not meet the criteria to be tested for the coronavirus disease.
In late February, the guidelines, as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were that patients only be tested for coronavirus if they exhibited symptoms and had traveled to specific Asian countries.
State health officials were notified on Tuesday that the three residents might have been exposed to the disease. They were contacted and tested on Wednesday, and the positive results were received on Thursday.
All three patients were described as in “good condition” and quarantined at their homes.
Gayles declined to disclose further details about where in the county the patients live.
Clinical symptoms of the coronavirus disease usually include a fever, cough and shortness of breath, but the disease can range from mild symptoms to severe illness and death.
Staff writer Dan Schere contributed to this story.
