PROVIDENCE – A third person in Rhode Island has tested a presumptive positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The person, a woman in her 60s, has not been hospitalized and is experiencing mild symptoms. Health officials say she developed symptoms after being in direct contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19 in New York in late February.
Health officials say they are in the midst of tracking down those who came into recent contact with the woman, who works at Smithfield Avenue Nursery School in Pawtucket.
The case, which is considered a presumptive positive until it is confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, brings Rhode Island’s total of coronavirus cases to three.
A man in his 40s and a teenage girl, both of whom traveled to Italy on a trip organized by Saint Raphael Academy in Pawtucket, have also tested positive. A third trip participant, a woman in her 20s who lives in Massachusetts, has also tested positive.
Results are now pending for 13 coronavirus tests at the R.I. state health laboratory, and 210 people are in self-quarantine.
Seventeen people in Rhode Island have tested negative for the virus.
The R.I. Department of Health has set up a hotline at 401-222-8022 in order to field questions about the coronavirus.
