A medical worker who worked at Los Angeles International Airport conducting passenger screenings has contracted coronavirus.
The person tested positive for COVID-19 late Tuesday night, according to an internal email obtained by NBC News and the Department of Homeland Security. The email said the worker was a “contract medical screener” for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was “predominantly assigned to the CDC in-transit lounge and a few support jetway screening on direct flights from China.”
The patient’s last day working at LAX was Feb. 21. The worker was asymptomatic while working at the airport and first noticed symptoms on Feb. 29. The DHS said in a statement that the worker and the worker’s immediate family are under self-quarantine.
“DHS is happy to report that this individual was highly trained and did everything right both on the job and when they began to feel sick,” the DHS said. “We are told the individual wore all the correct protective equipment and took necessary protections on the job.”
“Additionally, as soon as the individual began to feel sick, they self-quarantined, saw a physician, and reported to the appropriate authorities and officials,” the statement added.
The DHS said it isn’t clear how the person contracted the virus. Investigators are looking into contacts the individual may have had over the past few weeks.
“At this time, we do not know if this case is a result from community spread or through their work as a medical screener,” DHS said.
Los Angeles County declared a local emergency on Wednesday after six new cases of the infection were registered in a two-day time span.
There have been 153 cases of the flulike illness and 11 deaths across the United States since the outbreak began in China in December. Globally, there have been more than 95,000 infections and at least 3,254 deaths, most of which were in mainland China.
