A military base in Key West has its first confirmed case of COVID-19 at a local command
Naval Air Station Key West has its first case of COVID-19 at a local military command located in Key West, the Navy’s Florida Keys commanding officer said Friday.
The patient is not with the Navy but works at the Joint Interagency Task Force South, which monitors operations aimed at stopping illicit trafficking, and has a facility located at the Navy’s Truman Annex base in the city’s downtown, a task force spokesman said.
Details, including the patient’s age and sex, were not immediately available.
The case was confirmed Thursday and the patient has been isolated at home since first reporting symptoms and getting tested over a week ago, said Commanding Officer Capt. Mark Sohaney.
“This is truly an isolated case as our Navy health professionals traced all contacts in the area and found none that met the criteria for further testing,” Sohaney said, in a video statement posted on the air station’s Facebook page.
“Of course, our first case of someone who works on base makes us all wonder, and this is natural, if we may have come in contact with this person,” he said.
Sohaney urged people to adhere to social distancing and trust the system of notification.
“As we continue to navigate what will most likely be more positive cases I want to reiterate the system is working as long as we work together and practice social distancing,” Sohaney said.
As of Friday night, Monroe County had 19 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus — three more than the total reported earlier Friday.
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 10:07 PM.
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