Coronavirus USA Update: Arizona Monitors 250 People For COVID-19, NH Confirms First Case

New Hampshire Monday announced its first confirmed case of COVID-19 while Arizona, whose only case thus far has completely recovered from the disease, said it's monitoring 250 residents recently returned from abroad and is expecting an increase in cases.

Dr. Benjamin Chan, State Epidemiologist for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS), said one of four state residents recently tested for COVID-19 came out positive for the coronavirus. He said this person recently returned from Italy, Europe's COVID-19 hotspot, which now has 2,036 confirmed coronavirus cases and 52 deaths. Italy is currently the third most COVID-19 infected country after China (80,026 cases) and South Korea (4,335 cases).

Chan said the person that tested positive is an adult from Grafton County in northwestern New Hampshire. This person, an employee of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in the city of Lebanon, isn't sick enough to be hospitalized but is on home isolation.

"We will be working very closely with healthcare providers in the community and the hospital system involved in order to investigate this case of COVID-19 and try and prevent further transmission in our community," said Dr. Chan.

NHDHHS officials don't believe this single case threatens community transmission. Dr. Chan said NHDHHS will work "tirelessly to investigate this most recent identification and to identify any potential susceptible contacts who may need themselves to be placed under self quarantine."

Gov. Chris Sununu said New Hampshire is prepared for COVID-19 and the risk level of an outbreak in the state remains low.

"The most important message we can get out is the state is prepared," said Sununu. "We know that the risk level does remain low, but we are prepared to deal with any issue that may arise."

Elsewhere in the U.S., the Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) said it's monitoring 250 travelers that recently returned from abroad for COVID-19.

“We know the disease is spreading and we can expect additional cases in Arizona,” said AZDHS director Dr. Cara Christ during a press conference.

Dr. Christ said Arizona has so far tested 26 Arizonans for COVID-19 with 24 tests coming back negative and one positive. One person’s lab tests are pending. The lone confirmed case of COVID-19 recently traveled to Wuhan, China (the global epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak) and is connected with Arizona State University. This person has since recovered and is no longer infected with the highly-contagious disease.

As of early Tuesday evening, confirmed global COVID-19 global cases reported by Johns Hopkins CSSE stands at 90,305 with 3,085 deaths. Of the total confirmed cases, 80,026 are in mainland China.