An employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tested positive for coronavirus, the CDC confirmed Monday.
This is the first case inside the CDC and they reported that the employee is in good condition and currently isolated to prevent the spread of the disease.
“Our best wishes go to the employee for a rapid and full recovery,” the CDC said in a statement.
According to the statement, the employee had not come to the office since March 6 when no symptoms had developed yet.
After symptoms appeared, however, the employee stayed home and called the NIH Occupational Medical Service to arrange testing, and tested positive for the coronavirus.
The CDC notified the case to its staff on Sunday morning and urged its staff to work from home while they deep clean the office.
“This individual was not involved in the COVID-19 response, has not been present in the CDC workplace since March 6, and was asymptomatic at that time,” the CDC said.
According to Outbreak News Today, the employee works for the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases but is not involved in patient care.
Further details about the employee are not available out of respect for individual privacy, the CDC said.
The CDC has been taking all necessary actions to reduce the risk of infection at the workplace, including “encouraging sick employees to stay home, increasing the frequency of cleaning CDC facilities, canceling large meetings and staff travel, increasing the use of teleworking among staff, and encouraging social distancing and other preventive measures.”
The CDC is the leading U.S. public health institute under the Department of Health and Human Services and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
It has been the leading institute to respond to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
As of March 16, more than 4,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the United States with more than 73 deaths.
