A Californian has contracted coronavirus from an unknown source

Christians Receive Ashes On Ash Wednesday To Mark The Beginning Of Lent Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

A person in California has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus, despite having not having any “relevant travel history” or exposure to someone who was known to have the illness, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an emailed statement today.

This may be the first instance of “community spread,” which is a term the public health community uses to say the source of the illness is unknown, the CDC said in its release. It’s also possible that the patient was exposed to a person who’d traveled, and didn’t realize they were infected. The Washington Post reported this person was in Northern California.

The CDC statement came just after President Donald Trump ended a press conference where he named Vice President Mike...

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