San Luis Obispo County awaiting test results on possible first coronavirus case

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. - The San Luis Obispo Public Health Department is investigating a possible case of the coronavirus.

If positive, the case will be the first incidence in the county.

Public health officials screened a patient and sent samples off to a state laboratory for testing. They expect results to come back this weekend.

The patient had mild symptoms and had been in contact with travelers from an area with a widespread transmission of COVID-19.

According to San Luis Obispo Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein, the patient has fully cooperated with public health officials and is in home isolation with regular visits from public health staff.

Borenstein says the patient is now fully recovered and health officials have "low suspicion" that he may have had COVID-19. Testing of the patient was done "out of an abundance of caution," the Public Health Department said.

San Luis Obispo County expects to be able to perform COVID-19 testing locally in the next few days, which will result in faster test results.

“The risk to the general public at this moment remains low. We assure the public that we will notify our residents if and when we do have a confirmed case in our county,” Borenstein said in a press release.

This story was first reported by The Tribune at SanLuisObispo.com. We have since independently confirmed the details, and the story has been updated.