Coronavirus In MA: Officials Talk Risk After Dire CDC Warning

MASSACHUSETTS — While federal health officials are warning Americans to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., state health officials are maintaining now isn't the time to worry.

"The risk to residents in Massachusetts remains low," the Massachusetts Department of Health said Tuesday. "While person-to-person spread among close contacts has been detected with this virus, at this time this virus is NOT currently spreading in the community in the United States."

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That announcement came shortly after the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention said Americans should prepare for the spread of coronavirus.

"It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness," a CDC official said.

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As of Tuesday, there has only been one confirmed case of coronavirus in Massachusetts: a man in his 20s who attends UMass-Boston.

On Monday, a Cambridge-based company shipped vials of a coronavirus vaccine, manufactured at a plant in Norwood, to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease for further research.

There have been more than 80,000 cases of coronavirus across the globe, with nearly 3,000 deaths. There have been 14 confirmed cases in the U.S. and no fatalities.

Symptoms include a fever and coughing.