The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) is cooperating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to respond to recent reports of a novel (new) coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some causing respiratory illness in people and others that circulate mostly among animals, including camels, cats and bats. Common symptoms in an infected person include a fever, cough and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
Since December 2019, mainland Chinese authorities identified thousands human infections, resulting in dozens of deaths, associated with this novel (new) coronavirus in an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, in mainland China. In addition, novel coronavirus infections have been confirmed in numerous travelers who traveled to or came from Wuhan City, including 15 travelers in the United States.