A Summit County Common Pleas judge has decided to self-quarantine after recently returning from Italy, where there are several hundred reported cases of the coronavirus and multiple deaths.
Judge Alison McCarty contacted Summit County Public Health officials last week out of concern about the virus. The judge, who health officials say has been back from the trip for several days, decided out of precaution to create social distance by staying home.
Neither the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) nor Summit County officials ordered the judge to stay home, county officials said.
Summit County officials said there are no directives at this time from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention requiring people returning from Italy to be quarantined.
The coronavirus outbreak in the United States so far is fluid and decisions about who must be quarantined may change based on new information, Summit County officials said.
The CDC which has taken the lead in monitoring and testing possible coronavirus cases in the U.S. The federal agency coordinates with state health departments to help monitor people who could possibly be infected with the virus.
ODH is using its website as the primary way of communicating with the public and the media on the status or coronavirus case in the state. There are some 212 people in Ohio currently under public health supervision. These are people who have traveled recently and were referred to ODH for monitoring, according to the website. So for none of them are showing signs of the virus, according to the health department.
Currently, there are no confirmed cases in Ohio and seven people have tested negative for the virus.
Nationally, there are 43 confirmed cases of the respiratory illness in 10 different states. Two people have died as of Monday afternoon, according to the CDC.
