Two people in Manhattan Beach are among Los Angeles County’s 32 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, according to a statement from the city released late Thursday, March 12.
One of those individuals spoke to a member of city staff late Wednesday, saying they had tested positive through the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. That person and another were self-quarantined, according to the city. The two were travelling overseas with a larger group when they became ill, according to the release.
The individual who spoke with the city has been separated from family for the past 23 days, Manhattan Beach said. It is not known if the two infected individuals are related.
“The city had no idea,” said Manhattan Beach Mayor Richard Montgomery by phone on Thursday. “We were completely blindsided by it.”
Montgomery, and many others in the South Bay, learned of a potential Manhattan Beach COVID-19 case from a morning newscast.
Christina Pascucci of KTLA reported Thursday that she personally knew a man who had tested positive for COVID-19 on March 2. It is unclear whether it is the same man who reported his and one other case to the city on Wednesday, March 11.
The man sent her text messages, Pascucci said in a phone interview, confirming that he and one other person contracted COVID-19 during a trip to Italy with 12 others, nine of whom also live in Southern California.
“He told me they all self-quarantined in Manhattan Beach,” Pascucci said.
The group returned to the U.S. on March 1, she said of the text messages, and the man has not been in contact with anyone, including his children, since Feb. 20.
The man was first tested at a small clinic in Pacoima, Pascucci said, citing the text messages, and a second time at a larger clinic in Downtown L.A. After quarantining himself at home, his symptoms worsened and he went to a hospital in Torrance, she added.
County health officials have been monitoring the case and calling the affected man and the other patient twice a day, the man told her via text messages.
