Health officials: Illinois coronavirus patients cured, released from home isolation – The Southern

Federal, state and local health officials made the announcement in a news release Saturday, noting that the risk to the general public remains low and the two patients caused no further spread of the virus.

“Based on what is currently known about the virus, and after close consultation with (the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois Department of Public Health), we believe both patients can now safely return to their regular activities, including work, without restrictions,” Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner, said in a news release.

Arwady added the patients have had “multiple rounds of negative testing for the virus and are clinically well.”

“They do not need to wear masks, and neither does anyone interacting with them. They have been cleared,” she said.

The two patients are husband and wife, and the woman, in her 60s, had recently returned from Wuhan, China, where the spread of the virus began. Health officials said at an earlier news conference that the spread of the virus to her husband was “not totally unexpected” due to the couple’s close proximity.