Iowa City Man Among 7 Iowans Monitored for Coronavirus

An Iowa City man is one of seven people across Iowa currently being monitored for coronavirus. As of Feb. 24, no Iowan has yet tested positive, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Thirty people have been monitored since health officials started tracking for possible cases Feb. 3.

Wally Heitman said he's being monitored after he was on a Holland America Westerdam cruise in East Asia for the past month and returned to Iowa Sunday.

According to the Iowa Press-Citizen, Heitman arrived back in Iowa Sunday evening, after several connecting flights from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Heitman wasn't ordered to be quarantined but he said he's being monitored by the Johnson County Department of Public Health. He reports his temperature via text message to a county health official twice daily and was asked to report if at any point he experiences symptoms.

Common symptoms of coronavirus include fever, cough and breathing difficulties.

Of the people who are being monitored, none of them are showing symptoms, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Here's a quote from the Iowa Press-Citizen article:

"The risk for Iowans is very low," said Sam Jarvis, Johnson County community health manager, "The concern is still influenza." 

He added that people should continue to take the same precautions for both illnesses, such as covering coughs and staying home if you're sick.

The CDC reports outside of the United States, in Asia and Europe, however, the number of confirmed cases and deaths due to coronavirus are increasing.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there were more than 2,700 deaths reported due to coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. China and South Korea have the highest number of confirmed cases, which total more than 80,000 internationally.