ROME, Ga. — A patient in north Georgia would be the state's third confirmed case of the COVID-19 coronavirus if preliminary results are confirmed.
A statement from the Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia says they got that preliminary positive result for the 46-year-old woman late Thursday night.
That came from the Georgia Department of Public Health. Now they are waiting for the Centers For Disease control to confirm that result.
The hospital says the woman originally came in on Saturday with flu-like symptoms.
The state said she didn't meet coronavirus testing guidelines, so the hospital staff treated her and sent her home.
When she got worse, she returned to the hospital on Tuesday. The hospital says even though she still didn't meet testing guidelines, the doctor and local health officials insisted that state allow them to test her.
Here is the hospital's official statement:
While we await final confirmation, Floyd has been advised by GDPH (Georgia Department Of Public Health) to notify caregivers who treated this patient prior to isolation on Tuesday. In addition, although the risk of exposure is low, Floyd has made the decision to proactively notify all patients who may have had contact with any of these caregivers or who may have been in the ER at the time the patient was present in order to instruct them on next steps and address concerns.
While she was admitted on Tuesday, it's not clear if the woman remains in the hospital, or whether her condition has improved.
We'll continue to update this developing story.