Coronavirus live updates: Fort Bend officials set up phone bank to answer residents' questions

1:20 p.m.: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said that public health officials are testing “other cases” and urged residents to continue taking precautions after an elderly Fort Bend County man tested positive for coronavirus.

“Right now, we know the origins of this one case,” Hidalgo said. “We have other cases we are testing. Eventually, the reality of it is one of them is going to come back positive at some point.”

There have been no confirmed cases yet in Harris County, Hidalgo said.

Local authorities have a limited ability to process tests for coronavirus, said Dr. David Persse of the Houston Health Department. He asked health professionals to refrain from testing residents without a legitimate reason to believe they could have contracted the disease/

At Ocean Palace in Asiatown, city leaders gathered with Mayor Sylvester Turner and Fire Chief Sam Peña.

Peña who said the man diagnosed in Fort Bend was traveling with two others when he was exposed to the virus. He said it was his understanding that the companions are self-quarantining.

City Council member Tiffany Thomas, State Rep. Gene Wu, Public Safety Director George Buenik and several department heads also attended the lunch.

At the restaurant, Turner took his personal bottle of sanitizer and said he does not go anywhere without it. He shared some with Peña and Buenik before they dug into their dim sum.

1 p.m.: Pearland ISD will adjust its attendance policy after a Fort Bend County resident was diagnosed with the coronavirus.

The district will “suspend perfect attendance rules” for the rest of the school year and “exam exemption criteria related to attendance” for spring tests, Superintendent John P. Kelly said. That means if students need to be exempt from a spring exam, they can be.

Most of Pearland is in Brazoria County, with parts in Harris and Fort Bend counties. No school districts in Fort Bend or Pearland ISD have canceled classes or suspended operations.

The Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, a major aerospace industry conference expected to draw 1,600 attendees to The Woodlands, has been canceled, organizers announced Thursday.

Staff will reimburse 90 percent of registration costs, minus a 10 percent processing fee, due to concerns over the spread of the virus.

Petitioners are calling on South by Southwest organizers to cancel next week’s festival in Austin. So far, major tech companies including Apple, Facebook, Intel and Twitter have pulled out with days to go.

Earlier this week, CERAWeek, one of the nation’s largest oil and gas conferences, scrapped its 2020 conference in Houston. CERAWeek was set to draw more than 5,000 attendees from more than 80 countries.

10:15 a.m.: Fort Bend County officials are setting up a phone bank in the Rosenberg Annex to answer residents’ questions. County residents can call 281-633-7795 for more information.

At least one meeting was underway in the morning to discuss the new case. Staff were waiting to see if reinforcements were coming from state government offices in Austin, and epidemiologists had began contacting the patient’s close contacts — family and friends — to advise a 14-day self-quarantine.

“The investigation is underway,” said Yaneth Calderon, spokeswoman for the county’s health and human services department. “There’s a science to this. There’s a method to the madness.”

Fort Bend residents aren’t panicking yet.

Morris Towns left an LA Fitness in Sugar Land, where the gym has offered hand sanitizer, wipes and cloths to stay clean.

“I don’t think it’s anytime to be fearful,” Towns told the Houston Chronicle. “That doesn’t mean you have to be lax. You should still wash your hands. If you’re sick, stay at home.”

9:55 a.m.: In a show of support for Asiatown businesses that have reported declining sales and fewer patrons as coronavirus concerns spread, Mayor Sylvester Turner will take his staff to lunch Thursday afternoon.

Turner said the outing was planned before Fort Bend county officials announced the positive test.

“Let’s not be paralyzed by fear,” the mayor said. “We have to continue to move forward.”

The Houston Health Department is working with regional and federal health authorities, but Houston residents should not panic, he said.

“I think every day we’re working to be more prepared,” Turner said.

8:30 a.m.: The Houston Health Department can now test up to 350 suspected coronavirus cases with a kit from the Centers for Disease Control.

The public health lab at the department will conduct testing for 17 counties in Southeast Texas. The test comes with the capability for 700 specimens, but healthcare providers may send two samples per possible case, said Porfirio Villarreal, a Houston Health Department spokesman.

“We were practicing when the tests came out, and a real sample came in so we tested it,” Villarreal said.

The kit evaluates nasal swabs, mouth swabs and secretions from the patient’s throat.

Harris County officials will hold a press conference Thursday to discuss the case and the county’s testing capabilities.

8 a.m.: A 70-year-old Fort Bend County man has been diagnosed ‘presumptive positive’ for COVID-19, the new coronavirus, Fort Bend County Health and Human Services confirmed Wednesday evening.

County officials said the man had recently traveled abroad, is currently hospitalized and in stable condition. They declined to say where he traveled and is being treated.

Fort Bend HHS was notified of the case at 4 p.m. Wednesday and is investigating who he may have been in “close contact” with since returning.

The Houston Health Department diagnosed the case and sent samples onto the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further testing.

Federal authorities are still testing nasal swabs and other specimens from a researcher at Rice University who returned to Houston on Feb. 20 and may have been exposed to a possible coronavirus case while traveling abroad.

Six University of Houston students and faculty members are self-quarantined after returning from trips to South Korea and Italy.

Read here for more coverage of the coronavirus from the Houston Chronicle.