There are now three cases of coronavirus in Texas. Two in Harris County and, reported Wednesday, in Fort Bend County.
All three victims, two men and one woman, between 60 and 70 years old, had gone on a tour of Egypt.
Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo says the next level of concern would be if they saw cases they can't trace back, unlike these which were travel related. "That's good news for us because we have a closed loop of people right now that we've identified that we're following up with, that we're informing they may be exposed. We're continually trying to identify if there's anybody else."
She says they have been treating all the people associated with the trip as presumptive positives in a way. "We have been asking them to self-quarantine. We have been mapping their networks, where they've been and reaching out to the folks they may have come in contact with."
One of the victims, a woman, is employed by Rice University. The other Rice doctoral students, faculty and staff who are currently in self-quarantine have been notified. none has reported symptoms.
Houston Mayor Sylvester is encouraging people to minimize international travel. "I'm not telling you not to, I'm just hoping you will minimize international travel because that's the common denominator."