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CDC: The Benjamin School Students Exposed to a Chinese Student Being Tested for Coronavirus

The Benjamin School is taking precautions after 30 high school students and three teachers attending a Yale Model United Nations in Connecticut may have been exposed to a student from China who is being tested for coronavirus.

The students must stay away from the Palm Beach Gardens campus at least until test results come back from the CDC. Until then affected students and chaperones will stay home.

The North Palm Beach Campus is for the lower and middle schools, which did not have students at the event, which began Thursday.

The Benjamin School said 1,800 delegates from over 40 countries from around the world were alerted Saturday by Yale that an unidentified student became ill.

The student, whose location in China wasn’t released, was quarantined and tested positive for influenza. The student also was tested for 2019-nCoV, also known as coronavirus, which mainly has been concentrated in mainland China.

The Sunday sessions at Yale, including closing ceremony, were canceled and Benjamin students returned home that evening.

Patients with the coronavirus typically suffer pneumonia-like symptoms, including fever, cough and shortness of breath. Symptoms show up two to 14 days after exposure to the virus, according to the CDC.

People who may have had contact with a person confirmed with the disease should closely monitor health for for 14 days, the agency said.

The CDC has confirmed five cases of the virus in the United States: two in California, and one each in Arizona, Illinois and Washington state.

The Benjamin School said it is monitoring the “students” health as our top priority,” according to a school news release.

The State Department is encouraging Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to China and to not travel to the Hubei province.

The only deaths have occurred in mainland China with 100 reported. Also, there are 2,714 confirmed cases there.