Dad of coronavirus patient left self-quarantine for school event, Missouri officials say

The father of a Missouri woman with a presumptive positive case of coronavirus left self-quarantine Saturday, officials say.

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page addressed the situation in a news conference streamed to Facebook on Sunday.

A woman contacted the county’s coronavirus hotline on Thursday after which she and her family were advised by the health department to self-quarantine at their Ladue home while officials awaited test results, Page said.

“We relied on common sense and good will toward the community to self quarantine,” he added.

Page said the woman’s father did not comply with the health department’s instructions and left self-quarantine to take another daughter to a school function on Saturday.

When county health officials learned the man had left his home, they told him he must stay in his home or be issued a formal quarantine, Page said.

Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School in Frontenac sent an email to parents Sunday explaining that the patient’s father and sister attended the school’s father-daughter dance at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Clayton Saturday, according to KSDK. The pair reportedly left as soon as they learned of the woman’s diagnosis.

The school did not hold classes on Monday, KSDK reported.

The patient is in her 20s and is a presumptive positive for COVID-19, the Kansas City Star reported. The case is a “presumptive positive” because the test used had not been confirmed by the Food and Drug Administration.

The woman had flown from Italy, where she was studying abroad, to Chicago O’Hare airport on March 3 then took Amtrak train 303 to St. Louis on March 4, NBC reported.

Amtrak released a statement Sunday saying it is notifying passengers and employees who may have been on the train.

“We are working in close contact with public health and emergency management teams to have the best available information to be able to share with our customers and employees who might be affected,” the statement said. “Amtrak is notifying passengers and employees who may have been on the same train, and as a precaution, we have taken the train out of service for comprehensive cleaning and disinfection, and are also working to do a thorough disinfection of the Chicago and St. Louis stations.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 6:02 AM with the headline "Dad of coronavirus patient left self-quarantine for school event, Missouri officials say."