Korean Air Flight Attendant Working LAX Flights Diagnosed With Coronavirus
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A flight attendant for Korean Air who worked several flights out of Los Angeles International Airport has been diagnosed with coronavirus.
The 24-year-old was diagnosed Tuesday in southern Seoul, according to the Korea Joongang Daily newspaper.
The flight attendant had worked flights between LAX and Seoul–Incheon International Airport on Feb. 19 and 20, according to South Korean media outlets.
The woman also serviced a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Seoul on Feb. 15, South Korea's Center for Disease Control said. She may have contracted the virus from a South Korean church group who were on a pilgrimage to Israel, the Yonghap News Agency reports.
So far, 30 members of that church group have been diagnosed with coronavirus, according to South Korean health authorities.
Korean Air has closed its operations center at Incheon Airport in order to disinfect the area.
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Meanwhile, a 23-year-old U.S. soldier stationed at Camp Carroll in South Korea has also tested positive for coronavirus, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) confirmed in a statement Tuesday.
He has been quarantined off-base.
"Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and USFK health professionals are actively conducting contact tracing to determine whether any others may have been exposed," USFK said.
On Tuesday, concerns over the spread of the coronavirus forced organizers to postpone the Korea Times Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl.
According to the Yonghap News Agency, South Korea has 1,261 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 12 deaths.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is spread from person-to-person through close contact, usually within 6 feet, and mainly via respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. People are likely most contagious when they are most symptomatic.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
