Emory University Suspends Italian Study Abroad Programs Amid Coronavirus Concerns

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Emory University is canceling its spring 2020 study abroad programs to Italy amid growing concerns about coronavirus.

Emory University is canceling its spring 2020 study abroad programs to Italy amid growing concerns about coronavirus.

The university previously suspended all travel to China for students, faculty and staff.

"Emory University is closely monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak that was first detected in China and has since spread to other countries," the university said in a statement. "Emory’s commitment to the health and safety of our community is paramount."

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"I know that you must be very disappointed and frustrated, but your health and safety are Emory’s first priority, and we have not made this decision lightly,” Associate Dean for International and Summer Programs Sarah Gouzoules wrote in an email to students, as reported by the Emory Wheel.

There have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Georgia yet, but the first death in the United States of COVID-19 was confirmed Saturday in the Seattle area.

The patient who died was a man in his 50s with underlying medical conditions, according to Washington state health officials.

Though the vast majority of the more than 85,000 confirmed cases have occurred in China, the resulting disease, COVID-19, is now in at least 57 countries and on every continent excluding Antarctica, according to the World Health Organization.

The confirmation of these new cases in the U.S. may actually be somewhat delayed, in part because there was an initial backlog in testing for the virus within the U.S. A problem with the test kits that the CDC distributed across the country required most testing to happen at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Federal health officials now say they have resolved the issue and are now working to distribute new test kits across the country.

MORE: Atlanta Couple Tests Positive For Coronavirus Aboard Cruise Ship

The new cases bring the total number of confirmed cases within the United States to more than 60; 44 of those cases originated aboard the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship and three other cases involve people who were brought back from Wuhan, China, where the first cases were diagnosed.

An Atlanta couple tested positive for the virus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship earlier this month. The Smiths are still in a hospital in Japan and remain symptom free despite testing positive for COVID-19.