The staff had been watching as tragedy unfolded in Wuhan, China, as the virus, SARS-CoV-2, swept through, devastating a society and prompting the Chinese government to lock down the city.
An EvergreenHealth nurse regularly checked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, waiting. When the CDC changed its testing criteria on Feb. 27 to allow for the testing of severe pneumonia — even without travel to China — they sent two samples in immediately.