BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — The first Baltimore County resident has tested positive for the new coronavirus, according to the governor. Officials said he is not hospitalized.

The man in his 60s had worked at the recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington, D.C., according to a statement Gov. Larry Hogan issued Wednesday night.

A person who tested positive for the new coronavirus, or COVID-19, was in Maryland from Feb. 27 to March 1 for the conference, New Jersey health officials notified the state Saturday.

The Conservative Political Action Conference was held from Feb. 26 to Feb. 29 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. According to organizers, thousands of activists attended.

While attendees at the political conference included President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, the New Jersey person who contracted the new coronavirus did not expose them to the illness, according to the American Conservative Union, which organized the conference.

The Maryland Department of Health encouraged anyone who attended the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor to take their temperature twice a day. If it exceeds 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or if they develop a respiratory illness, they should contact their health care provider and remain at home until getting further instructions, according to state authorities.

Hogan reported the Baltimore County man who attended the conference was one of three Marylanders who tested positive for the novel coronavirus Wednesday night, hours after he held a press conference about a person from Montana who tested positive in Anne Arundel County.

There are now 12 people who live in Maryland and have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the governor reported Wednesday evening.

Along with the Baltimore County man, the two others who tested positive Wednesday for the illness were a Prince George's County man in his 60s who is hospitalized and whose travel history remains under investigation, as well as a Montgomery County man in his 20s who recently traveled to Spain.

That brings the number of those with the illness in Maryland to 12 as of Wednesday night:

• Six in Montgomery County. Four people went on an Egyptian river cruise (a man and woman in their 70s as well as one woman in her 50s and another in her 60s). Officials said a man in his 60s from Montgomery County tested positive after he traveled to Thailand and Egypt. A man in his 20s tested positive after travel to Spain.
• Four in Prince George's County. The first patient to test positive is a woman in her 50s who contracted the virus during a Feb. 25-27, visit to Boston. The next two positive cases involved a couple who traveled internationally aboard a cruise ship. The most recent case was a man in his 60s who is hospitalized and whose travel history is being investigated.
• One in Harford County. An 86-year-old woman remained hospitalized Tuesday after traveling to Turkey and Albania.
• One in Baltimore County. The man in his 60s worked at the recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington, D.C.

The Anne Arundel County visitor will be counted as a Montana case.

The new coronavirus was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China.

Symptoms are fever, cough, difficulty breathing and pneumonia, resulting in anything from mild respiratory issues to death.

It spreads between those closer than 6 feet apart through respiratory droplets when a person who is infected coughs or sneezes and the droplets get into the mouths or noses of others, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maryland health officials recommend hand washing as a way to protect against the spread of viruses in general, including influenza and the new coronavirus.

People should also keep their hands away from their eyes and mouth; stay home when sick; and cough or sneeze into a tissue.

Visit the Maryland Health Department's coronavirus page or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's coronavirus disease situation summary for additional information and resources.