Ship linked to deaths
Death may be second in state from coronavirus
SACRAMENTO — Authorities in Santa Clara County on Thursday announced that a Sunnyvale man might be California’s second death connected to the coronavirus.
The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said a 72-year-old man who had been on a cruise where others contracted coronavirus was found unresponsive Thursday at his home. He later died.
“It was later learned the patient had recently been on a cruise with two passengers (who) were suspected of having COVID-19,” the agency said in a statement.
It’s unclear whether tests conclusively determined he had the virus.
Santa Clara County has seen at least 20 coronavirus cases and health officials Thursday issued more stringent recommendations meant to slow the spread of the virus. Guidelines urge residents to postpone large gatherings and cancel large events. Employers should also take steps to make it more feasible for employees to work in ways that minimize large groups and contact with others.
New cases of coronavirus were reported in several areas of California, while Nevada reported its first case, in Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas case was a man in his 50s who had recently traveled to Washington state; he is hospitalized in isolation, officials said.
San Francisco reported its first cases. The two patients are not related and have no travel history to areas where the coronavirus has spread, officials said.
“We do not know at this point how they were exposed to the virus, which suggests it is spreading in the community,” Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s director of health, said in a statement. Santa Clara and Solano counties also have reported so-called community spread cases.
Both patients were tested by the city’s Department of Public Health lab Wednesday, officials said. They are being treated under isolation at separate San Francisco hospitals.
One patient is a man in his 90s who has underlying health conditions and is in serious condition, officials said. The other patient is a woman in her 40s who is in fair condition.
The Grand Princess cruise ship was being kept offshore amid concerns that more people on board might be sick after it was announced that a 75-yearold male passenger on an earlier voyage had fallen ill and died this week of the virus.
Sonoma County health officials confirmed Thursday that a second passenger on the cruise tested positive after announcing another positive result earlier in the week. Both that patient and the one announced previously were in isolation rooms at a hospital.
Health officials said they had a list of Sonoma County residents who were on the cruise, as well as the shuttle to and from the ship, and were continuing to contact passengers to make them aware of the possibility they may have contracted the virus.
In California, COVID-19 has been reported in 12 counties and sickened more than 50 people.
Additional cases were announced elsewhere in the state Thursday, including four patients in Los Angeles County who had recently returned from a group trip to northern Italy. Health officials had announced Wednesday that three travelers in that same group tested positive for the virus.
Santa Clara County announced Thursday that the number of cases there had grown to 20 from 14. Of the county’s 20 cases, four are related to travel, nine had contacts with other confirmed COVID-19 cases and seven were believed to have caught it in the community.
Of the six new cases — three men and three women — four are at home and two are hospitalized, officials said.
“Our cases to date indicate to us that the risk of exposure to the virus in our community is increasing,” Dr. Sara Cody, health officer for Santa Clara County and director of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, said Thursday.
County health officials are calling on residents to postpone large gatherings and cancel large events, and for employers to take steps to make it more feasible for employees to work in ways that minimize large groups and contact with others.
They include suspending nonessential employee travel, canceling large inperson meetings and conference, and considering using telecommuting options and staggering start and end times to reduce large numbers of people gathering.
Health officials aren’t recommending that schools be closed but said they will consider such closures on a case-by-case basis if a school staffer or student is confirmed to have COVID-19.
The San Diego area reported its third case when an employee of an AT&T retail store in Chula Vista tested positive for the virus, the company said Thursday in a statement. Six stores were closed and deep-cleaned “out of an abundance of caution,” the company said.
The employee, who had recently traveled to a region considered at high risk for coronavirus, went to work Monday but went home sick later that day and notified the company, spokesman Fletcher Cook said. AT&T received notice Tuesday that the employee had tested positive for the virus, he said.