Number of US cases of COVID-19 rises to 400
New York’s aggressive testing diagnoses 45 more in one day
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 19 Saturday, with all but three of the victims in Washington state. The number of infections swelled to more than 400, scattered across about half the U.S. states.
In California, state authorities were working with federal officials to bring the Grand Princess cruise ship to a noncommercial port over the weekend and test the people aboard for the virus. There has been no word on where the vessel will dock.
Cruise officials and passengers confined to their rooms on the ship circling international waters off the San Francisco Bay Area voiced mounting frustration as the weekend wore on with zero direction from authorities on where to go after 21 people on board tested positive for the virus.
The Grand Princess was forbidden to dock in San Francisco amid evidence that the vessel had been the breeding ground for a cluster of cases that resulted in at least one death after its previous voyage. The ship is carrying 3,500 people from 54 countries with a large chunk of its more than 2,000 U.S. passengers from California.
Jan Swartz, group president of Princess Cruises and Carnival Australia, said in a briefing with reporters on Saturday that they want guests and crew off the ship as soon as possible, but decisions on where to dock and how to test them are out of their hands.
Vice President Mike Pence said at a Saturday meeting with cruise line executives in Florida that officials were still working on a plan. “All passengers and crew will be tested for the coronavirus and quarantined as necessary,” Pence said.
In Maryland, officials said a person in New Jersey who has tested positive for the virus attended the recent Conservative Political Action Conference in the
Washington suburb of Oxon Hill.
That led Maryland officials to warn that anyone who attended or worked at the conference may be at some risk for acquiring COVID-19.
Among the political figures who attended the CPAC conference were President Donald Trump and Pence. The White House says there is no indication that either Trump or Pence was in close proximity to the attendee who tested positive.
In a statement Saturday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan urged CPAC attendees who are experiencing flu-like symptoms to immediately reach out to their health care provider.
Kansas on Saturday confirmed its first case of coronavirus in a Kansas City-area woman under 50 who traveled to the northeast.
Gov. Laura Kelly and health officials said the woman is isolating herself at home after seeing her doctor over the common symptoms of the new coronavirus of a cough, slight fever and shortness of breath. She lives in Johnson County, the state’s most populous county.
“The patient’s doing very well,” said
Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The Kansas announcement came as Florida reported two coronavirus deaths, the first outside the West Coast.
Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska and Pennsylvania also reported their first cases.
The Pentagon announced that a U.S. Marine assigned to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, tested positive Saturday for COVID-19 and is being treated at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman tweeted that “the Marine recently returned from overseas where he was on official business. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the White House have been briefed.”
A Defense Department official said on background prior to the public announcement that this is the first reported U.S. military case inside this country.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency Saturday to deal with the worsening crisis, as the number of cases jumped to 89, up from 44 on Friday.
The number of cases in New York City was more than doubled in 24 hours, the governor said, in large part because of heavy emphasis on testing potential patients.
“We are testing aggressively,” Cuomo said. “The more positives you find, the better.”
Amtrak canceled nonstop, highspeed service between Washington, D.C., and New York City until late May because of falling demand over coronavirus outbreaks. The move is effective March 10 through May 26.
Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor has dozens of trains daily between Washington and New York, and the cancellation of the nonstop service represents a reduction of only three daily trains.
Amtrak said in a statement that it is also considering taking additional measures, including reducing cars, changing schedules or canceling more train service.
Around the world, more and more countries were bracing for a big increase in virus cases. Western countries have been increasingly imitating China – where the virus first emerged late last year, and which has suffered the vast majority of infections – by imposing travel controls and shutting down public events.
After the city of Venice canceled its cherished Carnival and governments warned citizens against travel to Italy, the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak, the country is facing a possible recession. Hotel occupancy rates in the lagoon city are down to 1%-2%.
“The surface of the Grand Canal is like glass because the boats that transport merchandise are not there. On the vaporetti (water buses), there are only five or six people,’’ Stefania Stea, vice president of the Venice hoteliers association, said.
Italy saw its biggest one-day jump in infections, and the Vatican decided to livestream the pope’s Sunday blessing to prevent people gathering at St. Peter’s Square.
Transmission of the virus is now going in every direction.
While the global death toll has risen past 3,400, more people have now recovered from the virus than are sickened by it. As of Saturday, nearly 90,000 cases have been reported in Asia; more than 8,000 in Europe; 6,000 in the Mideast; about 450 in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, and fewer than 50 cases reported so far in Africa.
While many scientists say the world is clearly in the grips of a pandemic — a serious global outbreak — the World Health Organization isn’t calling it that yet, saying the word might spook the world further.
The virus is still much less widespread than annual flu epidemics, which cause up to 5 million severe cases around the world and up to 650,000 deaths annually, according to the WHO.
USA Today contributed to this story.