USA TODAY International Edition
Coronavirus that killed 6 in China reaches US
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed the first U. S. case of a new coronavirus that has killed six people in China.
The CDC and Washington state officials said the man, a Snohomish County resident in his 30s, was in good condition at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe infections such as pneumonia and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, called the news “concerning,” particularly in light of reports the virus has begun to spread from person to person in Asia.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said he expected more cases in the U. S, but “based on what we know now, risk to the general public is low.”
The CDC, which began enhanced health screenings last week at airports in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, said Atlanta and Chicago would be added to the list. All travel from Wuhan, China – where the outbreak began – to the U. S. is rerouted to these airports.
Hundreds of people in China have been diagnosed in the past few weeks. A handful have been diagnosed in Thailand, South Korea and Japan.
The World Health Organization is gathering experts Wednesday in Geneva to determine whether the outbreak constitutes an international public health emergency.