WHITE HOUSE STAFFER TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS

Washington, March 21: A staffer in the team of US Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the first White House personnel to have been infected by the deadly disease that has so far claimed the lives of 230 people in the country.

“This evening we were notified that a member of the office of the Vice President tested positive for the coronavirus,” Katie Miller, Press Secretary to Vice President, said in a statement. Neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual, she said.

“Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines,” Miller said.

This is the first case of a White House staffer being tested positive for the deadly virus. Last week, Trump had tested for the coronavirus but the result was negative.

The White House has instituted strict provisions for entry of individuals within its premises. Members of the presidential physicians’ team and secret service take temperature of every individual who enter the premises.

The seating arrangements in the White House briefing room has been rearranged to maintain social distancing.

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New York, March 21: New York State’s longfeared surge of coronavirus cases has begun, thrusting the medical system toward a crisis point.

In a startlingly quick ascent, officials reported on Friday that the state was closing in on 8,000 positive tests, about half the cases in the country. The number was 10 times higher than what was reported earlier in the week.

In the Bronx, doctors at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center say they have only a few remaining ventilators for patients who need them to breathe. In Brooklyn, doctors at Kings County Hospital Center say they are so low on supplies that they are reusing masks for up to a week, slathering them with hand sanitizer between shifts.

Some of the jump in New

York’s cases can be traced to significantly increased testing, which the state began this week. But the escalation, and the response, could offer other states a glimpse of what might be in store if the virus continues to spread.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Friday urged residents to stay indoors and ordered nonessential businesses to keep workers home.

State officials have projected that the number of coronavirus cases in New York will peak in early May. Both the governor and Mayor Bill de Blasio have used wartime metaphors and analogies to paint a grim picture of what to expect.

Officials have said the state would need to double its available hospital beds to 100,000 and could be short as many as 25,000 ventilators.

As it prepares for the worst-case projections, the state is asking retired health care workers to volunteer to help. The city is considering trying to turn the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan into a makeshift hospital.