Virus cases, deaths rise in US
Communities advised to watch for symptoms
Coronavirus cases – and fears – are escalating throughout the U.S. as infections are on the rise, with totals likely to keep increasing significantly as testing becomes more pervasive in communities from Florida to California.
Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus dashboard tallied 100 cases in the USA on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has expanded criteria for coronavirus testing and is set to allow every state and local health departments begin testing this week.
Health organizations, while warning against panic, say communities need to be on the lookout for telltale signs of the infection, which include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. If the infection worsens, it can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and death.
In a White House briefing Monday, Vice President Mike Pence said the risk to Americans “remains low, according to all the experts we are working with.” Pence also said CEOs from the pharmaceutical industry who were invited to the White House Monday by President Donald Trump have agreed to form a “consortium” to develop a vaccine.
Health authorities said Monday that four more people in the U.S. have
died of the coronavirus in Washington state, raising the death toll in the state and the nation to six.
Jeffrey Duchin, a health officer in King County and Seattle, said at a news conference Monday that five of the deaths were people from King County and one was from Snohomish County, north of Seattle.
Researchers said earlier that the virus may have been circulating for weeks undetected in Washington state.
“To increase your chances of staying healthy, avoid crowded settings if possible,” King County Public Health said on Twitter. “Especially if you are over 60, or have other chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, or a weakened immune system.”
There’s concern about the spread of the virus in nursing homes. One facility, Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, said in a statement that one of its residents and one of its associates have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The center is banning visitors for now.
The two earlier deaths in the U.S. were over the weekend at Evergreen Health in King County. The patients were men who had underlying health conditions.
A shift from China
The worldwide death count rose to nearly 3,100 Monday, and the number of confirmed cases increased to more than 90,000. Though 80,000 of those have been reported in mainland China, the outbreak appears to be shifting from that country, where hundreds of patients have been released from hospitals.
The World Health Organization reported that nine times as many new infections were recorded outside China as inside it over the past 24 hours.
At the White House on Monday, Trump told the pharmaceutical company CEOs he wants them to work together and speed development of a vaccine, though other government officials have said that process could take at least a year.
“We will confront this challenge together,” Trump told the executives. “We will continue to do exactly what we’re doing.” The guests, including the leaders of GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, nodded their heads when Trump spoke of cooperation.
The president said he had heard a vaccine could be ready in as little as three or four months, but Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said a vaccine wouldn’t be ready to “deploy” for at least a year.
Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services, told the group Trump wants to challenge the normal lines for drug development, saying they “can be a little slow and bureaucratic.” Development and government approvals of vaccines can take months or even years.
In taking questions from reporters, Trump again said his administration is considering new and expanded travel restrictions on “certain countries where they’re having more of a breakout.” He did not provide specifics. In Washington state, King County officials announced plans to buy a local motel and turn it into a quarantine facility for those who need to be isolated. The building was expected to be available by the end of the week. “We have moved to a new stage in the fight,” King County Executive Dow Constantine said.
Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency after the first death was announced Saturday. Schools around the state have closed as a precaution as districts undergo cleaning and disinfectant protocols.
New York state reported its first case on Monday, a 39-year-old Manhattan woman who contracted the virus while traveling in Iran, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The woman, a health care worker, is isolated in her home with “respiratory symptoms” but is not in serious condition, he said. Expect more cases, he added.
“We said early on it was a case of not if but when,” Cuomo said at a news conference. “This is New York; we’re a gateway to the world. To see all these cases around the world, around the country, of course we are going to have here.”
Cuomo said the risk remains low in New York and the challenge is containment. Testing will help with that, he said, and he set a goal of 1,000 tests daily statewide within a week. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city had set aside 1,200 beds for coronavirus patients.
States get their first cases
In New Hampshire, a hospital employee who recently traveled to Italy is the first person in that state to test positive for the virus, officials said. State epidemiologist Benjamin Chan said the male patient has mild symptoms and remains at home in Grafton County.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a public health emergency after two state residents tested “presumptively positive” for the coronavirus. A presumptive positive case means that the patient has tested positive by a public health laboratory and is pending confirmatory testing at the CDC.
The cases were reported in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, and in Manatee County just to the south. “Both individuals remain in isolation at this time,” the Florida Department of Health said in a news release.
On Capitol Hill, Democratic and Republican aides said an agreement on funding to confront the virus is almost complete. The $7 billion to $8 billion bill may be unveiled by Tuesday, with the hope of getting it through the House and Senate by the end of the week.
The emergency measure would finance federal and state response efforts, fund the federal government’s drive to develop and produce a vaccine and offer Small Business Administration disaster loans to help businesses that have been hurt by the outbreak.
In Texas, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg criticized the CDC in a Facebook post after health officials reportedly released a patient who later tested positive for the coronavirus. Nirenberg said the patient was quarantined, fully treated, tested negative for the virus twice and was discharged from the Texas Center for Infectious Disease in San Antonio on Saturday. A third test returned positive, Nirenberg said.
“This incident is exactly why we have been asking for federal officials to accept the guidance of our local medical community,” Nirenberg said.
Worldwide, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak, Wuhan, shut down one of its 16 makeshift hospitals because of a steady decline in new cases, state media reported. The Chinese mainland reported 202 new confirmed cases, the lowest number in six weeks, the National Health Commission said Monday.
More than 80,000 cases have been confirmed across China in less than three months, the vast majority of them in Hubei Province, home to Wuhan.
“While the rise has been halted, the overall battle is far from over,” said Zhou Jiaxi, a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
In Iran, a member of the country’s Expediency Council, which provides counsel to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, died Monday of the coronavirus, the Tehran Times reported. Seyed Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, was the representative from Qom for two four-year terms. Mirmohammadi’s mother also died from the coronavirus in recent days, the Times said.