Cruise ship remains distant from San Francisco and number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Washington state increased to 70 on Thursday – pushing the US total above 200 – as the global fight against the epidemic s intensified.
The death toll in the country rose to 12, 11 of them in Washington. Fifty-one of the confirmed cases are in King County, where Seattle is located, where ten of the deaths have occurred, public health officials said. Many cases are due to an epidemic at the Life Care Center in Kirkland.
Nearby Snohomish County has registered 18 cases and Grant County in central State reported its first case on Thursday.
More than 3,300 deaths and nearly 100,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide, the vast majority of them in mainland China.
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Here is the latest news on the COVID-19 epidemic:
Cruise ship distant from San Francisco
Approximately 3,500 passengers are invited to stay in their rooms on the Princess Cruises Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California pending the results of the coronavirus tests, which they are among the less than 100 passengers tested.
A Coast Guard helicopter descended test kits on the 951-foot Grand Princess on cable Thursday while the ship was anchored off northern California, and authorities said the results would be available Friday.
Passengers on the ship may have been exposed to the coronavirus after traveling with 62 passengers, according to company officials, who had previously traveled with a man who ultimately died from the virus. The group of less than 100 identified for testing includes passengers who have been on the previous trip and who remain on board, as well as passengers and crew who show symptoms of coronavirus.
– Morgan Hines
CDC cancels employee travel
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cancels non-essential employee travel.
According to an internal email obtained by USA TODAY, the agency, as well as the Agency for the Registry of Toxic Substances and Diseases, “cancels all trips, except critical and response-related trips.”
The email, the subject line of which is “Protecting Your Health and Safety When Responding to COVID-19”, encourages CDC supervisors to consider letting employees telecommute “to keep CDC staff safe”.
– Curtis Tate
Dow plummets 970 points
Treasury bill yields fell to record lows as the market turned to fear the effects of a rapidly spreading virus during its last yo-yo move. Now that a growing list of companies is warning about how the virus is affecting their sales and profits, investors are left with a lot of uncertainty about the extent of economic growth and corporate profits.
– Jessica Menton
US adds border virus screening
“If the health risk changes and the CDC and medical experts decide that there is an increased risk for the southwest border, and CBP will be part of these discussions on what we need to do then to operationalize and reduce that risk, “said the acting commissioner. Mark Morgan told reporters Thursday morning.
– Rafael Carranza, Republic of Arizona
New Jersey, Nevada report cases, await confirmation from CDC
New Jersey and Nevada reported their first possible cases on Thursday.
Two New Jersey patients tested the “presumed positive” virus, officials said at a press conference. One was a 32-year-old Fort Lee male who was isolated.
“Presumption positive” means that the patient’s tests were positive by a public health laboratory but awaited confirmation from the CDC.
A southern Nevada man in his 50s was tested “positive” for the virus on Wednesday evening. He recently made trips to Washington and Texas, where the virus has been reported in the community. The news drove Las Vegas casino stocks down.
Reports would bring the total number of states with coronavirus cases to 17.
Senate passes $ 8 billion emergency spending bill
On Thursday afternoon, the Senate adopted a package of approximately $ 8 billion in additional spending to combat the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, sending the massive bill to President Donald Trump for signature.
The package, which was passed in the Senate in a 96-1 vote, will replace the White House’s initial request for $ 2.5 billion, an amount that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agreed was not enough to fight the virus which has quickly spread across the globe and so far killed at least 11 people in the United States
The package includes more than $ 3 billion for research and development of vaccines and $ 2.2 billion for prevention, preparedness and response. It also allocates $ 1 billion for state and local government responses, about half of which would go to specific cities. Each state would receive no less than $ 4 million.
– Christal Hayes
WHO: no pandemic; nations must “do all they can”
The director of the World Health Organization on Thursday urged all countries to “withdraw all stops” in the fight against the coronavirus and reiterated that the global epidemic is not a pandemic. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the situation in China, the epicenter of the epidemic, continues to improve and that many countries still have few or no cases. But Tedros said that some countries had not made adequate preparations for an epidemic. And he stressed that if public health resources must be directed towards treatment, controlling the epidemic remains important.
“If we can do it, we will say it,” Tedros said of a pandemic. “We must not abandon containment strategies. The WHO says:” Do not give up, do not surrender. “”
Megachurch leaders in quarantine
Two high-level leaders from an Oklahoma-based mega-church – one of the largest churches in the country – are in quarantine after attending a conference abroad where a guest speaker was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Reverend Craig Groeschel, founding senior pastor of Life.Church, and Reverend Bobby Gruenewald, innovation pastor-leader Life.Church, attended a conference in February in Karlsruhe, Germany. The two learned the diagnosis when they returned to Oklahoma.
The pastors said they plan to stay in voluntary quarantine for 14 days.
– Carla Hinton, the Oklahoman
Trump blames his own efforts and queries WHO statistics
President Donald Trump has tweeted a pat on the back to his own administration to fight the coronavirus: “With approximately 100,000 cases of CoronaVirus worldwide and 3,280 deaths, the United States, due to rapid action to close our borders, have, for now, only 129 cases (40 Americans brought in) and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible! “
Trump previously rejected a World Health Organization report that estimated the death rate at 3.4%, telling Fox News that people with mild symptoms are untested and therefore distort the data. This question is frequently raised by health officials who estimate the lethality of the epidemic. Trump estimated the real rate at less than 1%.
Tennessee tornado hit now has virus
Tennessee, still recovering from a series of tornadoes and storms that killed 25 people and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, is now facing its first case of coronavirus. Governor Bill Lee announced the first confirmed case in the state. The patient, a 44-year-old Williamson County man with a recent history of out-of-state travel, is currently being quarantined at home with mild symptoms, said the Tennessee Department of Health.
“We prepared early,” said Lee. “We remain confident in our capabilities and in the measures we are taking to prevent the spread of this infection.”
– Brett Kelman and Joel Ebert, Nashville Tennessean
Airlines could lose $ 113 billion in revenue
The coronavirus epidemic could cost airlines up to $ 113 billion in global revenue in 2020, the International Air Transport Association estimated. IATA said losses would reach at least $ 63 billion, even if COVID-19 is contained in current markets.
“The turn of events following COVID-19 is almost unprecedented,” said CEO Alexandre de Juniac. “In little more than two months, the outlook for the industry in much of the world has taken a dramatic turn for the worse.”
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said the country’s largest national carrier had experienced “a very sharp and precipitous drop in bookings” over the past week, a drop that continues daily. The fall in new bookings has an “impression of September 11”. Kelly said in an interview with CNBC. Southwest said the financial crisis would represent between $ 200 and $ 300 million in revenue in the first quarter.
– Dawn Gilbertson
Seattle District Closes Schools For 22,000 Students
A suburban school district of Seattle closed all of its schools for 14 days to slow the epidemic of coronavirus that has infiltrated into King and Snohomish counties. In a long letter posted to the Northshore School District website and emailed to all parents on Wednesday evening, Superintendent Michelle Reid said that she made her decision with the support of local leaders, describing the move as a “strategic approach” to the health and well-being of staff and the 22,000 students in the district.
American schools are on high alert amid an epidemic of coronavirus:Are they overreacting – or are they not doing enough?
Amtrak Takes Action To Address Coronavirus Threat
Amtrak is stepping up its cleaning protocol for trains and stations and waiving the fee for changing reservations until the end of April. Railway service has issued a statement detailing the increased clean-up measures as a safety measure, adding that there have been no confirmed cases of passenger and employee exposure to the coronavirus. no current travel restrictions.
Amtrak says it plans to speed up the frequency of cleaning on trains and stations, sometimes on an hourly basis. Additional antibacterial products, including disinfectants and wipes, will be provided at stations, on trains and in employee work areas.
– Bill Keveney
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Dogs and cats cannot transmit coronavirus to humans
The Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Departments have concluded that cats and companion dogs cannot transmit the new coronavirus to humans, but they can be positive for low levels of the pathogen. if they catch it from their owners. This occurs after a quarantined dog tested weakly positive for the virus on February 27, February 28, and March 2.
Health experts in Hong Kong agreed that the dog has a low level of infection and that it is “likely to be human to animal transmission”. The dog will be tested again before being released. The ministry suggested that all pets, including dogs and cats, from households where someone has tested positive for the virus should be quarantined.
– Adrianna Rodriguez
Iran: deposit this paper money
Iranian authorities have ordered the closure of all educational and cultural institutions across the country during the Persian New Year on March 20 and urged citizens not to use paper money, as the death toll from coronavirus has increased to 107. More than 3,500 cases of virus have been confirmed there. Officials have also set up checkpoints to limit travel between major cities. Tehran announced that all public places in the city, including subways and buses, were disinfected every hour.
How many cases of coronavirus in the United States and where?
There were at least 215 confirmed cases Thursday afternoon, according to a coronavirus dashboard managed by Johns Hopkins University. This number is expected to increase as the CDC has intensified its screening efforts and encouraged more tests in health centers across the country. Common signs of infection are fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. If the infection gets worse, it can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and death.
What is the global death toll from coronaviruses?
The global death toll was at least 3,348 Thursday afternoon, including more than 2,900 in mainland China, where the epidemic began in the bustling capital of Hubei province, Wuhan. The number of confirmed cases worldwide was 97,879.
Map of American coronavirus cases
Here is an overview of the spread of coronavirus in the United States.