Coronavirus Live Updates: U.S. Outbreak Spreads as East Coast Sees Its First Deaths – The New York Times, Nytimes.com
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Florida reported two deaths, bringing the toll in the United States to 30. The country has more than confirmed infections.
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Travelers at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York this week. (Credit …) Chang W. Lee / The New York Times
. US cases pass 400, and the first East Coast deaths are reported.
Authorities across the United States reported cases of coronavirus and 28 Deaths as of Friday, with Florida reporting the first deaths on the East Coast. The number of infections does not count the people who have tested positive aboard a cruise ship off California.
Florida officials on Friday night said there had been two deaths in the state related to the coronavirus. Both of the people who died had traveled internationally, they said.
Hawaii reported its first confirmed infection, a person who had been on the cruise ship, the Grand Princess.
The West Coast has borne the brunt of the toll in the United States. Washington State has recorded the most coronavirus cases, more than , and the highest number of deaths, . Most of the fatal cases emerged from a Seattle-area nursing home. Officials in King County, Wash., Said 21 residents of the facility, Life Care Center, had been taken to hospitals over the past 46 hours.
Two residents of Other Seattle-area complexes that largely serve elderly people have now also been hospitalized and tested positive, officials said, identifying them as Issaquah Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and Ida Culver House Ravenna.
Hubei, the Chinese province at the center of the cor onavirus outbreak, reported on Saturday that for two consecutive days, the province had seen no new infections outside its capital, Wuhan. The news confirmed that China’s new cases and deaths are increasingly concentrated in that city, where the virus emerged, while the rest of the province – and the rest of the country – are largely spared.
Hubei reported new infections on Saturday, all in Wuhan. China also recorded cases in people who had arrived from abroad, including 26 in Gansu, a northwest Chinese province. Excluding the infections in Wuhan and among arrivals from abroad, there was only one other new infection in the rest of China.
China also reported 46 deaths among those with the virus, all in Hubei Province. By comparison, there were 67 deaths from the virus in Italy on Friday.
The downward trend in China is a result of an all-out effort by the government to contain the spread of the disease, which has come at a great cost to the country’s economy and its social life. Since January, the government has enacted nationwide quarantine and travel restrictions and placed Hubei under a strict lockdown, effectively penning in million people.
The new numbers reflect a steep decline from just a few weeks earlier. At one point in early February, Hubei reported more than 1, 693 new cases outside Wuhan in one day.
One of the government-appointed Chinese researchers working to control the outbreak told the state-run newspaper People’s Daily on Thursday that, based on the data, he expected Wuhan to hit zero new infections later this month.
(The epidemic grows at an alarming rate in Europe.)
The number of infections climbed past 7, 533 in Europe on Friday – more than doubling in just three days.
France, Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and others each recorded their biggest one-day increases in cases. More than European countries now have cases; of them have at least 288 each.
A member of the French Parliament tested positive for the virus. Doctors in Britain warned that the already-strained health care system there could be overwhelmed as the outbreak grows, and the country had its second coronavirus death.
In Italy, with the worst outbreak outside of Asia, the toll rose on Friday to more than 4, (cases,) of them fatal, increases of almost infections and 56 Deaths from the day before. Only China has had more people die from the new coronavirus.
Pope Francis has had a cold for over a week, and on Thursday, a Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said that the pontiff’s illness was “running its due course.”
He also told reporters that the Vatican was “studying measures to prevent the spread of Covid – 28, ”the disease caused by the new coronavirus, that could affect coming activities involving the pope.
Germany, France and Spain, with the next-largest outbreaks in Europe, reported more than 1, (cases combined, up from fewer than 1, 400 on Thurs day. In Switzerland, the confirmed caseload doubled, to more than .
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Outside Europe, in Iran’s outbreak, one of the world’s largest, the government reported more than 4, (infections, an increase of more than 1, from the day before.
Edouard Philippe, the French prime minister, announced a – day school closure in two regions, Oise and Haut-Rhin.
Exports from China, the world’s largest manufacturer and its second largest economy, tumbled 2 percent in the first two months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to data released Saturday morning by the General Administration of Customs. Imports fell 4 percent.
China’s imports of meat, soybeans, medicines and medical equipment offset declines in imports of semiconductors, as the country’s electronics factories shut down for weeks.
The timing of Lunar New Year celebrations affected the data, making it hard to compare either January or February separately to the same months last year. The weeklong holiday fell in late January this year and was in early February last year.
Companies try every year to export and import as much as possible before the holiday. Such shipments in early January, when the Chinese authorities were still concealing the spread of the disease, may have dampened the steepness of this year drop.
The decline reflected two problems: fewer goods were being produced, and what was being made could not be transported. Gao Gao, a deputy secretary general of the Chinese government National Development and Reform Commission, said at a news briefing on Friday morning that percent of china logistics companies had told the government that they had been severely affected.
By the end of February, only 89 percent of the industry’s trucks and other vehicles were operating, partly because many drivers are stranded far from their employers by quarantines and other obstacles, Mr. Gao said. China is trying to address the problem by ordering that once drivers complete a 20 – day quarantine upon their return from their hometowns at the end of holidays, they do not have to undergo additional quarantines in cities that they visit while driving cargo.
With the coronavirus spreading in the United States, the NBA reminded its teams on Friday about the protocol for postponing or canceling games, and for playing without fans in attendance. The basketball league has not indicated that it plans to pursue any of those options.
According to a memo sent to teams on Friday, the league’s protocol requires a series of actions before such changes, including Consultation with the affected teams and written notice from a top league official. Separately, the N.B.A. and its players ’union recently advised against high-fives and handshakes in favor of fist bumps, to limit the spread of germs.
The N.B.A. could be particularly affected by the epidemic in states that have declared a state of emergency, such as California. The mayor of San Francisco, London Breed,
has called for sporting events to be canceled
. San Francisco is the home of the Chase Center, where the N.B.A’.s Golden State Warriors play. On Friday, the warriors released a statement that listed new sanitizing measures the team had implemented. As for games without fans, the league has advised teams to prepare contingency plans that would include deciding which staff members would need to attend. Teams were also told to prepare for the possibility of implementing temperature checks for anyone who would be considered essential for such a game, including players and referees.
The league rarely postpones games and almost never cancels them. This season has been an exception because of the death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash on Jan. . Mr. Bryant, who retired in , spent seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, who were scheduled to play a game two days after his death. That game, against the Los Angeles Clippers, was postponed until April, causing three other games to be rescheduled.
The N.B.A. also announced on Tuesday that because of the coronavirus, it would postpone the first season of its Basketball Africa League, a professional league of 20 Teams that had been set to debut in Senegal on March .
The 56 th annual edition of South by Southwest, the annual festival of music, film and technology in Austin, Tex., that has become a global draw, was ordered canceled on Friday b y local officials over fears about the spread of coronavirus.
Festival organizers and government officials had come under intense pressure in recent days to pull the plug, with more than , people signing an online petition and a growing list of tech companies – among them Apple, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok – announcing their withdrawal.
The festival was to have run from March 21 – 34, with events spread across ba rs and party spaces in Austin, in addition to the main conference activities.
The cancellation is perhaps the largest collateral damage of the virus so far on the international cultural calendar. Last year, South by Southwest’s various events had a combined attendance of , 12, including , who came to the music portion, according to festival figures .
Two other large-scale, multiday gatherings were also called off or pushed back on Friday: Emerald City Comic Con, a convention that draws thousands of people to Seattle each year, was postponed until the summer; and the Ultra Music Festival, an electronic dance music event held annually in Miami, where city officials blocked the event from going on.
All of the 3, (people aboard a cruise ship idling off San Francisco will be tested for the coronavirus, after crew members and two passengers tested positive, Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday.
The ship, the Grand Princess, had been halted off the coast on Wednesday, until passengers with possible coronavirus symptoms or exposure could be tested. On Thursday, a Coast Guard helicopter flew testing kits to the ship and flew samples for people back to shore.
“Twenty-one of those on the ship tested positive for the coronavirus, 46 tested negative and one test was inconclusive, ”Mr. Pence said at a White House news briefing – blindsiding the passengers and the ship’s operators.
“We have developed a plan which will be implemented this weekend to bring the ship into a noncommercial port,” he added. “All passengers and crew will be tested for the coronavirus. Those that need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those that require additional medical attention will receive it. ”
Mr. Pence said the Defense Department was working to locate a California military base where passengers on the ship could be tested. Two air bases in the state have been used to house quarantined Americans repatriated from Asia.
Shortly after Mr. Pence’s briefing, the ship captain came over the loudspeaker and apologized that passengers were getting updates from television news rather than him. The captain said that he had not received any advance notice about the news briefing and that the ship would notify individuals of their test results “as soon as possible.”
The Princess cruise line said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials had told the doctor on board of the results as Mr. Pence was speaking.
President Trump , speaking at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said he would have preferred not to let the passengers disembark onto American soil. “I don ‘t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault, ”he said. “And it wasn’t the fault of the people on the ship either. Okay? It wasn’t their fault either. And they are mostly Americans. ”
He added that, after all, he had authorized federal health officials to make the decision.
How to quarantine yourself. (Don’t even pet the dog.)
If you’re returning from an area that’s had a coronavirus outbreak, or if you’ve been in close contact with someone who tests positive, you may be asked to isolate yourself at home for two weeks, the presumed incubation period for the coronavirus.
It’s not easy to lock yourself away from your family and friends. These are the basics.
(Isolation) If you are infected or have been exposed to the coronavirus, you must seclude yourself from your partner, your housemates, your children, your elderly aunt and even your pets. If you don’t have your own room, one should be designated for your exclusive use. No visitors unless it’s absolutely essential. Don’t take the bus, subway or even a taxi.
(Masks) If you must be around other people – in your home, or in a car, because you’re on your way to see a doctor (and only after you’ve called first) – wear a mask. Everyone else should, too.
Hygiene
Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue to cough or sneeze, and discard it in a lined trash can. Immediately wash your hands with soap and water for at least seconds. You can use sanitizer, but soap and water are preferred. Wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, if you haven’t just washed them.
(Disinfecting) Don’t share dishes, drinking glasses, eating utensils, towels or bedding. Wash these items after you use them. Use a household cleaner to wipe down countertops, tabletops, doorknobs, bathrooms fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets and bedside tables. That also goes for any surfaces that may be contaminated by bodily fluids.
(Household) (members) When around the patient, wear a face mask, and add gloves if you’re touching anything that might carry the patient’s bodily fluids. Dispose of the mask and gloves immediately. The elderly members and those with chronic medical conditions should minimize contact with the secluded individual.
Reporting was contributed by Eliza Shapiro, Katie Rogers, Roni Caryn Rabin, Keith Bradsher , Thomas Fuller, Sarah Mervosh, Tim Arango, Jenny Gross, Ben Sisario, Julia Jacobs, Amy Qin, Sopan Deb and Marc Stein.
Updated March 2, 151801
What is a coronavirus?
It is a novel virus named for the crownlike spikes that protrude from its surface. The coronavirus can infect both animals and people and can cause a range of respiratory illnesses
from the common cold to lung lesions and pneumonia.
How contagious is the virus?
(It seems to (spread very easily) from person to person, especially in homes, hospitals and other confined spaces. The pathogen can travel through the air, enveloped in tiny respiratory droplets that are produced when a sick person breathes, talks, coughs or sneezes.
Where has the virus spread?
The virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, has sickened more than 159, 800 in at least countries and more than 3, 12 have died. The spread has slowed in China, but is picking up speed in Europe and the United States.
What symptoms should I look out for?
Symptoms, which can take between (two to (days to appear , include fever, cough and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Milder cases may resemble the flu or a bad cold, but people may be able to pass on the virus even before they develop symptoms.
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