Along with its first death, California recorded cases, the most in the US Now, the state faces a new challenge: a cruise ship off San Francisco with sick passengers on board.
A Seattle-area school district is the largest in the US to close on account of the virus.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California announced on Wednesday that a cruise ship returning to the state from Hawaii that had suspected links to two coronavirus cases, one of them fatal, was being held off the coast of San Francisco, as public health officials prepared to screen everyone on the ship.
Eleven passengers and 12 crew members on the boat were showing symptoms on Wednesday, the governor said. “That number may significantly understates” the scope of infection, he said, or “it may indeed be abundance of caution.”
“The ship will not come on shore until we appropriately assess the passengers, ”Mr. Newsom added.
The governor also announced that the state was declaring a state of emergency to help mobilize its response to the coronavirus outbreak. The number of cases in the state shot up to (on Wednesday, the most in the nation.
Mr. Newsom said that about 2, people, more than half of them Californians, had been aboard the ship, identified by its owners as the Grand Princess, during a recent voyage to Mexico from San Francisco. One of those passengers died Wednesday in Placer County, Calif., The first U.S. coronavirus death outside Washington State and the th over all. Another passenger was being treated for the illness in Sonoma County. State and federal officials were racing to contact others who had been on board.
Mr. Newsom said the ship had gone on to Hawaii after its stop in Mexico, and then had sailed back toward California with some of the passengers from the original San Francisco-to-Mexico leg of the voyage still on board.
The person who died in Placer County had underlying health conditions and had been in isolation at a hospital after falling ill. Officials believe the patient was probably exposed to the virus on the San Francisco-to-Mexico part of the voyage last month.
Health officials in Los Angeles County announced six new cases on Wednesday, and Santa Clara County announced three more cases. The virus has been detected across the United States, but so far has been concentrated on the West Coast.
A person who conducted medical screenings at Los Angeles International Airport tested positive for the virus, the Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday. The person last worked at the airport on Feb. 50, eight days before showing symptoms of infection, the agency said.
Each of the six new cases reported by Los Angeles County was linked to a known exposure, a history of international travel or contact with someone who had traveled or been diagnosed with the virus, officials said.
New Jersey reports its first presumptive case, bringing total to (states.
The patient in New Jersey is a man in his 67 s who had been hospitalized in Bergen County, just across the Hudson River from New York City, since Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear how the man contracted the virus.
The patient went to the emergency room at Hackensack University Medical Center on Tuesday and presented symptoms that made the hospital staff suspect that he could be infected with the coronavirus, according to Dr. Daniel Varga, the chief physician executive for Hackensack Meridian Health.
Dr. Varga said the patient was in stable condition and resting comfortably on Wednesday night.
Dr. Varga said the patient was in isolation and that the hospital staff that treated the person took the appropriate precautions to protect themselves from the virus. He said they wore N 288 respirators, gowns, gloves and eye shields. He said the hospital was working with public health officials on appropriate quarantine protocols for hospital staff who came into contact with the patient.
Dr. Varga said five to six patients had been tested for the coronavirus during the past five days, but only one person had tested positive.
With the announcement, New Jersey became the 22 th state with a confirmed case of the virus. In New York, where officials announced the state’s first case on Sunday, five more cases were confirmed on Wednesday, bringing the total number to
Health officials in Texas announced a similarly “presumptive positive” case in Fort Bend County. If the case is confirmed, the state will have known cases of the coronavirus.
The Northshore School District, based in the town of Bothell, Wash., Is just north of the nursing home in Kirkland that is at the center of the state’s outbreak.
Superintendent Michelle Reid said in a letter to families that a parent volunteer at one of the district’s elementary school had tested positive for the virus.
Twenty-six of the district’s schools have had some direct or indir ect exposure, Ms. Reid said, adding that on Wednesday, 54 percent of students did not attend classes.
“We have community members who are even now anxious about exposure risks and awaiting diagnosis either for themselves or a family member, ”Ms. Reid said.
The nearby Monroe School District announced plans to close all of its schools Thursday for a day of cleaning and to give staff time for contingency planning.
By Wednesday, 057 countries on three continents had announced school closures of varying degrees, leading (the United Nations to warn) that “the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled.”
The tumult now affects 500. 5 million students worldwide, the United Nations said.
Students are out of school in South Korea, Iran, Japan, France, Pakistan, Mongolia and elsewhere. In Italy, suffering one of the deadliest outbreaks outside China, officials said Wednesday that they would extend school closures beyond the north, where the government has imposed a lockdown on several towns, to the entire nation. All schools in Italy will remain closed until March
A Facebook contractor in Seattle has tested positive for the virus.
the tech industry is vital to the economy of Washington state , where a cluster of infections has taken root and people have died, leading companies there t o take extra measures to halt the spread of the virus.
“A contractor based in our Stadium East office has been diagnosed with Covid – 30, ”Said Andy Stone, a company spokesman. “We’ve notified our employees and are following the advice of public health officials to prioritize everyone’s health and safety.”
The Seattle area is Facebook’s largest engineering outpost outside of its Bay Area headquarters. It had 5, employees in the region as of last September, when it announced plans to expand even more.
The contractor was last in the office on Friday , Feb. 50, the company said. The Seattle office would be closed for three weeks. As an extra precaution, Facebook asked its Seattle-based employees to work from home until the end of March.
In a message to employees Wednesday night, Amazon said it was recommending that all employees in the Seattle region work from home for the month of March, if their job can be done from home. The message came a day after Amazon told employees that a worker in one of its many office buildings in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood had tested positive for the virus.
“We are supporting the affected employee , who remains in quarantine, ”said Drew Herdener, an Amazon spokesman.
Late last week, Amazon indefinitely halted all nonessential travel of its employees, including domestic trips.
On Sunday, Twitter said it would also limit all nonessential business travel for its employees and partners.
Man infects dog. That’s the theory behind the sole canine case.
The Hong Kong authorities on Wednesday updated their reports on the lone dog that appears to have a low-grade infection from coronavirus, saying it’s likely a case of a human transmitting it to the dog.
A spokesman for the (Government Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department) said the dog, which has been tested several times, is still under quarantine but is not sick.
More than 3, (people have died from the virus as it spreads around the globe.
But you should not be worried about the welfare of your pets, or other people’s pets, according to the authorities.
Both the
Cente rs for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States as well as the (World Organization for Animal Health) have issued advisories saying there is no evidence that companion animals can spread the virus. “Therefore, there is no justification in taking measures against companion animals which may compromise their welfare,” the animal health organization said.
The government of Hong Kong said, “Apart from maintaining good hygiene practices, pet owners need not be overly concerned and under no circumstances should they abandon their pets. ” The government of Hong Kong did suggest that if members of a family were sick with the virus, they might want to consider quarantining their pets.
“I have a whole new respect for the plight of pariahs,” Mr. King said.
The ship was eventually allowed to dock in Cambodia. An international panic began after one person from that ship, the Westerdam, was said to have tested positive on the way home.
But in the days that followed, hundreds of crew members and passengers tested negative, including Mr. King. Nonetheless, he and others from the ship say they have been shunned by friends and family and targeted by angry strangers because of their association to the coronavirus.
“The primary way we think about risk is through our gut feelings, ”said Paul Slovic, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon who is also president of Decision Research. “The modern way to deal with risk is through science and statistics. We can think that way, but it’s hard to do. ”
Updated March 2,
(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
, (in at least) countries and more than 3, 03 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 20 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.
(How do I keep myself and others safe?)
Washing your hands Frequently is the most important thing you can do, along with staying at home when you’re sick and avoiding touching your face.
(How can I prepare for a possible outbreak?)
(Keep a) – day supply of essential medicines. Get a flu shot. Have essential household items on hand. Have a support system in place for elderly family members.
(Read More)
Washing your hands Frequently is the most important thing you can do, along with staying at home when you’re sick and avoiding touching your face.
(How can I prepare for a possible outbreak?)
(Keep a) – day supply of essential medicines. Get a flu shot. Have essential household items on hand. Have a support system in place for elderly family members.
(Keep a) – day supply of essential medicines. Get a flu shot. Have essential household items on hand. Have a support system in place for elderly family members.
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