SimplyInfo.org: Coronavirus Ongoing Updates

This is an ongoing update of headlines and information related to the coronavirus outbreak. Newest information at the top. If you have a question or want to discuss this issue in depth, we have been discussing this issue in our chat system. Information is updated throughout the day with a large update every morning US time.

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Pence wipes runny nose on hand before shaking hands at virus outbreak press conference.

2 more coronavirus cases in Santa Clara, county total now 9 . One case was in an adult male who had household contact with an infected patient in another county. He is at home in isolation. The other is also an adult male who had household contact with another person who tested positive for the pneumonia-like virus in Santa Clara County. He’s also in isolation at home.

Healdsburg School in North Bay closes amid coronavirus concern.  An independent K-8 school in the North Bay closed Monday due to a person associated with the school coming into contact with an infected coronavirus patient.

Seattle Times now says 6 deaths  Two of the new deaths were from the group of 4 new confirmed cases announced today.

Death toll in Washington state jumps to 5 Also 4 new cases for a total of 14 cases, 5 deaths

What could happen in the workplace as outbreaks cause disruptions

Reuters has a long list of canceled international sports events due to the outbreak

Chinese retailers get creative to sell people needed food and supplies without person to person contact.

Public health experts remind people to clean their phones as part of virus prevention.

Theme parks in Florida step up precautions.

More information on the two cases in Florida. The woman infected recently returned from Italy. The man is in the hospital with pneumonia, authorities are unsure how he contracted it. More cases are expected in the area. The state is currently monitoring 184 people.

Some staff and students at a Chicago school staying home after possibly secondary exposure. A 4th case was also documented but is a family member of a known patient.

University of Illinois and Loyola tell students in Italy to return to US.

A skyscraper office building owned by F5 in Seattle is closed for business today for decontamination. A worker for the company was exposed to the virus but is currently testing negative.

Experts explain how the pandemic may play out.

First case in Senegal is French man with recent travel in France

Israelis under quarantine participate in national election via a polling station brought to the quarantine facility.

 

Map from NY Times

The virus has now hit 67 countries. CDC issues travel warnings for more countries.

Japan urges younger people to be vigilant about not spreading the virus even though they may not get seriously ill themselves. The health ministry urged people to avoid concerts, gyms and buffet restaurants. *younger people seem to over all have fewer serious cases of the virus but they are not immune to the more serious version of the illness.

One of the new cases in India is an Italian national. Health care workers that came in contact with the patient are being monitored. A second new patient had been in Dubai.

Council member close to Iran’s Supreme Leader has died of the virus.

Zhejiang province in China lowers emergency level as no new cases have been detected in 9 days. This province is a key manufacturing and export region. Guangdong, along with at least eight other provinces, had already lowered their public health emergency responses from the highest level of Grade I to Grade II and Grade III.

South Korean cult leader issues apology for spreading virus through the country

Worldwide reported cases: 89,788
Worldwide reported deaths: 3,062
Worldwide reported recovered: 44,903

Case breakdown from SCMP.com (more news below)

A woman who had been released from quarantine on the Diamond Princess tested positive after returning to her home in Hong Kong. A 2nd new case in Hong Kong was a family member of an already positive patient.

Coronavirus: Xi Jinping focuses on long-term battle as more countries report cases

Wuhan evacuee who came down with the virus, released to go home only to test positive again after being released. People in a hotel in San Antonio may have been exposed to this person before they were put back into isolation at a hospital.

Oregon has a second presumptive case, a household contact for the prior case.

The Rhode Island cases are connected by a school trip to Italy. 38 students from a private academy are isolating and home and being monitored. The school will be closed the rest of the week.

A pandemic expert explains what works and what doesn’t, in public health systems facing a pandemic.

Hong Kong has managed to avoid a massive outbreak by taking some serious precautions while residents take virus control into their own hands. These actions may have staved off an out of control outbreak like the one across the bay in China.

A total of 7 cases in Santa Clara county after 3 new cases announced.
“According to the county’s public health department, the fifth instance is a woman with chronic health conditions who has been hospitalized. The sixth and seventh confirmed cases are a husband and wife who had recently traveled to Egypt. The husband also had a history of chronic health conditions and both are now hospitalized.”

US confirmed virus count as of Sunday night is 83

A 2nd person in Rhode Island tested positive after returning from Europe. This case was a travel companion to the first case.

2 health care workers in California that treated the Solano County woman thought to be the first discovered case of local transmission, have both tested positive for the virus. They are quarantined at home.

2nd virus death in Seattle, man in his 70’s with underlying health issues. NY Times identifies him as a patient from the nursing home.

2 new cases in Florida near Tampa area. State declares public health emergency.

First case in NYC. A woman who recently traveled from Iran is doing well and quarantined at home.

The cases in Seattle have been so hard to track as the story moved quickly through the weekend. King 5 in Seattle has this rundown:

King County cases:

• A man in his 60s is hospitalized at Valley Medical Center in Renton. This man has underlying health conditions. He is in critical but stable condition, according to King County Public Health officials.
• A man in his 60s is hospitalized at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. This man has underlying health conditions and is in critical condition.
• A woman in her 50s who was infected after visiting South Korea between Feb. 7-23. She works at a Federal Way United States Postal Office but did not come in contact with the public, according to Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer of Public Health Seattle & King County. The woman’s husband, who did not travel to South Korea but has been in the same house as her, is under quarantine.
• A woman in her 70s who was a resident of Life Care Center in Kirkland. She is in serious condition at EvergreenHealth Medical Center.
• A woman in her 40s who is employed by Life Care Center in Kirkland. The CDC is responding to a possible outbreak at the nursing facility. There are over 50 individuals associated with Life Care Center who are showing respiratory symptoms or who have been hospitalized with pneumonia and are being tested for COVID-19, according to Duchin.
• A woman in her 80s is hospitalized at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland. She had underlying health conditions and is in critical condition.
• A woman in her 90s is hospitalized at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland. She had underlying health conditions and is in critical condition.
• A man in his 70s was hospitalized at Evergreen Health in Kirkland. He had underlying health conditions and is in critical condition.

King County deaths

• A man in his 50s was a patient at EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland and was the first in the country to die of coronavirus. He had underlying health conditions, Dunchin said. The man had no history of travel outside of the U.S. or known contact with anyone who had COVID-19. He is also not connected to the possible outbreak at a nursing facility in Kirkland.
• A man in his 70s was hospitalized at EvergreenHealth. He had underlying health conditions and died on Feb. 29.

There is a total of 13 cases in Washington state

1 new case in Scotland, recently traveled to Italy

1 new case in Chicago, person is in isolation in a Chicago hospital. No word of how they contracted it.

140 people in intensive care in Italy. Most other cases have minimal symptoms. The Italian government has approved $3.8 billion in aid. Turkey bans all flights to-from Italy. Most public venues in the northern region will remain shut. The St. Louis of the French in Piazza Navona church in Rome has closed after a priest tested positive for the virus. The Pope continues to skip group and public duties.

Italy cases rise to 1694, 34 deaths and 83 recovered

2 new cases in Seattle. Both men in their 60’s and both in critical condition. Authorities did not state if this was tied to the nursing home or any other known cases. There is 1 new case in the Dominican Republic from an Italian traveler.

SacBee has a run down of the timeline between Travis AFB receiving evacuees and the community outbreak in northern California.

American Airlines suspends flights to Milan

59 year old man in China has lung transplant after surviving virus but with irreversible lung damage

Cases in Germany double overnight, France has 100, Spain 70

Virus has likely been spreading for 6 weeks in Washington state, estimated 1500 people may be infected.

Louvre in Paris closes with no date to reopen

Nike closes Oregon corporate campus for deep cleaning. No documented case but out of abundance of caution

Rhode Island reports first presumptive case, person traveled from Italy

Thailand reports first virus death

Seattle tech school will be disinfected after nursing students visited nursing home.

Virus outbreak causing shortage of cell phone parts, frustrating repair shops.

Worldwide cases: 87,544
Worldwide deaths: 2,995
Worldwide recovered: 41,960
South Korea: 3736 cases, 20 deaths
Italy: 1128 cases, 29 deaths
Iran: 978 cases, 54 deaths
*includes only registered cases, Source: SCMP.com

China targets travelers at its borders in strategy change to stop coronavirus spread. People leaving or entering China will be checked for symptoms, contact with infected persons or travel from areas with a high number of infections. China prepared to evacuate its citizens from overseas areas with serious outbreaks, foreign ministry says. New South Korean cases exceeded those in China for a third straight day and included a 45-day-old boy.

3M can’t confirm they have a 35 million masks per month contract that VP Pence mentioned in a press conference but they said they have drastically ramped up US production.

Patient from Seattle nursing home taken to hospital Saturday.

A number of police and fire employees in Seattle are under quarantine tied to the nursing home outbreak.

Seattle explains what they are doing to prepare

12 new cases in the UK

The March sumo tournament will take place in japan with no audience.

Virus tracker timeline tool lets you visualize the global spread over time.

UK health minister wants every tool available including locking down cities .

Swiss health minister; no cheek kissing greetings

Most US public schools don’t have a plan to teach online in the case of prolonged closures.

NYC may struggle with an outbreak due to over focus on anti terrorism

3.1.2020^

South Korea expects a surge in cases among the people exposed through a cult church.

WHO states that until the intermediate animal host is determined, outbreaks could re-emerge. In the same report they noted that most of the virus cases in China were transmitted in extended close quarters situations like homes and hospitals.

Diamond Princess evacuee dies in hospital in Australia.

If you want to know what has been going on in the White House, related to the crisis response, read this article.

Two Palo Alto, CA students were sent home Friday after it was discovered their parent may have been exposed to the virus. This involved two schools, Palo Alto High School and  JLS Middle School.

Household contact of Santa Clara virus patient from Friday contracts virus and is in the hospital. This makes 2 local cases.

CDC will be in Seattle by Sunday to help.

Washington state health officials: All local cases were contracted in Seattle. Also, trying to find somewhere to allow homeless who become ill to rest and recover safely.

Washington state is rushing a funding bill to help deal with the unfolding crisis.

Evergreen Health in Seattle is asking people to not visit the Kirkland hospital. The hospital has one virus patient in isolation. This appears to be out of concern visitors could infect patients or staff.

US sports leagues discussing with the CDC but for now still plan to run games.

Washington State has declared a state of emergency. A 50 year old man, the single death due to the virus was not tied to the nursing home. The other two confirmed cases ARE tied to the nursing home outbreak. The state of California will have the capability to test 1200 people per day as soon as they receive the expected batch of test kits from the CDC.

A nursing home in Seattle has 50+ patients they think have the virus. Seattle Times has some clarity of the situation that had been confused among all the new cases:

What you need to know:

• One person in King County has died due to a novel coronavirus infection, Public Health – Seattle & King County officials announced Saturday morning. It is the first death attributed to the virus in the United States.
• Two people connected to a Kirkland long-term care facility have tested positive, officials said Saturday afternoon. A resident in her 70s is in serious condition, and a health employee in her 40s is stable. The long-term facility in Kirkland has 108 residents and 180 employees, according to the CDC.
• At the Kirkland facility, 27 residents and 25 employees have symptoms.
• The virus that began in China has infected more than 85,000 people globally.

Two evacuees from the Diamond Princess who were among those positive for the virus and held at the biocontainment unit in Omaha, NE have been moved from biocontainment to the secure quarantine facility at the same hospital. Their condition improved to the point they no longer required the highest level of precautions.

Russia’s effort to contain the outbreak has turned into xenophobia, harassment and at least one stabbing.

Rural hospitals in the US already suffering shortages of masks, gowns and supplies as larger hospitals gear up for outbreak.

Patient who died in Seattle was “medically high risk“, female, in their 50’s. The woman was a case of local transmission.

US announces new travel restrictions from Iran. South Korea and Italy travelers to US will face more screening.

US FDA to allow labs that create their own virus test to use it after they validate it but before the FDA runs a review process. This is an attempt to rapidly increase testing ability.

5th case in Canary Islands, an Italian citizen on vacation.

Iraq has 5 new cases across two cities.

A virus patient in Washington state has died. State officials did not say which patient this was. NY Times says victim was from Seattle.

WHO releases mortality data by risk factors including mortality rates for these groups:
Over age 80: 21.9%
Death rate in China: 3.8%
Heart disease: 13.2%
Diabetes: 9.2%
Wuhan residents: 5.8%
Other parts of China: 0.7%
Only 2.4% of those infected were under the age of 19
The higher death rate in Wuhan may be due to the overwhelmed medical system. These percentages are based on numbers of known infected.

School closures in Japan may begin to cause a nursing shortage.

China finds recovery to death rate improving with more people in recovery at a ratio of 13.8 to 1.

2 new cases in Pakistan

Airlines cancel or reduce flights between the US and Asia and US and Italy. Certain regions have extended change fee waivers. This article has route details.

South Korea has 800 new cases.

France declares virus clusters in two areas and restricts public gatherings. Clusters in Oise and Haute-Savoie. Total registered cases in France, 73.

US Pentagon says virus outbreak threat to troops around the world. The 1918 flu pandemic hit the military hard.

China sends virus testing kits and aide to Iran.

More than half of patients had no fever during hospital stay. A study of 1099 virus patients found a 1.4% mortality rate, median age 47, 58.1 were male. Incubation period was 2 – 7 days.

Hong Kong is still trying to determine if a virus patient’s dog actually became infected or not. They are urging people to be mindful of where they walk their dogs and to use some basic hygiene around their pets. The concern is that the dog could pick up the virus from the environment, carry it on their face or paws and transfer it to their owner through physical contact. Taking off your shoes at the door and storing them somewhere dogs can not come in contact with said shoes would be a wise step to prevent anything you may track home with you from being transferred to your dog.

Japan PM urges people to help fight the virus outbreak, insists Olympics will still go on.

Worldwide cases: 85,607
Worldwide deaths: 2,932
Worldwide recovered: 39,335
US cases: 62, no deaths

*these numbers only include people who sought treatment or were otherwise recorded by public health authorities.
Source: SCMP.com

Virus’ effect on world economy grows after Trump lashes out

US Department of Homeland Security employee on mandatory 14 day quarantine after returning from China forced by boss to come into work.

Canada reports 2 new positive cases. 1 traveled from Egypt, the other from Iran.

2.29.2020^

2020 game developers conference canceled due to outbreak.

Japan to pay subsidies to make up for parents lost wages after government closes schools.

South Korea tells everyone to stay home

3 suspected cases in Mexico all confirmed positive. All 3 have a common connection through a recent trip to Italy..

Experts think the new un-sourced virus cases on the west coast may be a sign “that the virus might now be spreading in this country“.

Two new confirmed cases in Washington state. A student at Jackson High School in Everett, Washington. The student’s infection cause is unknown. The second is a woman from King County who recently returned from South Korea.

If you are in the market for a wedding dress, virus outbreaks may make that impossible.

People in the US already being sent huge medical bills for CDC mandated hospital quarantine and virus tests required at border entry.

Japan announces coronavirus testing will cost about $166 per patient, $50 with national health insurance. The government is considering offering a subsidy program to cover the $50 cost for lower income people.

Two students at Sacramento City College were exposed to the first Solano county virus patient. One student returned to campus after their exposure.

Travis AFB quarantined evacuee now transferred to hospital in Folsom CA.

Sacramento County says expect more virus cases in the next few days.

Oregon reports local transmission virus case in Portland. A school employee had been sick for more than a week. They may have exposed staff and students at an undisclosed school. * Update: The school is identified as the Forest Hills Elementary School in Portland. It will be closed until next Wednesday for disinfecting. State health officials are trying to contact everyone the woman has been in contact with.

Minnesota health officials will have the ability to test for the virus in state by next week.

Italian hospitals face overcrowding crisis.

US issues travel advisory for Italy.

Nurses union says 124 health care workers from UC Davis hospital in Sacramento are home on quarantine and that the federal guidelines for virus control at hospitals are inadequate and will cause a health care crisis.

South Korea reports 594 new virus cases on Saturday. This raises the total in South Korea to 2931. 476 of the new cases are in Daegu where the outbreak started.

Experts worry virus could hit bay area homeless camps and spread rapidly.

CDC says their virus testing kit is ready to use at 40 labs in the US.

US cancels ASEAN summit to be held in Vegas in March.

North Korea still claims they have no cases of the virus.

Stores in US experience “stocking up” and panic buying.

Google employee in Zurich Switzerland positive for virus. Major companies restrict employee travel and cancel group/public events.

The WHO says washing your hands is one of the best prevention strategies. This explains how to do it properly. If you are a real overachiever, here is how medical professionals scrub up for a surgery.

Israeli researchers think they have a working COVID-19 Vaccine. They claim it is “weeks away” from being figured out. An existing vaccine they have for use in poultry exhibited great similarity to what should work to inoculate people against COVID-19. Once they have a working prototype they assume they could fast track needed trials and have a confirmed vaccine in 90 days. Then it would need to be put into mass production.

Amazon has banned millions of products for making false coronavirus claims and others for price gouging. Amazon has sold out of many items including some staple foods, over the counter medications and health related items.

2nd case of community spread virus in California. Santa Clara county. Also, 2 Solano county residents who had been evacuated from the Diamond Princess to Travis AFB and have been repeatedly testing positive but not seriously ill, were allowed to leave the AFB to quarantine in their home.

While other countries hit with the virus outbreak have instituted broad policies to help people ride out the distruptions such as putting a hold on utility bills and loans, the Trump administration is focusing solely on helping the stock market.

US Navy orders ships that have made Pacific port calls (30-40 total) to quarantine at sea.

Singapore & China have an antibody test for the virus that tells if someone was infected and didn’t become extremely ill. The US does not have such a test. NPR explains why that is a big deal.

Washington DC area coronavirus cases:
DC: 5 tests, all negative
Virginia: 2 potential cases, 8 negative
Maryland: 3 people with tests pending, 2 negative

The DC Metro has instituted phase 1 of their pandemic plan. This includes enhanced cleaning, supply stockpiling and looking for absenteeism as a sign of sick workers.

The Hill has a breakdown of who is most at risk

Workers in Seoul clean subway gates (AP photo)

Virus cluster at Chinese cybersecurity agency office. 11 test positive, 178 workers quarantined. Office cleaner assumed to be contact cause of spread. The workers that tested positive were all cleaners or catering workers at the site.

200 people at 2 Beijing hospitals are part of an outbreak.

International travel trade show in Berlin canceled.

Italy warns of hospital chaos if outbreak becomes worse. Authorities said 10% of those identified with the virus so far have required ICU care in a hospital. The governor of Lodi is in self imposed quarantine after an aide tested positive. Overnight the region of Lodi had 57 new hospitalizations that are now in serious condition or in the ICU. Italy also moved to approve measures aimed at providing liquidity to small and medium-sized companies in the red zone, freezing utility charges, insurance premiums and loan repayments including mortgages.

Mick Mulvaney, a member of the White House virus response task force tells people to ignore media reports, turn off their TV about the virus outbreak.

CBS cancels Amazing Race TV show production amid outbreak.

Japan govt. asks auction sites to de-list face masks and hand sanitizers after people began selling them at inflated prices.

Infected persons likely entered the US before travel restrictions were put in place. Researchers now assume the virus outbreak began in early November

15% of COVID-19 cases require hospitalization

More than 60% of Chinese office workers are still on telecommuting orders. Schools in China are still closed with no reopen date set. 24 of China’s 31 provinces had told businesses to shut with reopen dates now long since expired.

Hong Kong will quarantine any arrivals from Iran or certain parts of Italy.

Earlier today we reported that the SD state government had declared the state would be practically immune to the current outbreak. Data from the 2009 H1N1 outbreak shows how unsubstantiated that notion is. SD had 2081 infections confirmed by a lab test, 422 hospitalizations, and 23 deaths. These numbers exceeded those of many more populated and geographically connected states.

Shanghai public health lab that raised warning of the coming outbreak and made the virus’s gene sequence public has been shut down by Chinese authorities in what appears to be an act of political retaliation.

Warm weather can help reduce the spread of viruses like influenza. Scientists don’t expect warm weather to kill off COVID-19 transmission.

A vaccine for this strain of coronavirus is at least 2 years away. There will not be a vaccine available any time soon.

CVS warns of hand sanitizer shortages

Dow falls over 1000 points Friday morning

WHO raises virus outbreak level from high to very high.

Death Toll on Diamond Princess reaches 5

State officials in South Dakota declared the state to be “low risk” for a virus outbreak. They cited no rationale or evidence to back up their claim. While more rural parts of the state may be at a lesser risk due to less contact with others, larger cities like Sioux Falls bear the same risk as other cities.

Coronavirus case identified in San Mateo county in CA. Patient taken to “undisclosed location”.

1 person is estimated to spread the virus to 22 other people on average. Death rate is 2%, 8% for elderly.

Public health experts worry virus may be spreading in US undetected. The CDC updated testing criteria to include anyone with unexplained respiratory distress or people with symptoms that had traveled from an outbreak country recently.

United Airlines said on Friday it was cancelling flights to Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore and Seoul due to health concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak.

After being put in charge of the outbreak in the US, Mike Pence leaves the White House to go campaign in Florida.

Swiss ban public gatherings, Geneva car show canceled.

Hundai closes a South Korean factory after a worker tests positive.

Virus wipes out $5 trillion in worldwide stock values to date.

Microsoft cancels gaming conference scheduled for March

Hokkaido Japan put under a state of emergency. People told to stay home. This mention from SCMP.com may indicate why Japan has fumbled their response.
“The country does not have a centre for disease control, putting virus prevention and outbreak control in the hands of bureaucrats from the health ministry, aided by a group of experts.”
The Japanese government closed schools on Thursday but left day care and after school programs open.

Dog tests “weak positive” for the virus in Hong Kong. The owner has the virus. Authorities changed quarantine rules to require domestic pet dogs and cats to be quarantined at a government facility if the owner is required to go into quarantine outside their home or to the hospital. Authorities will further test the dog to determine if the positive test was due to environmental factors or if the dog actually has the virus.

Researchers found that COVID-19 caused lung damage similar to what was found in outbreaks of SARS and MERS.

Azerbaijan and Lithuania have first virus cases.

Italy has 650 cases, 17 deaths.

Mexico reports first 2 cases. Case 1 in Mexico City. That patient had contact with someone who had traveled from Italy. Their family is in quarantine. Case 2 was in Sinaloa state in northern Mexico. They are being tested a second time but considered positive.

2 more from the Diamond Princess die in Japan – per NHK TV (no print confirmation yet)

US stock markets continue to drop on Friday due to virus concerns.

Kenya bans flights from China, puts recent arrivals from China into quarantine at a military base.

Total infections worldwide: 83,734
Total deaths worldwide: 2,868
Total worldwide recovered: 36,439
Source: SCMP.com

South Korea updates Friday new infection total to 571, total infections 2,337. China has 313 new infections. The number of new cases outside Hubei dropped to nine, from 24 reported a day earlier. China had 44 deaths on Friday, a drastic drop from daily reports in previous weeks.

Nigerian 1st case is Italian citizen who recently returned from Milan.

Asian stock markets open down.

12 countries see first virus cases in last 48 hours. WHO considers virus outbreak to have pandemic potential.

New Zealand has first virus case, person who traveled from Iran.

2.28.2020 ^

Tokyo Disney to close until March 15 due to virus concerns.

Mask shortage in Sacramento after hospital staff exposed.

NYC says they have their first suspected virus case. A patient with respiratory symptoms who recently traveled to Italy.

Kuwait reports 43 new virus cases, all tied to travel to Iran.

South Korea reports 256 new cases as of their Friday morning report.

Sick patients in Japan are struggling to be tested for COVID-19 even when their doctor orders the test.

Stores in Hawaii are emptied out as panic buying hits. State officials urged people to stock up on necessities in case there is an outbreak. People took this warning seriously and emptied out store shelves of certain basic items like was seen already in various countries in Asia. Hawaii does not currently have any documented infections. They do have a number of people monitoring themselves at home due to travel from China.

Solano County has declared a virus emergency. They have moved from “containment to mitigation”. 100 heath care workers are being monitored after being in contact with the patient. County officials insist the risk in the community is low and the declaration allows them additional resources and authority.

7 members of Iran’s senior government are now infected with the virus.

Nigeria confirms 1st case of virus.

The first known local transmission case in the US is a woman from the Vacaville, CA area. She was symptomatic in her home area then for a week at a local hospital before being transferred to the UC Davis hospital in Sacramento. State officials are contact tracing anyone who may have had contact with the woman. Medical staff who worked with the patient are being tested and monitored for the virus at home. The woman’s family is in isolation under a 14 day quarantine. Her coworkers are being monitored and the state is trying to contact trace anyone who used the business she works at. Reports this evening are that she is in serious condition and on a ventilator.

The UC Davis student’s room mates attend American River College and Cosumnes River College. Neither school is currently on any sort of shutdown. “The students were exposed by working as medical professionals, but it is unknown where exactly the students were exposed.” So the students are not under quarantine solely due to their roommate.

Student at UC Davis tests positive for virus. The student and two room mates who are currently asymptomatic are in isolation. The room mates are currently pending testing.

The Netherlands has 1st virus case. Person traveled from Italy.

US Federal Reserve to take action to avoid economic fallout of virus outbreak.

Japan has developed a working COVID-19 quick test that can be done in 10-30 minutes. It is not currently in production and will need more work before it is available for use.

A federal whistleblower exposed that the federal response to evacuated US citizens that arrived in California for quarantine was utterly botched. The Health & Human Services agency sent federal workers who had no experience in dealing with public health emergencies, no quarantine training, did not wear protective gear when interacting with the quarantined evacuees, then allowed them to take commercial flights back to their homes around the US without any testing. Workers cited in the complaint said they raised concerns about the botched quarantine conditions and again when some federal workers began feeling ill only to be bullied and shut down by senior agency officials. This botched quarantine is considered the likely cause of the new “community origin” coronavirus case in California. The person who fell ill lived near Travis AFB, one of the quarantine locations. This long NY Times article has all of the quite disturbing details.

Venice loses 70% of tourism visitors amid outbreak.

California announces 8400 possible cases of the virus are being monitored.

The outbreak in China and beyond will have a significant impact on the clothing and fashion industry, and product availability for months beyond the outbreak. Drug shortages are also anticipated as raw materials sourced from China dry up.

Cruise ship with 6000 people on board held at a port in Mexico after crew member develops flu symptoms. Entire ship will be tested for coronavirus before anyone will be allowed to disembark. Ship was denied port in Jamaica and Grand Cayman.

South Korea closes schools for extension of the holiday due to outbreak.

A primary school and a medical surgery have been closed after a student’s parent tests positive for coronavirus after returning from Italy.

A high school in Washington state has closed due to a coronavirus concern. A staff member’s relative is being tested for the virus.

All federal health officials and scientists will now have to make any statements or appearances in coordination though VP Pence, effectively gagging the public health apparatus.

WHO warns that any country not taking the virus seriously risks a fatal outbreak.

Vacaville CA hospital staff that treated the first case of local virus transmission are now under quarantine as a precaution.

UK warns schools could close for 2 months if virus hits.

Germany has 19 new cases of the virus

The South Korean city of Daegu at the center of the outbreak there is suffering a shortage of doctors and nurses.

IBM tells employees in virus hit regions to work from home.

Italy now has 650 known virus cases.

The pope has canceled a meeting with outside priests after falling ill, raising concerns the virus may be spreading in the Vatican. Italy refuses to close borders. The Vatican has closed the catacombs to the public due to the outbreak.

Oman now has a coronavirus case in someone who traveled from Iran.

Trump appoints coronavirus coordinator, day after putting Pence in charge of response.
The White House also added these people to their task force for the virus:

• Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury
• Dr. Jerome Adams, Surgeon General of the United States
• Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council

The US may kick in a defense production special power to ramp up the production of masks and protective gear.

People are being urged to stock up on food and certain medications. This cites for a few weeks. People in Wuhan have already been on lock down for over a month with no signs that will change soon. If you have an Amazon Prime account you can get “prime pantry” boxes of staple foods with free shipping, larger cities may have their fresh delivery service. People with a Costco membership can have most grocery items delivered same day as part of their membership.

Global supply chains were already disrupted by China’s lockdowns and quarantines. Now a second wave is expected as South Korea and Japan face expanding outbreaks. A combination of lack of supplies from China’s manufacturers over the last 2 months and expected closures due to outbreaks in South Korea and Japan may cause a second wave of product and manufacturing disruptions that could hit just about every sector of commerce. The uncertainty of the outbreaks around the world is causing instability in the world stock markets.

Businesses are scaling back business travel and Facebook has canceled their large annual conference.

Total worldwide infections: 82,456
Total worldwide deaths: 2811
Total worldwide recovered: 32,765
As of 2.27.20 (morning US time) Source

Adding to the confusion and complicating the response, people have been found to be able to recover then get reinfected. If they test positive again they are contagious and could infect other people. People can be asymptomatic where they don’t have a fever or other symptoms but are infectious and can spread the virus to others.

The CDC says they have solved the problem with the quick test kits sent to states to detect the virus. They plan to have them distributed within a week.

The first case of local transmission was found late last night in California. It took days to get the person tested as they didn’t meet certain CDC criteria and CDC has been the only place capable of running a test. The person is being treated at UC David medical center.

There is a world wide shortage of masks. Efforts to rapidly increase production may not be able to meet demand.

A WHO official called Trump’s press conference on the virus outbreak in the US incoherent.

Italy is experiencing one of the larger outbreaks outside China. There are concerns this will hit their economy. The Italian outbreak has spread to the UK, Germany, Brazil, Spain and Denmark. A total of 11 European countries have active cases tied back to Italy.

South Korea currently has over 1700 cases.

Japan has over 907 cases and has closed all public schools starting in March, and urged public gatherings to be canceled. Sports and religious events are being canceled in Japan at government urging. People released from the Diamond Princess cruise ship “quarantine” are finding airlines unwilling to book them flights home from Japan. 15 new cases were found in Hokkaido and one elderly man died. Japan found a patient that tested positive, recovered, tested negative then fell ill later and was found to be reinfected.

Saudi Arabia currently has no active cases but has banned foreigners from traveling to holy sites popular with tourists.

Iran has an ongoing outbreak with a high number of deaths. A second member of the Iranian government has contracted the virus as of early this morning. That has now increased. The Iranian ambassador to the Vatican has died of coronavirus in Tehran. There are concerns that the high number of deaths in Iran indicates a wider spread of infection as the country lacks the health care infrastructure to test people and has run out of masks.

The outbreak started in Wuhan City, Hubei Provence, China possibly as early as November 2019. A seafood market in the city appears to have been the epicenter of the second wave of the outbreak in the city. The current assumption by researchers is that this virus originated in bats, jumped through an unknown intermediate animal host before jumping to humans. The outbreak spread to other cities in China where they are still trying to manage the outbreak through city lockdowns, limiting people’s ability to leave their home etc. It quickly spread to other locations. A cruise ship with various ports of call in Asia landed in Yokohama and become a petri dish of human transmission while they were held in “quarantine” by the Japanese government. Another ship was denied landing by various countries and eventually was allowed to dock in Cambodia where the dictatorship government allowed people on the ship to leave without any real testing. At least one guest on the ship tested positive upon landing at the airport in Malaysia. The rest were let go without restrictions or comprehensive testing. The second largest outbreak is in South Korea. A secretive Christian cult is suspected as being the main cause for the transmission to South Korea. Members from this church left Wuhan after the outbreak began and a member fell ill. After arriving at their church facility in South Korea, the group experienced and outbreak and caused local transmission of the virus. Outbreaks then began in Italy and Iran and have been rapidly spreading to other countries around the world.

Updates for 2.27.2020 ^

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