Los Angeles County declared a local health emergency as officials confirmed six new cases of coronavirus there, and nine new cases were confirmed in New York. American workers face increasing disruptions to their routines as companies, schools and local governments implement precautions to curb the outbreak, with many firms restricting travel or weighing work-from-home arrangements.
In China, the outbreak appeared to be easing. Far more new cases were reported outside the country than within, suggesting that Chinese authorities’ draconian efforts to curb transmission may be paying off at home, even as the casualty count mounts elsewhere. The World Health Organization said Tuesday that covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, has killed about 3.4 percent of those diagnosed with the illness — a higher rate than experts previously estimated.
Governments are struggling to contain anxiety among households, businesses and investors about a prolonged economic impact. South Korea proposed a $10 billion stimulus package Wednesday as its coronavirus infection total soared past 5,200, the highest national count outside China. Elsewhere, authorities are warning against the hoarding of emergency supplies and price gouging, and some large-scale events, including the London Book Fair, have been canceled.
Here are the latest developments:
- New cases of the virus continued to emerge Wednesday in the United States, with Texas and New Jersey the latest states to identify individuals testing positive for the new coronavirus. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in California, where the number of coronavirus cases exceeded 50. In Washington, AIPAC warned that some attendees at a recent event may have been in contact with someone who had the virus.
- Italy said it will close schools and universities throughout the country in an attempt to control the spread of the coronavirus as it battles the most serious outbreak in Europe. Senegal, the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to have confirmed a case of the respiratory illness besides Nigeria, reported two new cases, doubling its total.
- Early on Thursday, China announced 139 new cases, along with 31 new deaths, marking a slight uptick in the spread of the illness following what many experts had interpreted as a promising decline.
- The Trump administration vowed that any American can be tested for the virus if a doctor deems it necessary. On Wednesday, Vice President Pence said that the risk of contracting the virus “remains low” but that all passengers flying directly from Italy and South Korea will be screened multiple times.
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'No Time to Die’ release postponed over coronavirus disruptions
It’s not quite the time for “No Time To Die,” the latest James Bond Film.
A global release set for April was postponed Wednesday over worldwide disruptions to the movie industry caused by the coronavirus outbreak.“
MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced Wednesday that “after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace, the release of ‘No Time to Die’ will be postponed until November 2020,” the films backers said in a statement, according the Hollywood Reporter.
The film had been scheduled for international release on April 2 and U.S. release April 10. It cost more than $200 million to produce and faces pressure to perform in international markets given the high price tag, Variety reported.
Recent theater closures and other restrictions on movement and public gatherings in countries including Italy, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, however, could have seriously dampened the film’s earning potential if it were it released on time, Variety reported.
China reports slight uptick in coronavirus cases
China on Thursday announced 139 new coronavirus cases, along with 31 new deaths.
The figures, which cover the past 24 hours, mark a slight uptick in the spread of the illness following what many experts had interpreted as a promising decline.
China’s National Health Commission said in a statement that all of the deaths took place in the country’s Hubei province, the epicenter of the global epidemic. Chinese officials said its strict efforts to contain the outbreak in Hubei have led to the decline.
Also Thursday, the health commission said 2,189 people were discharged from hospitals and 464 severe cases were downgraded.
Facebook employee in Seattle diagnosed with coronavirus
A Facebook employee in Seattle has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the company told Bloomberg News on Wednesday, marking the first infection for the tech company as the virus continues to spread across Washington state.
According to the news agency, the employee is a contractor who was last in Facebook’s Stadium East office in Seattle on Feb. 21.
Facebook alerted its employees about the situation on Wednesday night, according to Bloomberg, and said the Seattle office will be closed until Monday, though it is encouraging all employees to work from home until the end of the month.
AIPAC warns that some attendees at D.C. event may have been in contact with a coronavirus patient
Officials from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Wednesday said a group of people who attended the massive policy conference in Washington earlier this week may have previously been in contact with a coronavirus patient.
In a statement, AIPAC President Betsy Korn and Chairman Mort Fridman said they were coordinating with the D.C. Health Department about possible exposure after learning that a group of attendees from New York had potentially been exposed to someone with coronavirus.
The annual conference, which draws tens of thousands of attendees, ran from March 1-3 this year. It was not immediately clear whether the individual in question was one of the 11 confirmed cases in New York.
Korn and Fridman said they were told by the D.C. Health Department “there is no reason to ‘sound the alarm,'” and that the potential exposure was “low-risk.”
“To our knowledge, no one who attended the conference has tested positive for coronavirus at this time,” they wrote.
LaToya Foster, director of communications for D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), said late Wednesday that the city’s health department would continue to remain in contact with the event organizer.
“We appreciate the event organizers practicing an abundance of caution as we all work to be as communicative as possible,” Foster said in a statement. “While DC Health considers this a low-risk exposure, we urge everyone to follow the well established hygiene tips.”
AIPAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump disputes coronavirus mortality rate based on his ‘hunch’
Trump believes the stated mortality rate of the coronavirus is inflated, a conclusion he has come to based on his own assessment.
“I think the 3.4 percent is really a false number. This is really my hunch,” Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity. “Personally, I would say the number is way under 1 percent,” the president added.
The 3.4 percent rate comes from the World Health Organization, which said it is much higher than the mortality rate of seasonal flu. Trump insisted it was an inflated number because, he reasoned, some people who have the virus never get tested because the symptoms are so mild.
Microsoft recommends employees who can work from home do so through March 25
Microsoft updated its work-from-home policy late Wednesday amid the coronavirus outbreak, recommending that all employees who are in jobs that can be done from home to do so through March 25.
The software giant’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters neighbors Kirkland, where residents in a nursing facility have been particularly hard hit by the virus. The new policy comes after health officials in King County earlier Wednesday urged employees throughout the region to telecommute for the next three weeks, if possible. The new Microsoft rules are in response to those recommendations, Microsoft executive vice president Kurt DelBene wrote in an email to employees.
“Taking these measures will ensure your safety and also make the workplace safer for those that need to be onsite,” DelBene wrote.
Employees who work in Microsoft’s data centers, its retail stores or other jobs in the region that require them to be on-site should continue to go to work, DelBene wrote. The company is advising all workers who are over 60, who have underlying health conditions such as heart disease, whose immune systems are compromised, and those who are pregnant to avoid interaction in large groups or public settings, as the county recommended.
DelBene also advised employees to postpone travel to its Seattle-area offices, as well as its Bay Area campuses, “unless essential for the continuity of Microsoft.”
JetBlue announces flight, spending cuts
JetBlue said Wednesday that the airline would cut capacity by “approximately 5% in the near term” in response to the effect of the coronavirus on travel demand. In a statement, the company said it would monitor booking trends to see whether additional reductions would be required.
The company also said it was taking other steps to preserve cash, including “reducing hiring for both frontline and support center positions, considering voluntary time off programs as appropriate, and limiting non-essential spending,” according to the statement.
How coronavirus spread in New York
What began as one family’s crisis spiraled into a medical crisis for many Jewish families and institutions across New York City on Wednesday as about 1,000 people have self-quarantined in Westchester County, according to officials. A 50-year-old attorney who lives in New Rochelle just north of Manhattan remained at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital on Wednesday, as he, his wife and two children tested positive for the coronavirus.
Close-knit Orthodox families were under quarantine in New Rochelle, where many Jews visit the same kosher restaurants and grocery stories and attend the same schools and events. The lawyer’s son attends Yeshiva University, which closed its Washington Heights campus on Wednesday. And a Jewish day school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx closed as a precautionary measure.
As the number of coronavirus victims reached 11 in the state on Wednesday, officials sought to reassure New Yorkers that it was safe to continue to use public transportation. The governor, urging caution, described the coronavirus as the “flu on steroids.”
Read more here.
Newsom declares state of emergency, says Grand Princess cruise ship will be held off coast
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in California, where the number of coronavirus cases continues to grow.
Newsom (D) said there were 53 confirmed cases in the state, included 24 cases in which people had been repatriated to the state from elsewhere. He also discussed the death of a 71-year-old man from Placer County, who died after a voyage on the Grand Princess cruise ship, which traveled between San Francisco and Mexico between Feb. 11 and Feb. 21.
Princess Cruises earlier Wednesday said it was investigating a “small cluster” of people in California currently aboard the Grand Princess, which on Feb. 21 left on a separate voyage to Hawaii. Late Wednesday, Newsom said more than half the passengers on the current cruise — at least 2,500 people — were Californians.
That Hawaii voyage was scheduled to return Wednesday to San Francisco, but Newsom said he requested the ship be held off the coast after confirming that a number of passengers and crew members aboard had developed coronavirus symptoms.
Newsom said officials planned to test those on board for coronavirus in addition to those from the previous voyage.
Washington state tells voters not to lick their ballot envelopes
In Washington state, election officials are advising residents to take an extra precaution when voting this year: Don’t lick your primary ballot envelope.
“Whether healthy or sick, please don’t lick!” reads a tweet sent Tuesday from Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman’s office, which recommended that voters “use alternative methods to seal your ballot return envelopes, such as a wet sponge or cloth.”
In an interview Wednesday, Wyman said that she and members of her office met with federal and state officials over the weekend to discuss the state’s coronavirus response. During the briefing, she said, officials noted that the coronavirus could live in the saliva on envelopes and recommended that voters take the step of not licking their envelopes.
“We’re just trying to have a calm approach to it and remind people that there are ways that you can reduce your risk,” Wyman said. She added that election workers are also being advised to wear gloves when opening envelopes.
News of the state’s advice to voters was first reported by Seattle-based TV station Q13 Fox.
Washington’s primary is March 10, and the state’s election is conducted entirely by mail, meaning that county officials will be handling millions of envelopes.
New Jersey announces first coronavirus case
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday announced the first presumptive case of the coronavirus in the state — a man in his 30s — and urged his state’s residents to “remain calm.”
It wasn’t clear how the man contracted the virus, though officials said he was hospitalized Tuesday in Bergen County. The presumptive positive result came from a sample tested by the state and will be submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation, officials said.
“Any case of novel coronavirus in our state is concerning; however, most New Jersey residents are at very low risk of contracting covid-19,” the disease caused by the virus, Judith Persichilli, the state’s Department of Health commissioner, said in a statement.
Texas confirms state’s first presumptive coronavirus case
The first presumptive case of the coronavirus in Texas is a man in his 70s who had recently traveled abroad, state and local health officials said Wednesday.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the man, who is currently hospitalized in stable condition, had traveled to a country with known coronavirus cases. In a statement, officials said Fort Bend County Health and Human Services were attempting to identify the man’s close contacts, including family members, co-workers and emergency responders. Fort Bend County is in suburban Houston.
Health officials, who did not say where the man had traveled, said the immediate risk to Texas residents is low.
“This travel-related case reinforces the fact that we should all be taking basic hygiene steps that are extremely effective in limiting the spread of COVID-19 and all respiratory illnesses,” said Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Gaps remain in aviation response to outbreaks, officials tell Senate panel hearing on coronavirus
The Trump administration has improved its ability to respond to outbreaks that affect the flying public, but information gaps can hamper efforts to communicate with the public and to quickly reach those who may be at risk of exposure, officials told a Senate panel Wednesday.
Even as some lawmakers praised the decision to restrict air traffic from China and bar non-U. S. citizens from affected regions from entering the country, they acknowledged that more work is needed.
“I want to credit the staff at the state and local level for all the work they’ve done, but I have to share my frustration here because I can’t believe that we’re having some of the conversations we’re having now,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said.
“After having faced other global outbreaks such as H1N1 and SARS, did we not learn anything about processes and procedures from those previous diseases? You know, Americans have been flying commercially for more than a century, yet today, on the cusp of a global pandemic, the inability of the federal government to collect and share critical data effectively with U.S. airlines and local partners is really hindering our ability to stop the spread and fight this disease,” she said.
Duckworth’s comments, at a hearing of the Senate subcommittee on aviation and space, came as California announced its first coronavirus-linked death, bringing the death toll in the United States to 11, and as the House passed an $8.3 billion emergency spending package to respond to the outbreak.
Witnesses at the hearing, which focused on the role of global aviation in containing the spread of infectious diseases, included representatives from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, all of which have a role.
“I think we have improved since really — my own history is, begins with the mid-2000s,” said Stephen Redd, director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness Response at the CDC. “I think we’re far ahead of where we were at that point in time. I think you are pointing out some things that need to change and I think that there will be ... in the very near term, work to make sure that we are operating as effectively as we can now.”
IMF warns of ‘dire scenarios’ for world economy
The International Monetary Fund said the potential outlook for the world economy has grown dimmer, and the fund is now considering “more dire scenarios” as the coronavirus continues to spread.
"In terms of our projections, we unfortunately over the last week have seen a shift to a more adverse scenario for the global economy,” Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the IMF, told reporters at a briefing in Washington on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
“It is, unfortunately, spreading undetected more than initially was thought,” Georgieva said. “The moment it became clear it is no more just about China and maybe a small number of countries in Asia surrounding China, then the outlook on what the impact could be changed.”
Central banks and governments have been struggling to respond to economic slowdowns caused by drops in travel, production and consumption as communities react to the outbreak.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve issued an emergency rate cut, but it failed to kickstart global markets as intended. That same day World Bank President David Malpass announced “a $12 billion immediate support package” to assist poorer countries in combating any coronavirus-related health and economic impacts, Bloomberg reported.