Coronavirus news: Washington preparing for 64,000 cases as Massachusetts becomes latest to declare state of emergency
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With more than 900 reported cases and a task force created by Donald Trump to prepare the nation, coronavirus fears have begun to grip the United States as schools cancel classes and officials have urged elderly people to avoid large crowds.
Coronavirus concerns have also prompted several members of US Congress to self quarantine after coming into contact with people who were infected, and some politicians have begun to indicate they believe the Capitol building should be shut off to visitors until the growing outbreak has been contained.
So far, 30 people have been killed by the virus, including at least 24 in Washington, two in California and another two in Florida. Eight people have so-far recovered from the virus, which has sparked a rare national lock down in Italy. The rapid increase of coronavirus cases in the US and across the world encouraged one expert to compare the numbers to Italy, which has seen more than 9,100 cases. The expert anticipates America’s epidemic could look like Italy’s in nine to 14 days.
The spread of the coronavirus got worse in Italy on Tuesday, with the state revealing the death toll has risen by 168 people in just 24 hours. It made for the largest single day jump and 631 people have died from the virus to date.
Governor Jay Inslee of Washington state warned there could be 64,000 cases of coronavirus in his state alone if the spread continues. The state has at least 167 confirmed cases, but the governor believes it is closer to 1,000 people infected by the virus. Health officials warn the official tally is significantly lower than the number of people likely infected across the country.
In response to the growing number of coronavirus cases, both North Carolina and Massachusetts declared a state of emergency on Tuesday. The declaration allows the states to allocate funds towards the proper governmental agencies to combat the spread fo the virus. It also prevents price gouging.
Trump attempted to calm Americans after he met with Republican lawmakers about a package to cushion any economic fallout from the pandemic. "It will go away, just stay calm," Trump said. "Be calm. It's really working out. And a lot of good things are going to happen."
His administration has received backlash from public officials over the handling of the coronavirus, including the lack of testing originally available. Trump also met with insurance companies on Tuesday, and each said they would cover the cost of coronavirus tests for all of their private insurers.
Hello and welcome to The Independent's live blog covering the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
Coronavirus cases in New York state rise to 167
Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed on Tuesday that at least 25 new people tested positive with the coronavirus in the state, growing from the 142 cases on Monday to 167.
Officials said they were still working to determine how many new cases are currently in the state.
Port Authority chief Rick Cotton confirmed yesterday he has been infected with the virus after being "hands-on" across ares of New York that include JFK International airport. “He’s a hands-on guy. We have a hands-on government and he was there himself. And he got exposed, our guess is, during that situation. But it is not emblematic of public transportation or anything else,” Mr Cuomo said.
In New York City, there are five new coronavirus cases, increasing the number of total cases to 25. Mr Cuomo said the city was considering potentially cancelling the St Patrick's Day parade this upcoming weekend.
"That's one of the things we're looking at. And, look, in New York, we also have a cluster in Westchester County, which is outside of New York City, and that is a very intense cluster," he said.
"So we're taking more dramatic actions in that cluster. You calibrate your response to the time and the facts and the circumstances in that place at that time. So parades, etc., we look at that on a daily basis."
Numbers in the US has risen to more than 750 confirmed cases and 27 deaths.
New Jersey becomes ninth state to declare an emergency
Governor Phil Murphy declared late on Monday a state of emergency in New Jersey to "contain the spread of COVID-19."
His announcement came after the state confirmed five new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, bringing its total number to 11.
"We’ve been ahead of the curve in terms of our preparations, and this declaration will help keep us there," Mr Murphy said on Twitter.
Announcing a state of emergency in New Jersey will allow the state to access resources for its governmental agencies quicker. The goal is for these agencies to receive funding and other resources swiftly to combat further spreads fo the virus. The executive order will also prohibit price gouging as it relates to the coronavirus.
New York State declared a state of emergency on Saturday to access resources of its agencies. Other states declaring an emergency include California, Washington, Oregon, and Florida.
Two New York school bus drivers test positive for the coronavirus
Nassau County in New York has confirmed 19 cases of the coronavirus.
Of those 19 cases, two of them are school bus drivers who transport about 80 students between them through Long Island.
Most of the families have been contacted about the drivers, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said.
There have been school closures in response to the outbreak in and 72 residents have entered mandatory quarantine. Another 74 residents are in precautionary quarantine.
The number of cases in New York State rose on Tuesday from 142 to at least 167. Officials said they were still working to determine how many new cases are in the state.
Harvard University moves classes online
Harvard University has advised its students not to return to campus after spring break and to expect to complete classwork remotely “until further notice”, in an effort to avoid the further spread of COVID-19.
Graduate students will transition to online work wherever possible, and students who must remain on campus will be taught remotely “and must prepare for severely limited on-campus activities and interactions," the university's president has said.
Non-essential gatherings of more than 25 people on campus are strongly discouraged.
Susan Svrluga reports:
Coronavirus disrupts schools around the world
Greece announced it would be closing schools and universities across the country after the number of coronavirus cases rose to 89. Spain, which has more than 1,600 cases and 35 deaths, has also suspended schools in the Madrid area.
They join the more than 22 countries responding to the coronavirus by suspending or closing down schools.
The number of K-12 and colleges closed across the world increased dramatically in the last few weeks. China was the first country to suspend classes. This was then followed by Japan, Iran, Italy, Iraq and North Korea.
Last week, the United Nations estimated 300 million students and their education have been impacted across the globe by the outbreak. A majority of those students, about 223 million, come from China.
In the United States, schools across the nation are going online or deciding the close amid concerns of the coronavirus outbreak in different areas. Stanford University, Washington State University, Seattle University, and Columbia University among others are all rolling out online class options for its students. The second largest school district in the US, Los Angeles Unified school district, is putting in place emergency powers for its superintendent to close schools if the pandemic escalates.
Expert says United State's epidemic could mirror Italy's in about a week
Computer scientist Mark Handley, a professor of Network Services and roboticist at the University College London, shared a graph on Twitter showing how countries could match up to the epidemic going on in Italy.
"Here's the coronavirus data, overlayed with the dates offset by the amounts shown. One of these countries is not like the rest. Everyone else will be Italy in 9-14 days time," he wrote while sharing data from each country and their coronavirus cases.
Italy went into lockdown after more than 9,100 positive cases were confirmed and 463 people died from the virus.
According to Mr Hadley's dates, the US is following Italy's trajectory in the number of confirmed cases and deaths given where the country was nine to 14 days ago. Germany, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Spain all have a similar trajectory. The only country on the chart that had a slower growth of cases was Japan.
Mr Hadley's numbers does not mean that is how cases will grow in the US and other countries, but he used the graph as a warning of what people might expect in the coming weeks.
National Guard is deployed to New York coronavirus hotspot
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the National Guard would go to New Rochelle to help contain the coronavirus outbreak.
The New York City suburb in Westchester County is the centre of the largest cluster of coronavirus cases in the state.
The containment zone will be put in place on 12 March and last until 25 March.
Read more here:
Pentagon enacts 'social distancing' when speaking to press
The Department of Defense is enacting a "social distancing" rule when speaking to the press in response to the growing number of coronavirus cases.
CNN’s Barbara Starr shard a picture on Tuesday of the Pentagon briefing room that shows chairs spaced out a few feet from each other.
"Social distancing" was also used in meetings among officials.
In recent days, the Pentagon has also allowed some its employees to work from home.
Italy's death toll rises to 631 in biggest single day jump
Italy's death toll has risen by 168 people in the space of 24 hours - with 631 people confirmed to have died after contracting the virus so far.
The increase in the nation's death toll marks the highest rate of fatalities so far for the Mediterranean nation which has been the worst affected country in Europe since initial cases were first reported on 31 January.
Officials in Rome added the number of those infected had broken into five figures - with 10,149 testing positive for Covid-19 compared to 9,172 the previous day.
Vincent Wood reports:
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