Wednesday, March 4, 2020

9th Person Dies From Coronavirus In Washington State As Cases Increase Across U.S.

Lisette Voytko Forbes Staff (Updated: 3:35 p.m. EST, March 3 2020)
Topline: A ninth person has died from coronavirus in the U.S., according to CNN, with all of the fatalities occurring in Washington State, as over 100 cases on American soil have been confirmed and the Centers for Disease Control says the country might be seeing “the beginning of what is happening abroad."
·         The ninth death occurred in Washington’s King County, which includes Seattle, and where seven other patients have died from the virus.
·         According to ABC News, the patient was a woman in her 80’s, and she died at home.
·         It was reported earlier on Tuesday that the Trump administration is considering reimbursing uninsured patients or providers treating the uninsured using an emergency measure.
·         President Trump said Tuesday he is considering putting more travel restrictions in place to control the disease’s spread, saying “We're watching Italy very closely, South Korea very closely, even Japan very closely, and we’ll make the right determination at the right time."
·         As of Tuesday, the CDC reported 118 coronavirus cases across 15 U.S. states, with 70 confirmed by local healthcare providers, 48 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship and 3 who were repatriated from Wuhan, China.
Crucial quote: “What is happening now in the United States may be the beginning of what is happening abroad,” Nancy Messonnier, an infectious diseases director for the CDC, told reporters Tuesday. “We will continue to maintain, for as long as is practical, an aggressive national posture of containment.”
Big number: Over 70. That’s how many countries the coronavirus, officially named Covid-19, has spread to since December 2019.
Key background: The coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the United States, but as of Tuesday, all fatalities have occurred in Washington State. As of Monday afternoon, 96 U.S. cases were confirmed, meaning Tuesday’s jump to 118 is a 22% increase. The first coronavirus patient to die in the U.S. occurred in Washington State on Saturday. Although the number of reported cases in China has slowed, Italy and South Korea have been reporting larger increases in cases, according to the Washington Post. Globally, over 90,000 people have been infected and over 3,000 people have died from the disease.
What we don’t know: How long coronavirus could have been spreading within the U.S. Genetic analysis of the virus in Washington State revealed that the disease could have been spreading for at least six weeks before the area’s first case was confirmed, according to the New York Times.


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