February 2020

February 29, 2020

Stock markets are headed for a 40 percent plunge, says economist who predicted financial crisisThe end of a very rough week for U.S. markets brought a worrying prediction.While one expert warned fallout from the global coronavirus outbreak could be "worse than the financial crisis" of 2008, the economist who correctly predicted that very crisis is now saying the idea of a major global recession "doesn't sound too farfetched."Nouriel Roubini, a New York University business professor and market prognosticator who foretold the housing bubble burst, told Yahoo Finance on Friday to expect "severe" consequences as the coronavirus continues to rattle markets. How severe? He told Der Spiegel it could be worse than investors even believe at this point, predicting "global equities to tank by 30 to 40 percent this year."He said people "prefer to believe in miracles," (not necessarily referencing President Trump's prediction the coronavirus will "disappear ... like a miracle,") and don't realize the "simple math" tells us that realistically, a squeezed Chinese economy will mean downturns around the globe. "This crisis will spill over and result in a disaster," said Roubini.Roubini, who is often nicknamed Dr. Doom for his frequent pessimistic predictions, also saw doom and gloom for Trump's future as president as a result of any economic strife. Asked by Der Spiegel, Roubini said Trump would likely try to benefit politically from the outbreak, but "will lose the election, that's for sure." Pointing to past incumbent presidents getting ousted amid geopolitical tensions that damaged the economy, he said "The Democratic field is poor, but Trump is dead. Quote me on that!"Though the week just saw a 3,500-point drop for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Roubini warned: "It is far from being over." Read more at Der Spiegel.More stories from theweek.com Trump mocks Bloomberg's height, Biden's age in wild CPAC speech The growing viral threat A coronavirus recession would likely end Trump's presidency




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/38doyN7
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 29, 2020

Most Coronavirus Cases Are Mild. That's Good and Bad News.HONG KONG -- As a dangerous new coronavirus has ravaged China and spread throughout the rest of the world, the outbreak's toll has sown fear and anxiety. Nearly 3,000 deaths. More than 82,000 cases. Six continents infected.But government officials and medical experts, in their warnings about the epidemic, have also sounded a note of reassurance: Although the virus can be deadly, the vast majority of those infected so far have only mild symptoms and make full recoveries.It is an important factor to understand, medical experts said, both to avoid an unnecessary global panic and to get a clear picture of the likelihood of transmission."Many people are now panicking, and some actually are exaggerating the risks," said Dr. Jin Dongyan, a virology expert at the University of Hong Kong. "For governments, for public health professionals -- they also have to deal with these, because these will also be harmful."Much about the virus remains unknown, and the danger could intensify as it travels through the rest of the world. But based on existing information, here's what experts said about the severity of the virus.More than 80% of cases are mild, one large study in China found.Of the 44,672 coronavirus cases that were confirmed in China by Feb. 11, more than 36,000 -- or 81% -- were mild, according to a study published recently by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.Cases were considered mild if they did not involve pneumonia, defined as infection of the lungs, or involved only mild pneumonia, the authors wrote in the study, which is among the largest to date of the new coronavirus.There were two other categories of cases, severe and critical. Severe cases featured shortness of breath, low blood oxygen saturation or other lung problems. Critical cases featured respiratory failure, septic shock or multiple organ dysfunction.Just under 14% of patients were severe and just under 5% critical.The overall fatality rate in China was 2.3%. But that number was inflated by the much higher fatality rate in Hubei province of 2.9%, compared with a rate of just 0.4% in the rest of the country. The seasonal flu, by comparison, has a mortality rate of about 0.1%.The true fatality rate could be even lower, given that many mild or asymptomatic cases may not have been reported to authorities.A mild case may look like the common cold.Mild cases are inherently difficult for scientists to describe because those with limited symptoms may not seek medical care. Scientists have also said that people can be infected but not show any symptoms at all.For many with mild infections, the coronavirus could be virtually indistinguishable from the common cold or seasonal flu, said Jin of the University of Hong Kong."Some of these patients, they just go unrecognized," he said. "It could be just as small as a sore throat. Then one day, two days, it's gone."Even among patients who do go see a doctor, "it could still be very mild, just like a flu," he added.As the Chinese Center for Disease Control's study showed, some mild cases may involve pneumonia. They may also include mild fatigue and low fever, according to a treatment plan released by the central Chinese government.A small study of 99 confirmed coronavirus patients in Wuhan, China, published in the medical journal The Lancet found that most of the patients had fever or cough when they were admitted to the hospital, and some had shortness of breath or muscle ache. The study did not distinguish between mild, severe and critical cases.Most people with mild infections recover.There is no doubt that the virus can be dangerous, especially for critical cases. Of those patients, 49% died, according the study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control.But critical cases made up just a tiny fraction of the total caseload in the study.By Thursday, of the 78,487 confirmed cases in China, 32,495, or 41%, had been discharged from the hospital, according to China's National Health Commission. About 8,300 of the remaining patients were in serious condition. More than 2,700 people have died in China.Many of the deaths have occurred in Hubei province, where the outbreak began and where the demand for care has overwhelmed medical staff. The high mortality rate there could have dangerous implications for developing countries. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, has warned repeatedly of the toll the virus could exact in places with weak health systems.But for mild cases, the virus is likely "self-limiting," Jin said, meaning that symptoms will go away on their own, as with the flu and common cold.But the plethora of mild cases can make containment more difficult.The number of mild cases, though, creates its own complications for curbing the virus's spread.Those with mild or no symptoms may not know they have contracted the virus or may pass it off as a seasonal cold. They may then continue in their daily lives -- traveling, kissing, coming into close contact with others -- and spread the virus without anyone knowing."In this manner, a virus that poses a low health threat on the individual level can pose a high risk on the population level, with the potential to cause disruptions of global public health systems and economic losses," a group of five scientists wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine last week.There are, broadly speaking, two possible outcomes of the current outbreak, Jin said. The new virus could, like SARS, another well-known coronavirus, become less and less transmissible as it spreads around the world, eventually dying out.Alternatively, the new coronavirus could become well established in humans, becoming a kind of recurring seasonal nuisance like the flu, Jin said. In that situation, people would learn to live with it and sometimes would contract illnesses from it, but the virus would most likely also lose some of its dangerousness as time went on. Experts could also develop a vaccine, Jin added.Even mild cases could provide immunity from future infection.Several medical experts have said that those who have been infected with the coronavirus will not become infected again, as their bodies will produce antibodies that provide immunity."As long as the virus doesn't evolve, there is no chance of being infected again," Dr. Lu Hongzhou, a public health professor in Shanghai, said Tuesday in an interview with Beijing News.And that immunity should extend even to those who had mild or even asymptomatic infections. "Anyone recovered from the infection should have useful antibodies," Jin said.The body's natural immune response is the reason Chinese authorities have asked recovered patients to donate blood plasma, in the hopes that their antibodies could be used to treat sick patients. The government has also prescribed antiviral drugs and traditional Chinese medicine as treatment methods.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2VyqcWN
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 29, 2020

South Koreans told to stay home as coronavirus infections surpass 3,100South Korea urged citizens on Saturday to stay indoors as it warned of a "critical moment" in its battle on the coronavirus after recording the biggest daily jump in infections, as 813 new cases took the tally to 3,150. South Korea is grappling with the largest outbreak of the virus outside China, as a new death took the toll to 17, amid a record daily increase in infections since the country confirmed its first patient on Jan. 20. It was a "critical moment" in reining in the spread of the virus, he said, adding, "Please stay at home and refrain from going outside and minimize contact with other people."




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2TpJgE1
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 29, 2020

Rejected by Jamaica, Caymans over virus fears, cruise ship docks in MexicoA cruise ship turned away from Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after a crew member tested positive for flu has docked in Mexico and passengers will be allowed to disembark as long as "health standards" are met, the country's president said Thursday. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters that the Meraviglia, which has been anchored off Cozumel island in the Caribbean since Wednesday, "is being allowed to dock" and those aboard may be allowed off. The operator, MSC Cruises, lashed out at authorities for refusing to allow it to dock at its previous destinations for "acting out of fears" over the new coronavirus.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2PvN5GL
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 29, 2020

Man whose son was found encased in cement sentenced to 72 years in prisonA Colorado man whose seven-year-old son was repeatedly abused before being found encased in concrete in a Denver storage unit has been sentenced to 72 years in prison for the death.Leland Pankey received the sentence on Friday, with one count of child abuse landing him 48 years in prison and 24 years for tampering with the body.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2wZkymy
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 29, 2020

Greece pushes back migrants after Turkish border 'onslaught'Greek police fired teargas to push back hundreds of stone-throwing migrants trying to cross the border from Turkey on Saturday, as a crisis over Syria shifted onto the European Union's doorstep. Greece, which has tense relations with Turkey, accused Ankara of sending the migrants to the border post in an organized "onslaught" and said it would keep them out. Turkey said on Thursday it would stop keeping hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in its territory after an air strike on Idlib in neighboring Syria killed 33 Turkish soldiers.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2VA51Uy
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 29, 2020

Eight fighters with Lebanon's Hezbollah killed in SyriaLebanon's militant Hezbollah group lost at least eight fighters in northwest Syria in skirmishes with insurgents and airstrikes by Turkey's air force, an opposition war monitor and the militant group said Saturday. The casualties followed the death of at least 33 Turkish soldiers earlier this week. The deaths marked the highest for the group in Syria in years as Hezbollah has pulled out many of its fighters from the neighboring country.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2VupD0p
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 29, 2020

Trump Team Testing ‘Off-the-Shelf’ Drugs to Cure Coronavirus(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is testing existing “off-the-shelf” drugs to combat the coronavirus, a cabinet official said Saturday.A national lab in Tennessee recently made “an important discovery” involving existing drugs, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.“The scientists at our Oak Ridge National Laboratory were able to look at the protein strains and determine -- perhaps, it’s still early -- that we can find some off-the-shelf drugs that can help us not only cure the disease but stop the spread of the infection,” Brouillette said.Brouillette was responding to a question about what his agency is doing to help combat the virus, which has caused markets to plunge and killed nearly 3,000 people across the globe. In the U.S., where 22 cases have been reported, the virus has killed one person -- a woman from Washington state -- and more cases are likely, President Donald Trump said Saturday.In addition to the laboratory tests, Brouillette said he’s harnessing the power of his agency’s “super computers” as well as artificial intelligence capabilities to assist organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and the World Heath Organization to conduct modeling on the virus.“We want to know how far is this going to spread and at what point might it peak,” he said.To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Natter in Washington at anatter5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Matthew G. Miller, Virginia Van NattaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2Tkxevy
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 28, 2020

Police identify victims, shooter in Milwaukee brewery shooting rampagePolice in Milwaukee on Thursday identified the five brewery employees shot and killed by a co-worker who later took his own life in the latest spasm of gun violence plaguing U.S. workplaces and schools. The motive for the carnage was unclear a day after the shooting at the landmark Molson Coors Beverage Co complex shook Wisconsin's largest city. "Reasons for this are still under investigation," Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2HXGtMX
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 28, 2020

Trump tries to shift blame as virus outbreak rattles marketsAs global markets plunged amid growing fears about the coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump and his allies pulled from a familiar playbook Friday and blamed others for the slide. The president's team responded to the biggest one-week Wall Street sell-off in more than a decade with a deflection strategy, playing down the threat and eagerly parceling out responsibility to Democrats, the media and the entrenched government bureaucracy. Trump tweeted that “The Do Nothing Democrats" had wasted time on impeachment and “anything else they could do to make the Republican Party look bad" while defending his own response, which many Democrats have deemed sluggish and scattershot.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2uDhjjK
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 28, 2020

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday picked Rep. John Ratcliffe again to be the nation’s top intelligence official, just months after abruptly ending an earlier effort to install him in the post amid bipartisan criticism that the Texas Republican was unqualified for the job.

Trump’s decision meant that once again the GOP-led Senate would have to decide whether to put the three-term lawmaker in charge of overseeing the 17 U.S. spy agencies that Trump has repeatedly scorned.

Trump initially named Ratcliffe last year, but in August withdrew his name before the Senate formally considered him. The president bowed to questions about Ratcliffe’s qualifications and bipartisan concerns that he had little experience in the field of intelligence.

Read more: Top GOP Senator Warned the White House About Trump’s Choice for National Intelligence Director

Since then, Ratcliffe’s visibility has risen as an ardent defender of Trump during the House’s impeachment proceedings against him. “John is an outstanding man of great talent!” Trump said in announcing his choice in a tweet.

If confirmed by the Senate, Ratcliffe would replace Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist who is currently serving as acting national intelligence director while keeping his title as U.S. ambassador to Germany.

Trump’s choice drew swift criticism from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Replacing one highly partisan operative with another does nothing to keep our country safe,” Schumer said in a statement. “At a time when the Russians are interfering in our elections, we need a nonpartisan leader at the helm of the Intelligence Community who sees the world objectively and speaks truth to power.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has been in upheaval since Dan Coats, who had a fraught relationship with Trump, announced in July 2019 that he was stepping down. Sue Gordon, the principal deputy national intelligence director under Coats, left with him. Democrats accused Trump of pushing out two senior, dedicated intelligence professionals.

After withdrawing Ratcliffe’s name, Trump in August named Joseph Maguire, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as acting national intelligence director. But earlier this month, Trump moved Maguire aside — before his tenure as acting director was set to expire on March 11 — and named Grenell as acting director.

Trump’s decision to bring in Grenell came amid controversy over a classified briefing on election security that intelligence officials gave members of the House intelligence committee.

That panel is chaired by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who led the House impeachment inquiry against Trump. There were conflicting accounts about what the U.S. election security officials told committee members during the closed-door briefing about Russian meddling in this year’s presidential election.

People familiar with the congressional briefing said election security officials indicated that the Kremlin was looking to help Trump win re-election, as it did in 2016. But a senior official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said lawmakers were not told that Russia was actively aiding Trump’s campaign to boost his chances of a second term. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive information.

When asked if Maguire was moved out as part of an effort to purge administration officials seen as disloyal to Trump, the president said only that Maguire’s tenure as acting director was ending. He called Maguire an “excellent guy” and said he chose Grenell to replace him as acting director until he can announce a new nominee for the job.

Grenell said he would hold the post for just a few months until Trump nominated a replacement for Maguire. If Ratcliffe is not confirmed by the Senate, it’s possible that Grenell could serve in the post for a while.

Ratcliffe, who sits on the House intelligence, judiciary and ethics committees, is a fierce defender of the president. He was a member of Trump’s impeachment advisory team and strenuously questioned witnesses during the House impeachment hearings.

He also forcefully questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

After the Democratic-controlled House voted to impeach Trump, Ratcliffe said: “This is the thinnest, fastest and weakest impeachment our country has ever seen. … When voters go to the polls next November, I hope they’ll hold Democrats accountable for wasting countless hours and taxpayer dollars on this disgraceful impeachment hoax that was designed to control the outcome of the 2020 election.”

Before being elected to Congress in 2014, Ratcliffe was mayor of Health, Texas, and a U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Texas. Ratcliffe is the son of two school teachers and the youngest of six children. He attended the University of Notre Dame and earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University. He and his wife, Michele, have two daughters.


Via Time
Read more »

February 28, 2020

Watch Elizabeth Warren tell a Sanders supporter that Bernie helped write the delegate rules he now opposesAt a CNN town hall in South Carolina on Wednesday night, a Bernie Sanders supporter asked Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) about a moment in the Nevada Democratic debate where all the candidates but Sanders said if nobody has a majority of votes by the convention, the process should play out as written, potentially handing the nomination to somebody with fewer delegates. "Can you explain why the will of the voters should not matter if no candidate reaches a majority of delegates?" he asked. Warren began her answer with a question: "So, you do know that was Bernie's position in 2016?""That was Bernie's position in 2016, that it should not go to the person who had a plurality," Warren continued. "And remember, his last play was to superdelegates. So the way I see this is, you write the rules before you know where everybody stands. And then you stick with those rules." Sanders "had a big hand in writing these rules — I didn't write them, but Bernie did," she added. "Those are the rules that he wanted to write and others wanted to write. Everybody got in the race thinking that was the set of rules. I don't see how come you get to change it just because he now thinks there's an advantage to him for doing that."> Elizabeth Warren is right. pic.twitter.com/EegW7Dz77V> > — Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) February 27, 2020The system could work to Sanders' advantage, too. In the Nevada caucuses, for example, Sanders got 34 percent of the votes in the first round and ended up at 40 percent in the final preference, 47 percent of the final vote, and 22 delegates; Warren got 13 percent in the first round, ended up with 11.5 percent of the final voter preference, 10 percent of the final vote, and zero delegates.> If you can support ranked choice voting, you can support nominating convention rules that allow candidates who don't start with the most delegates to win after the first ballot.> > — Bill Scher (@billscher) February 27, 2020Goose, gander, ect.More stories from theweek.com Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Late night hosts, like the stock market, reacted poorly to Mike Pence as coronavirus czar What it's like to be in Venice during coronavirus lockdown




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2w74S00
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 28, 2020

Central Park Five's Kevin Richardson slams Bloomberg campaignKevin Richardson, a member of the Central Park Five, has hit out at Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s presidential run and his blocking of a multimillion-dollar settlement over the group’s wrongful persecution.Mr Richardson, one of the five teenagers wrongfully convicted for the shocking assault of Trishia Meili in 1989, was reported to have criticised Mr Bloomberg at an event outside his campaign office in Manhattan.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3cjCXdJ
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 28, 2020

China reports rise in new coronavirus cases, warns of risk of reboundSHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China reported 433 new cases of coronavirus infections on Feb. 26, the National Health Commission said on Thursday, up from 406 a day earlier, with a cluster of new cases in Beijing raising concerns about the management of employees returning to work. The total number of confirmed cases on mainland China has now reached 78,497, the Commission said, though the number of new deaths on Wednesday stood at 29, the lowest daily rate since Jan. 28. The outbreak has now killed a total of 2,744 people in China.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/384FCVw
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 28, 2020

Congressman Threatens to Beat Up Trump Jr. for Claiming Democrats Want Coronavirus PandemicRep. John Garamendi (D-CA) lashed out at presidential scion Donald Trump Jr. for claiming Democrats seemingly want the coronavirus to kill “millions of people” so they can end President Donald Trump’s “streak of winning,” threatening a “serious altercation” on Friday morning if the first son got near him.With financial markets tanking amid growing fears over the coronavirus, Team Trump and right-wing media have trained their attention on complaining about how Democrats and mainstream media have reacted to the Trump administration’s disjointed response to the crisis. During a Friday morning Fox & Friends appearance, Trump Jr. insisted that Democrats were rooting for a massive disaster.“For them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they can end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness,” he bellowed.Appearing on MSNBC shortly thereafter, Garamendi was asked by host Hallie Jackson to react to those remarks. He immediately puffed his chest.“He should not be near me when he says that,” the congressman seethed.“Why not?” Jackson wondered aloud.“There would be a serious altercation,” the California Democrat replied. “That is just totally outrageous. I can assure you that there’s not a Democrat or Republican in Congress that wants anybody to be sick.”Garamendi went on to explain his concerns about the administration’s response to the viral outbreak, noting that the United States has been aware since December of the growing epidemic in China and that Americans have been exposed to it. After criticizing Team Trump’s lack of preparation and planning, and referencing a whistleblower’s recent complaint highlighting the lack of training and safeguards for HHS personnel serving coronavirus evacuees, Garamendi concluded with another warning to the president’s eldest child.“Don Jr. better not get close to me,” the Democratic lawmaker fumed. “It would not be a healthy situation.”Jimmy Kimmel Brutally Roasts Don Jr.’s All-Time Worst LooksFollowing Garamendi’s challenge to Trump Jr., a spokesman for the president’s son provided the following response to The Daily Beast.“The outrageous remarks from Congressman Garamendi were beyond the pale and should be universally condemned by Republicans and Democrats alike,” spokesperson Andy Surabian said. “Almost as outrageous as the Congressman’s comments was the lack of pushback from MSNBC host Hallie Jackson, who’s [sic] silence about political violence aimed towards a member of the first family, was truly deafening.”“By threatening Don Jr. with physical violence on national TV, Congressman Garamendi made clear to everyone watching that he is better suited to represent Antifa than the people of California’s 3rd Congressional district,” he concluded. “He should apologize immediately.”Garamendi, meanwhile, fired back with a statement of his own.“My sole focus is on the health and safety of my constituents and all Americans," he said in response to Trump Jr. “Donald Trump Jr. made the outrageous statement that Democrats want people to die for political purposes. If he wants to come to my office to explain his comments, my door is open. There is no threat of physical violence—but he can expect a strong verbal altercation.”“I will continue working to ensure our communities have the testing kits and resources necessary to successfully address the Coronavirus crisis. I hope Donald Trump Jr. and the President will join me in this effort,” Garamendi concluded.—With reporting by Asawin SuebsaengRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2TphHL5
via Yahoo News

Read more »

February 28, 2020

(VACAVILLE, Calif.) — Health officials on Friday confirmed another case of the novel coronavirus in Northern California, raising the tally a day after health officials revealed the first case in the U.S. believed to have been transmitted to a person who didn’t travel internationally or come in close contact with anyone who had it.

Santa Clara County Public Health Department spokesman Maury Kendall said the person is isolated at home and that other details would be provided later Friday.

A day earlier, state health officials had pegged the number of people in California with the virus at 33 after investigators announced that a woman hospitalized in Sacramento contracted it.

Residents of the community where the woman first went to the hospital, in Vacaville, are at the epicenter of what officials are calling a turning point in the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.

Read more: The Trump Administration’s Many Vacancies Could Complicate its Coronavirus Response

As infectious disease experts fanned out in Vacaville, some residents in the city of 100,000 stocked up on supplies amid fears things could get worse despite official reassurances, while others took the news in stride.

Vacaville lies between San Francisco and Sacramento in Solano County, in the agricultural central valley and near California’s famous wine region.

It is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Travis Air Force Base, which has been used as a virus quarantine location. Public health officials said they can find no connection between the infected woman and passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship who were evacuated to the base when the ship was docked in Japan.

The case of the infected woman marks an escalation of the worldwide outbreak in the U.S. because it means the virus could spread beyond the reach of preventative measures like quarantines, though state health officials said that was inevitable and that the risk of widespread transmission remains low.

Solano County Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas said public health officials have identified dozens of people — but less than 100 — who had close contact with the woman. They are quarantined in their homes and a few who have shown symptoms are in isolation, Matyas said.

Officials are not too worried, for now, about casual contact, because federal officials think the coronavirus is spread only through “close contact, being within six feet of somebody for what they’re calling a prolonged period of time,” said Dr. James Watt, interim state epidemiologist at the California Department of Public Health.

The virus can cause fever, coughing, wheezing and pneumonia. Health officials think it spreads mainly from droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how the flu spreads.

Read more: Will Warmer Weather Stop the Spread of the Coronavirus? Don’t Count on It, Say Experts

Several Vacaville residents said they will try to avoid crowded places for now, while taking other routine and recommended precautions like frequent and thorough hand-washing. But others plan to do more.

“I’m definitely going to wear my mask and gloves at work, because I’m a server,” said bowling alley worker Denise Arriaga, who said she doesn’t care if she’s criticized for the extra precautions. “At the end of the day, it’s my life,” she said.

The case raised questions about how quickly public health officials are moving to diagnose and treat new cases. State and federal health officials disagreed about when doctors first requested the woman be tested.

Doctors at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento said they asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to test the woman for the virus on Feb. 19. But they said the CDC did not approve the testing until Sunday “since the patient did not fit the existing CDC criteria” for the virus, according to a memo posted to the hospital’s website.

The woman first sought treatment at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, before her condition worsened and she was transferred to the medical center.

CDC spokesman Richard Quartarone said a preliminary review of agency records indicates the agency did not know about the woman until Sunday, the same day she was first tested.

That’s the kind of confusion that concerns McKinsey Paz, who works at a private security firm in Vacaville. The company has already stockpiled 450 face masks and is scrambling for more “since they’re hard to come by.” The company’s owner bought enough cleaning and disinfectant supplies to both scrub down the office and send home with employees.

But they appeared to be at the extreme for preparations.

Virus Outbreak California
Don Thompson—APEugenia Kendall wears a mask outside of the Vacaville City Hall while standing with her husband Ivan on Feb. 27, 2020, in Vacaville, Calif. Eugenia Kendall says she wears a mask because her immune system has been weakened from the chemotherapy she receives for ovarian cancer. Ivan Kendall says the they are not paranoid, just being practical.

Eugenia Kendall was wearing a face mask, but in fear of anything including the common cold. Her immune system is impaired because she is undergoing chemotherapy, and she has long been taking such precautions.

“We’re not paranoid. We’re just trying to be practical,” said her husband of 31 years, Ivan Kendall. “We wipe the shopping carts if they have them, and when I get back in the car I wipe my hands — and just hope for the best.”

Read more: How to Manage Your Anxiety About Coronavirus

In their investigation of the movements of the hospitalized woman, officials were trying to figure out how she got it and who else she may have unwittingly infected.

They are interviewing immediate family members and expanding their net to include more distant family members who may have been in contact, social gatherings like church that the patient may have attended and any possible time spent at work or events like a concert.

Besides the woman, all the 59 other cases in the U.S. have been for people who traveled abroad or had close contact with others who traveled.

Earlier U.S. cases included 14 in people who returned from outbreak areas in China, or their spouses; three people who were evacuated from the central China city of Wuhan; and 42 American passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The global count of those sickened by the virus hovered Friday around 83,000 and caused more than 2,800 deaths, most of them in China.


Via Time
Read more »
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Author Name

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Powered by Blogger.