Coronavirus US news: Five dead in Washington state as New York governor says outbreak spreading across the state is 'inevitable'
Face mask sales surge despite top doctor’s plea
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The US reported at least six deaths from the coronavirus on Monday as officials warned of a “substantial outbreak” in the state of Washington and states of emergency were declared in various parts of the country.
Both patients were being treated at the same health centre in Kirkland, east of Seattle, where six of the state’s 12 cases have now been confirmed and 50 others are being tested for the virus. As the number of nationwide cases approaches 100, sales of face masks have surged among the general population.
Meanwhile, at least one patient was mistakenly released by the CDC and later tested positive for the deadly Wuhan coronavirus, with the mayor of San Antonio describing the development as “unacceptable” in a statement.
Health officials in Washington state meanwhile said on Sunday night that a second person had died from the coronavirus — a man in his 70s from a nursing facility near Seattle where dozens of people were sick and had been tested for the virus.
Researchers said earlier the virus may have been circulating for weeks undetected in Washington state.
In a statement, Public Health—Seattle & King County said the man died Saturday. On Friday, health officials said a man in his 50s died of coronavirus, the first death from the virus in the US.
Both had underlying health conditions, and both were being treated at a hospital in Kirkland, Washington, east of Seattle.
Washington state now has at least 13 confirmed cases.
State and local authorities stepped up testing for the illness as the number of new cases grew nationwide, with new infections announced in California, Florida, Illinois, Rhode Island, New York and Washington state.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
Here's my latest on how the CDC "mistakenly" released a patient who later tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus in San Antonio, Texas:
2020 presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has released a new plan to address the deadly coronavirus as health officials warn its spread across the US is all but inevitable:
Vice President Mike Pence, who the president tasked with spearheading the administration's coronavirus efforts, released a statement welcoming the latest health official to his so-called White Houser Coronavirus Taskforce:
The president and his team are also highlighting his upcoming meeting with pharmaceutical companies today at the White House, where he is expected to discuss "accelerating" a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus and lowering prescription drug prices:
The coronavirus has been spreading in Washington state undetected, according to a new analysis, as health officials nationwide increasingly fear there are far more cases of the deadly virus that have not yet been confirmed.
Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, spearheaded a genetic analysis of virus samples discovered in Washington after multiple cases were confirmed throughout the state in recent weeks. His findings suggested the state was already facing a “substantial outbreak” that had not been previously detected because initial tests for coronavirus were limited to people who had recently visited China.
The virus samplings came from two patients living in the state, according to Washignton Post: one, who was the first person identified to have coronavirus in the US, had recently travelled to China before returning to Snohomish County. The second patient had not recently travelled and was not known to have any exposure to the coronavirus.
Such findings indicated that “cryptic transmission” had been occurring in Washington over the last six weeks, Mr Bedford wrote.
Story to come...
Breaking: The Life Care Centre in Kirkland, Washington, experienced an outbreak of coronavirus symptoms among the patients and staff.
Now 25 Kirkland firefighters, two police officers, and seven firefighters from the nearby town of Redmond are in quarantine after responding to aid calls over the last several days, KOMO News reports.
Some of the emergency workers have self-quarantined themselves in their own homes after responding to the calls from the nursing home. Others are in in quarantine at the Station 13 firehouse.
Kirkland Fire said the quarantined firefighters has not prevented the group to maintain full staffing levels at the stations, KOMO News reports.
The governor of New York is warning that coronavirus spreading across the state is “inevitable” as the US confirms over 80 cases nationwide of the mysterious illness.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters on Monday: “We will have community spread … that is inevitable.”
A patient who was released from quarantine and later tested “weakly positive” after being evacuated from China spent time at a mall in San Antonio, Texas before returning to isolation, according to officials.
The patient reportedly visited North Star Mall during the weekend and spent several hours visiting the retail outlets, Anita Kurian, assistant director of the Metropolitan Health District, said in a statement on Saturday.
Ms Kurian said: "We are making every effort to identify any exposures at the mall and based on what we have at this time, those exposures are pretty low risk."
Breaking news: Washington officials said three additional patients who tested positive for the coronavirus have since passed, bringing the total number of deaths in the US to five and the total number of cases in the state to jump to 14.
Story to come...
Here's The Independent's Alex Woodward with more on the latest news coming out of Washington state surrounding the coronavirus outbreak:
Three more people have died following a coronavirus outbreak in Washington state, raising the state's death toll to five, health officials have confirmed.
The latest deaths follow recent reports of two other people in the area who have died as doctors in the state believe the virus travelled undetected for several weeks.
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