Daily US Times, Washington: At least 6 people have died from the coronavirus as cases surge nationwide. So far, all the deaths have reported in Washington state and the number of reported cases in the US crossed 100.
Among the dead, 4 people were residents at the Life Care Center nursing care facility in Kirkland, in suburban Seattle, King County health officer Jeffrey Duchin said Monday. Four other coronavirus cases are also linked to the center.
Life Care said in an official statement, “Current residents and associates continue to be monitored closely, specifically for an elevated temperature, cough and/or shortness of breath. Any resident displaying these symptoms is placed in isolation. Associates are screened prior to beginning work and upon leaving.”
As the coronavirus cases surge nationwide, US has prompted new travel restrictions, school closures, and emergency declarations.
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said it is not the time to panic. “I want folks to understand that we knew this was coming, we told folks that this was going to happen and it is why we’ve been preaching preparedness from the very start,” Adams said Monday. “Caution is appropriate. Preparedness is appropriate. Panic is not.”
Over the weekend, two dozen new cases were reported, making the total cases 102 nationwide.
‘US will have more cases…. That is inevitable’
At least 11 states have cases of coronavirus: Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Illinois, Arizona, California, and Florida.
State Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ said the patient in Arizona has recovered.
New York’s first case is a 39-year-old health care worker who recently returned from Iran, which is dealing with almost 1,000 cases of coronavirus and at least 54 deaths from the illness.
The woman is in home isolation with her husband, who is also a health worker and is being tested for the disease. She did not carry any symptoms when she came back from Iran last Tuesday, but authorities are contacting people on her flight and the driver of the private car service she used to get to her Manhattan home.
She did not use any public transport since she reached in the United States.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the goal now is to “test as many as you can” and then isolate anyone who tests positive to help reduce the spread.
“We will have more cases. We will have a community spread. That is inevitable,” Cuomo said, urging people not to be panicked.
“Put this in perspective. This is not the first time we’ve dealt with this situation,” he said. “We had H1N1, we had the swine flu, we had the avian flu, we went through Ebola, we went through MERS, we went through SARS. We’ve dealt with this before.”
The governor also announced the state will institute a new cleaning protocol at schools and in the public transportation system to help stop any potential spread of the virus.
The New York Times reported that the virus might have been in Washington state for weeks, and as many as 1,500 people might be infected there.
New coronavirus cases
At least 18 new cases were reported across the country Sunday, including two cases in Florida, Five in Northern California. The Florida cases include a Hillsborough County resident who has a history of travel to Italy, one of the worst affected countries.
Italy and South Korea also facing a coronavirus surge nationwide and the global death toll exceeds 3,000.
World Health Organization said on Sunday that most patients have only mild symptoms and death rate appears to be between 2% and 5%.
Other strains of coronavirus, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), have much higher death rates than Covid-19.
On Sunday, WHO said the virus appears to particularly affect those over 60, and people already ill. The organization said, “oxygen therapy is a major treatment intervention for patients with severe Covid-19”.