5:52 p.m.: Westchester County and state health officials have directed the closure of the synagogue where the Westchester man with a confirmed COVID-19 case worshiped. Young Israel of New Rochelle has halted all services indefinitely. Officials are asking anyone who attended services on February 22, or a funeral and a bat mitzvah at the temple on February 23, to self-quarantine themselves until March 8. People could be subjected to a mandatory quarantine if they don't comply.

4:30 p.m.: The New York City Department of Education has issued new guidance on their protocol for dealing with the potential spread of COVID-19 at city schools. The information, published on the DOE's website today, said that "CDC-approved cleaning agents" would be provided to every school and that school officials would ensure that all bathrooms are "continuously stocked with soap and paper towels." Students and staff will be encouraged to wash their hands frequently and school-based travel to certain countries would be canceled based on the recommendations from the CDC. The statement also said that principals and school nurses would be given resources to detect and report symptoms at school.

But according to half a dozen teachers who spoke to Gothamist/WNYC, some schools don't have enough soap in bathrooms. Some teachers said they had resorted to buying their own hand sanitizer and disinfectant.

"How are we preparing? We’re not,” said one Bronx teacher who asked that their name be withheld for fear of retribution. “There’s nothing that’s changed in our typical operations."

"It’s business as usual," the teacher added.

2:30 p.m.: Health officials are trying to trace the contacts of the Westchester man who has been hospitalized in NYC (see below). At a press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the man had been feeling sick for the past month. He became very ill on February 22 and was admitted to the hospital in Westchester on the 27th. He is currently a patient at the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center at 168th Street.

"He is the first patient to be seriously ill. Obviously, we’re very concerned," he said.

The mayor said that officials are investigating the man's close contacts, including seven people who worked with him at a law firm in Midtown. The man also took two trips, one to Miami and another to Israel in early February.

De Blasio did not say whether the man took public transit.

Also of immediate concern is one of the man's children, who now has symptoms and who attends Yeshiva University in Manhattan. The university issued a statement on its website:

"We have learned that one of the children of the Westchester attorney identified as New York’s second case of COVID-19 is an undergraduate male student at Yeshiva University. We are working closely with, and following the recommendations of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response and other government agencies to take every necessary precaution to ensure the safety of our community. The student has not been on campus since Thursday, February 27th and is in quarantine with his family. The DOHMH is testing the family."

The university added that a student at Cardoza School of Law, which is part of Yeshiva University, is also in self-quarantine as instructed by their doctor, as a precaution because of contact with the Westchester man's law firm. The Cardozo student is reporting no symptoms.

As we reported earlier, the man's daughter attends SAR Academy in Riverdale, which voluntarily closed the school.

Both children along with the man's wife are being monitored at their home in Westchester, according to de Blasio.

The mayor cautioned against people panicking. “I don’t think at this hour of this day we’re anywhere near an emergency declaration," he said. "There’s a whole host of things I can do if we get to that point. But we are not there based on what we’re seeing so we’re gonna take this literally day by day and hour by hour and see how it evolves.”

Elsewhere, Washington state officials have reported that two additional people have died from the coronavirus, bringing the total death toll to nine. Two of the deaths came last week, prior to the other announced fatalities. One was a man in his 50s who died in a Seattle hospital on February 26th. The other was described as a woman in her 80s, a resident of LifeCare, a nursing home which is battling an outbreak, who was never hospitalized and who died at her family home February 26th. All the deaths to date have been in the Seattle area.

Prior to the announcement of the two other deaths, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, warned Americans to brace for further spread and disruptions in their day-to-day lives. "What is happening now in the United States may be what is happening abroad," she said, during a telephone press briefing.

Earlier today, an official at the World Health Organization said that about 3.4 percent of confirmed global cases of COVID-19 have resulted in death, a number far above seasonal flu’s fatality rate of approximately 0.1 percent.

She said the agency had been asked by people about what will eventually happen with the disease. "I wish I could give you that answer," she continued. "Unfortunately I cannot. The CDC is working incredibly hard."

1:30 p.m.: The MTA says it has disinfected 427 subway stations, 1,905 subway cars, and 1,974 buses since last night. Sixty percent of all Metro-North cars have been cleaned as well.

The transit agency has a stockpile of hygienic supplies, officials said, and is "increasing the frequency and intensity of our procedures and are sanitizing high-touch surfaces more often."

While train operators have been barred from wearing masks, the Transit Workers Union told Gothamist they are instructing employees to disregard the rule. "If they want to wear a mask, they should and can wear a mask," the union's spokesperson said.

10 a.m.: New York's second case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Westchester County, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday morning.

The patient is described as a man in his 50s who lived in New Rochelle and worked as an attorney in Midtown, Manhattan. He had no known connection to China or other countries on the new Coronavirus disease watchlist — suggesting that community spread may be underway in parts of the state, according to the governor.

"That spreading is inevitable. I said you'll start to see community spread cases and I think that’s what you’re seeing today," Cuomo told reporters on Tuesday.

The man, who has an underlying respiratory illness, is currently hospitalized in serious condition in Manhattan. He was first treated at Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville.

The test was conducted by the New York City Public Health Laboratory overnight, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Officials believe the man has spent time with his family since contracting the virus. One of the patient's children attends SAR Academy in Riverdale. The school cancelled classes on Tuesday. Westchester Day School in Mamaroneck has also reportedly closed.

Officials are investigating whether he commuted into the city using public transportation.

The state's first coronavirus infection was reported on Sunday. The woman is a Manhattan resident who recently traveled to Iran, officials said. She is currently self-quarantining.

The number of reported cases in the United States has surged in recent days, with more than 100 confirmed infections in twelve states. Two families in Buffalo are also under quarantine, after returning from Italy.

Local officials are urging calm, emphasizing that the uptick in cases was largely predicated as testing capacity has increased.

"We’re seeing what we expected, what we anticipated, which is a continuing spread," the governor said.