Health officials reported Los Angeles County’s first novel coronavirus-related death as well as scattered new cases around the county on Wednesday, March 11, the day international officials declared the outbreak a pandemic.

Officials also announced eight new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, including the woman who died, a fourth presumptive diagnosis in Long Beach, and Pasadena’s first case — bringing the county total to 29. (Long Beach and Pasadena operate their own health departments.)

Wednesday’s news came on the heels of The World Health Organization’s move to declare the global coronavirus crisis a pandemic, meaning that it had spread worldwide to multiple continents. Meanwhile, jaw-dropping headlines spurred by the outbreak landed one after another on Wednesday, from the NCAA’s decision to play “March Madness” tournament games without spectators to President Trump’s ban on travel from Europe to the suspension of the rest of NBA basketball season. And A-list actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson posted from Australia that they’ve tested positive to the virus.

In LA County, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said one of the new cases reported is likely the county’s second case of community spread, meaning investigators do not know how the person contracted the virus.

The person who died, Ferrer said, was a woman older than 60 years of age, who was in Los Angeles County visiting friends. She had an underlying medical condition and extensive travel internationally, including a long layover in South Korea.

“Shortly after being hospitalized, she unfortunately passed,” Ferrer said.

In a Wednesday statement, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center said a patient — apparently the patient referenced by Ferrer –arrived there Monday by ambulance in full cardiac arrest.

“Staff immediately provided lifesaving care to stabilize her condition,” the statement said, adding a family member disclosed the patient’s travel status and after her symptoms were evaluated, infection protocols were put in place.

“The patient was immediately placed in isolation … Unfortunately, the patient died shortly after admission due to complications from their illness,” the statement said.

The hospital said it was notified Wednesday by the County Department of Health that the patient had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

“The hospital has identified all staff who came into contact with the patient while providing care and is following all (county health) guidelines regarding healthcare worker exposure,” the statement said. “We understand people are feeling anxious about potential exposure to coronavirus, but we want to reassure our patients and their families that the risk of exposure from this case is low. PVHMC remains a safe, high-quality facility to seek medical care.”

COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019, is caused by a virus named SARS-CoV-2. Symptoms associated with the respiratory disease, which appear two-to-14 days after exposure, include fever, a cough and shortness of breath. While most people — including healthy young adults — will experience mild symptoms, the disease can be severe and even fatal for at-risk groups, such as the elderly and those with underlying health problems.

Community spread or community transmission would represent a change in the county health department’s strategy from one of containment to slowing the spread of the virus, Ferrer has said. But Ferrer, the county’s top public health official, stopped short of saying every public event should be cancelled.

“We are reporting 24 cases but we know there are more cases out there,” Ferrer said. “We need everyone to help stop the spread of this virus.”

As the numbers of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to grow, public health officials in Los Angeles have still not advised canceling large gatherings, even though a wave of events have announced cancellations in recent days. On Wednesday, Ferrer reiterated that higher-risk groups — such as those with an underlying health condition, the elderly or pregnant women — should start limiting their exposure. Caretakers, Ferrer said, should consider limiting their public exposures as well.

“It’s best that everyone be cautious and take as many actions as they can to protect their families,” Ferrer said. “We may get to a point where we’re asking events to close but we’re not there yet.”

At buffets and salad bars, Ferrer said, restaurants should limit self-service and people should be especially cautious.

The six new county cases announced Wednesday include the following:

Three people who had contact with someone previously identified;

one L.A. County resident travelling to France;

one person who traveled to a religious conference in another state; and

one of unknown origin.

Ferrer would not provide details on where particular cases were being discovered.

“At this point. these cases are scattered through the county,” she said. “We say to everyone, you need to be aware and expect there is community transmission in L.A. County and take the steps you need to protect those who you love.”

LA City Council President Nury Martinez announced Wednesday that council meetings this month would be scaled backed to once a week, from three times a week, and committee meetings would be canceled. The City Council meetings that are still being held will be on Tuesdays at 10 a.m., on March 17, 24 and 31.

Over the last two days, a wave of colleges and universities across the region have announced they would either suspend in-person classes, move to online only classes and tests, or cancel all public events; in some cases, universities have opted to host sporting events with no spectators. On Wednesday, for example, Cal State Long Beach announced it would suspend in-person classes.

In Riverside County, public health officials ordered the cancellation of the popular Coachella and Stagcoach music festivals, which have been rescheduled to October. As of March 9, Riverside County has confirmed six cases, with one case of community spread. That county’s top health official on Tuesday said further spread of the virus to the rest of the county was inevitable.

As of March 9, Orange County has two confirmed and two presumptive cases. The California Department of Health, as of March 10, has reported 157 confirmed cases and two deaths. Approximately 10,300 people throughout the state are self-monitoring across 49 local health jurisdictions after returning to the U.S. from travel.

Public health laboratories in 18 jurisdictions can now test for COVID-19, according to CDPH. Public agencies were working with private labs, such as LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, to build up capacity to test more people. L.A. County, Ferrer said, could test on its own about 50 people per day; she said she was unsure how many people the private labs could test each day. So far, about 70 to 80 people have been tested by the county, she said. In statements on their websites, both private labs said they could deliver test results in three to four days from the time samples are received.

“The testing issues continue to haunt us,” Ferrer said. “I’m hopeful we are moving into an era where it’s a lot easier, when providers order a test for those tests to happen.”

The speed at which test results are processed could become an issue as people self-quarantine, and especially in cases of suspected COVID-19 cases on board cruise ships, where thousands of passengers could be held up waiting for test results. That’s what happened Saturday, March 7, in Long Beach on board the Carnival Panorama. That patient tested negative but not before delaying the cruise ship’s departure a day and forcing passengers to remain on board an extra night.

Despite possible community transmission, Ferrer said, the testing parameters have not changed. Those are set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Currently, only those who exhibit respiratory illness and traveled to a country affected or had contact with someone known to be infected can get tested.

In the U.S., the CDC reported, as of March 11, 938 cases with 29 deaths in 38 states. Globally, the World Health Organization, as of March 9, has confirmed 113,702 cases and 4,012 deaths worldwide, with China accounting for 80,924 cases and 3,140 deaths.

Kaiser Permanent said it would contribute $1 million to 10 leading public health organizations and is collaborating with the CDC Foundation to strengthen the United States’ public health infrastructure and response systems to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“We’re certainly going to see a lot more cases and more community transmission,” Ferrer said. “We’re likely to see more deaths. For me personally, that makes this a bad situation. We can all do something to keep this from becoming significantly worse.”