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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declares health emergency after two coronavirus cases Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a public health emergency Sunday after officials reported two presumptive cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The cases must still be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but DeSantis said the declaration was necessary to control the virus. He said the patients are residents of Manatee and Hillsborough counties on the Gulf Coast. Both adults are isolated and being cared for, the state Health Department said. Additional information was not immediately available. Share this -







Dominican Republic, France report Caribbean virus cases SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Health officials in the Dominican Republic and France on Sunday reported the first confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the tourist-rich Caribbean, while British cruise ship passengers who had been trapped at sea due to virus fears were finally set to come home. Dominican Public Health Minister Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas said a 62-year-old Italian man had arrived in the country on Feb. 22 without showing symptoms. He was being treated in isolation at a military hospital and “has not shown serious complications.” France, meanwhile, reported three cases on the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, the first in one of France's overseas territories. The announcements came shortly before the Braemar cruise ship, which had been denied entry to the Dominican Republic due to the virus fears, at last found a place to dock — the Dutch territory of St. Maarten. Share this -







2nd person dies in Washington state from coronavirus A second person has died in Washington state from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, health officials said Sunday. The man, who was in his 70s, had underlying health conditions, they said. The announcement came one day after officials said a man in his 50s in Kirkland, east of Seattle, died after contracting the disease through community spread, the term used when there is no known source of transmission. Officials also confirmed three new cases, those of two women in their 80s and 90s and a man in his 70s, who were in critical condition. The latest cases raised the number of COVID-19 patients in King County to 10. Share this -







First coronavirus case reported in New York state New York state reported its first case of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, saying Sunday that a woman is quarantined in Manhattan after contracting the virus during a recent trip to Iran. In a statement, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the woman, who is in her late 30s, is isolated in her home with respiratory symptoms that are "not serious." He added that she has been in a "controlled situation" since arriving in New York. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio later said the woman is in isolation in Manhattan. Her test results were confirmed by a public laboratory in Albany, Cuomo said. "There is no reason for undue anxiety — the general risk remains low in New York," he said. "We are diligently managing this situation and will continue to provide information as it becomes available." Share this -







Three more people diagnosed with coronavirus in Northern California Three more people were diagnosed with novel coronavirus in Northern California, raising the number of confirmed cases in Santa Clara County to seven, public health officials said Sunday. It wasn't immediately clear how one of the patients contracted the virus. The county Health Department described the person as a woman with a chronic health condition. A couple with chronic health conditions who had recently traveled to Egypt also tested positive for the virus and are now hospitalized. The county's Health Department announced a case of possible “community spread” on Friday — the patient hadn't traveled to China nor knowingly been in contact with others who have the virus. Santa Clara County is about 50 miles southeast of San Francisco. Share this -







Dow futures drop more than 200 points, indicating another rough week for Wall Street Investors braced for another turbulent week as stock futures tumbled Sunday night as concerns around the coronavirus kept Wall Street under pressure. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped more than 300 points, indicating a loss of 342 points at Monday’s open. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.4 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively. Dow futures briefly fell more than 500 points earlier. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite all fell more than 10 percent last week, their biggest weekly declines since October 2008.They also entered correction territory, down more than 10 percent from all-time highs notched earlier in February. Those declines came after a sharp increase in coronavirus cases outside of China. The number of cases continued to increase over the weekend, including in the U.S. Read the full story here. Share this -







Two new coronavirus cases in California health care workers Two health care workers in Northern California have tested positive for the coronavirus: one each in Alameda and Solano counties. Both individuals had exposure to a woman who tested positive Wednesday and is currently hospitalized at UC Davis Medical Center. That woman was the first reported case of community spread in the U.S. The two health care workers are from NorthBay VacaValley Hospital. Both are in isolation at home. The two cases are presumptive positives, meaning they are waiting on confirmatory testing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Share this -







High school student in Washington didn’t know he was tested for coronavirus The Washington state high school student with coronavirus didn’t know he was being tested for the illness, Snohomish Health District said in a press release Saturday. The student started feeling sick on Monday, and eventually went to a clinic and got a flu test, which came back negative. Unbeknownst to him and his family, a sample from the clinic was passed along to Seattle Children’s, which, as part of an ongoing study, tested it for a number of pathogens, including the coronavirus. The student stayed home from school until he had been fever-free for 48 hours. He had returned to campus “for approximately 5 minutes” on Friday when he received a call to come home immediately. His family “did all the right things,” the press release said. Share this -







Czech Republic confirms first three cases of coronavirus The Czech Republic has confirmed its first three cases of coronavirus, with all the patients having traveled from northern Italy, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said on Sunday. Health officials said the patients — two Czechs and an American student who studied in Milan — showed mild symptoms. Two were in Prague and the third in the city of Usti nad Labem, 56 miles north of the capital. Vojtech warned against unnecessary travel to regions in northern Italy that have seen the highest number of cases in Europe. "We ask everyone to very seriously consider not traveling to those (affected) regions for holiday or ski trips unless necessary, because the danger exists," Vojtech told a televised news briefing. The Czech Republic is the first of its central European neighbors to report coronavirus cases. Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtech arrives for a press conference in Prague on March 1, 2020. The Czech Republic has confirmed three cases of coronavirus. Roman Vondrous / AP Share this -





