A second person in California has been diagnosed with COVID-19, despite a lack of known ties to other infected patients or areas, a further sign that the disease is likely spreading in some parts of the US.
The second case was reported on Friday in the San Francisco Bay Area, with local health officials describing the patient as an adult woman with chronic health issues who had no recent history of travel and no known contact with anyone diagnosed with the virus.
The patient, hospitalized for having difficulty breathing, lives in Santa Clara County.
Photo: EPA-EFE
On Wednesday, health officials in Vacaville in California’s Solano County reported the US’ first known coronavirus case that had no obvious source of infection. The two counties lie 145km apart and officials on Friday said that the latest patient had not recently traveled between them.
“What we know now is that the virus is here, present at some level, but we still don’t know to what degree,” Santa Clara County Public Health Department Director Sara Cody said.
State and local health departments, which are the front lines of detection, have struggled to get test kits from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working properly. Without working kits, it has been difficult or impossible for them to screen cases broadly.
The earlier patient from Vacaville has extended family and interactions with people in Santa Clara County, said Bela Matyas, a Solano health officer.
As infectious disease experts fanned out in Vacaville, some residents in the city of 100,000 stocked up on supplies amid fears things could get worse, despite official reassurances, while others took the news in stride.
“We’re not sure what’s going to happen. Panic seems to do that to you,” McKinsey Paz said. “In case things get a little crazy, we didn’t want to be the last ones. We’re preparing for the worst.”
Officials were not too worried, for now, about casual contact, because they think the coronavirus is spread only through “close contact, being within six feet [1.8m] of somebody for what they’re calling a prolonged period of time,” said James Watt, interim state epidemiologist at the California Department of Public Health.
Fear of the spreading coronavirus has led to a global run on masks, despite evidence that most people who are not sick do not need to wear them.
Many businesses are sold out, while others are limiting how many a customer can buy.
Amazon.com is policing its site, trying to make sure sellers do not gouge panicked buyers.
In South Korea, hundreds lined up to buy masks from a discount store.
In the US, Walgreens, Home Depot, Lowe’s and True Value Hardware have reported a sharp uptick in sales of masks over the past several weeks and said they are scrambling to get more from suppliers.
Home Depot, the US’ largest home improvement chain, has limited sales of N95 respirators to 10 per person.
Medicom Group, a Montreal medical supply company, usually makes 150 million masks per year at its factory near Angers, France. At the beginning of last month, the factory had orders for 500 million masks.
Minnesota-based 3M said that it has ramped up production of respirators at its facilities in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Italy’s financial police have announced that they busted 20 people based in Turin for selling masks that were falsely said to offer complete protection against the disease.
They were selling for as much as 5,000 euros (US$5,514) apiece, police said.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS