SAN JOSE (AP) — Health officials have confirmed the second case of novel coronavirus in the United States believed to have been transmitted to a person who didn’t travel internationally or come in close contact with anyone who had it.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that officials are “aware of a second possible instance of community spread of COVID-19 in California."
Santa Clara County health officials said the patient is an older adult woman with chronic health conditions.
She is not known to have traveled to an area with many infections or to Solano County where Thursday's case originated.
“This is a fluid situation but we have plans and protocols in place for public health events like this to protect the health and safety of Californians and the state’s visitors. We are actively working with the CDC, with local governments, health facilities, and health care providers across the state to respond as new cases are identified,” said Dr. Sonia Angell, Director of the California Department of Public Health and State Health Officer.
Health officials in Washington state on Friday announce two new coronavirus cases.
Also on Friday, Oregon's first coronavirus case emerged.
The infected person worked at an elementary school in the Portland area, which will be closed for three days. The Lake Oswego School District sent robocalls to parents saying that Forest Hills Elementary school will be closed until Wednesday, and will be deep cleaned by maintenance workers.
Oregon state health authorities planned to spend the weekend trying to find everyone the unidentified person, who was in a hospital, had been in contact with.
Hours before the case emerged, the state ramped up efforts to combat an outbreak amid potential challenges including closing schools, businesses and events, and sustained shortages of medical supplies.
Federal health officials said they're scrambling to get coronavirus testing up and running in every state. And the Trump administration may invoke a 70-year-old law to guarantee a range of needed supplies.
Two days after the White House shifted gears from Trump's initial assurances of minimal fallout to a mobilization under Vice President Mike Pence, the administration's messaging still isn't completely seamless. The count of U.S. cases grew to 62 on Friday, with two more passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship testing positive.
Congress is working on a spending bill for anti-virus efforts to be unveiled next week.
Wall Street has worst week since 2008 as S&P 500 drops 11.5%
Stocks sank again after another wild day, extending a rout that left the market with its worst week since October 2008. Major indexes clawed back much of their intraday losses in the last 15 minutes.
Bond prices soared as investors sought safety, pushing yields to record lows. The stock swoon is being driven by fear that the coronavirus outbreak will derail the global economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 357 points, or 1.4%, to 25,409. It was down 1,085 points earlier. The S&P 500 lost 0.8% and is now down 13% since hitting a record high just 10 days ago.