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OUTBREAK FEARS
First coronavirus death in US as 52 tested for deadly bug and expert warns ‘this is the tip of the iceberg’
MORE than 50 people at a nursing home in Washington state might have the coronavirus, health officials said hours after the first person in the U.S. died from the virus.
A healthcare worker and a resident at the Life Care Center, , were confirmed to have the , while another 50 people who started to show symptoms were being tested.
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The nursing home is just two miles away from EvergreenHealth Medical Center — where a Seattle man in his 50s died from the coronavirus.
Dr. Frank Riedo, medical director of Infection Control at the center, said: "This is just the tip of the iceberg."
Health officials are now scrambling to find everyone who had been in contact with the man who died over fears he could have spread the killer bug.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issued a state of emergency on Saturday because of the virus, which has infected at least 69 people .
downplayed the virus threat just moments after the death was announced, urging people .
"We have 22 patients in the U.S. that have coronavirus," Trump said, confirming a "high-risk" patient passed away overnight — but officials said he had not traveled before his death.
"Healthy people, if you're healthy ... you will probably go through and process and you'll be fine," the president said.
He described his January decision to prevent travel as the most "aggressive action in modern history" to contain a like this.
Trump said these travel restrictions on people traveling to and from were a "lifesaver."
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He added that pharmaceutical experts would be meeting with him to discuss a vaccine next Monday.
Trump also touted the U.S. now had for medical professionals and said the country would be getting more as he warned the media and not to incite "panic."
LOW RISK?
Vice President Mike Pence, who is overseeing the coronavirus task force, said all Americans were "in this together" after confirming the Level 4 Travel advisory was in effect.
Although he acknowledged the risk to Americans was low, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar warned this could change "rapidly."
Dr. Anthony Fauci agreed that although 75 to 80 percent of coronavirus patients all over the world do "quite well," there were some fatal exceptions.
Fauci said the elderly and people with underlying conditions were most at risk but a 25-year-old
Pence, the former governor of Indiana, addressed his response to the HIV crisis there back in 2015, saying he followed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's direction to allow a 30-day needle exchange to curb the spread amongst people in a small town "sharing needles."
His comments come after Democratic told Pence was ";dragged kicking and screaming" into a response.
Pence also announced new travel restrictions have now extended to foreign nationals who visited Iran over the past two weeks as the US works with and to coordinate traveler screenings.
FIRST U.S. FATALITY
Before Trump's coronavirus conference, a spokesperson for EvergreenHealth Medical Center said the person died in the Kirkland facility, giving no other details.
State and King County health officials said “new people (have been) identified with the infection, one of whom died" — but they didn't confirm how many cases there were in-state.
“We are dealing with an emergency evolving situation," said Amy Reynolds of the Washington state health department said earlier Saturday.
Confirmed cases of the disease increased to over as of February 29 — but the tragic death of the state man is a first for the U.S.
The patient's identity has yet to be confirmed as Department of Homeland Security officials told Trump is thinking about shutting the southern border — after three patients were diagnosed in .
CONFIRMED CASES
A total of 69 Americans have been diagnosed with the killer virus as of today, with seven of these cases in major U.S. cities like , Boston, , Santa Clara, Seattle and Tempe.
During his rally Thursday in , Trump blasted the for spreading a virus "hoax" as in Washington state became a third confirmed case in 24 hours here.
But the president appeared to defend his previous statement on Saturday, indicating he meant his political rivals were trying to blame him for the outbreak rather than dismissing it.
"Hoax referring to the action they take in trying to pin this on somebody," he told a reporter. "Certainly not referring to this. How could anybody refer to this — it is very serious."
The student was one of two people in the state announced as cases of "presumptive" coronavirus — meaning they've tested positive but are still waiting for official CDC confirmation.
But the Washington teen had never traveled abroad, officials said, unlike thousands of others who had traveled to mainland China or the virus epicenter Wuhan before receiving the damning diagnosis.
CORONAVIRUS IN WASHINGTON STATE
Another presumptive case in-state was announced as a woman in her 50s who'd been to South Korea — a country that is currently being ravaged by the deadly disease.
Both patients are in isolation at their homes and the student's Jackson High School starting on March 2 for sanitization.
Elsewhere, officials in and are also concerned about the illness spreading through West Coast communities after confirming two patients were also infected — but experts don't know how.
MOST READ IN NEWS
A 65-year-old in and an elementary school teacher in both had presumptive cases of the illness.
Neither of those patients had any known history of travel to any countries with outbreaks and neither are believed to be in close contact with anyone who has the virus.
The news comes after the coronavirus outbreak resulted in the since last Friday — but Trump insisted "the markets will come back" on Saturday morning.
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