The U.S. Coast Guard sent testing kits to a cruise ship quarantined off the coast of California on Thursday as Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency with cases of the novel coronavirus rising.
The big picture: Governments around the world are scrambling to combat the virus. COVID-19 has infected more than 96,000 people in 90 countries and territories, mostly in mainland China, which has seen a slowdown of new infections. The global death toll is nearing 3,300....
Last 48 hours
- U.S. cases: There are now well over 160 coronavirus cases in 18 states with the newest reports in New Jersey, New York and Tennessee. The CDC is counting confirmed and presumptive cases that individual state health departments are tracking.
- U.S. deaths: The virus has killed 11 people in the U.S. — 10 in Washington state. The Life Care Center nursing home in Washington has been linked to several of the state's 39 cases and most of the deaths.
- After learning on Thursday that an employee in Lyft's San Francisco headquarters was in contact with someone who had been exposed to COVID-19, a work-from-home policy was encouraged the remainder of this week, according to a company statement.
- Fresh cruise ship cases: The other death occurred in Placer County, California, after an elderly man became infected after traveling on Princess Cruises' Grand Princess cruise ship — which also operates the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined off Japan's coast last month during which an outbreak that left 706 people infected.
- California now has more cases than anywhere else in the U.S. Newsom declared a state of emergency on Wednesday to make additional resources available, formalize emergency actions across state agencies and departments, and prepare for possible spread.
- Facebook and Amazon have both confirmed a case each among their workers in Seattle this week.
- Congress reached a bipartisan $8 billion deal on Wednesday for emergency funding to increase the public health response to the novel coronavirus. The Senate will vote Thursday afternoon.
- Recovery rate: About 53% of people infected globally have recovered, per Johns Hopkins University preliminary data.
- Conference impact: Several conferences have been canceled or postponed until further notice due to coronavirus concerns. Organizers of South by Southwest are under pressure to cancel the event, with Apple and Netflix among the biggest names to pull out.
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