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.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2