Over the past few days, local officials have been announcing newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 all over the country. For a while, it had been hoped that by isolating ourselves from China we could prevent a widespread outbreak from happening inside the United States. Unfortunately, this virus is now spreading like wildfire all over the globe, and even the CDC is admitting that “this might be bad”. We still don’t know if this is going to evolve into a horrifying global pandemic that will kill millions of people, but it is undeniable that this crisis has significantly escalated over the last three days. All across America people are really starting to freak out, and it appears that the worst is yet to come.
In this article, I would like to summarize some of the most notable confirmed cases that have just been announced. As you can see, things are really starting to get crazy out there…
Washington State
Six new cases have been confirmed at a nursing facility in Kirkland, and “many more residents” of that nursing home have been complaining of illness…
As the coronavirus continued its march across the globe on Sunday, there were troubling new signs that it was spreading undetected in some American communities for weeks while the government resisted calls for more widespread testing.
With testing now ramping up, the Seattle suburb of Kirkland has become an epicenter of both illness and fear, much of it focused on a nursing facility where six coronavirus cases have been confirmed and many more residents and employees have complained of illness.
Over the weekend, the first two U.S. deaths from the coronavirus also happened in the state of Washington…
King County officials said the man was in his 70s and had underlying health conditions. He died at EvergreenHealth Medical Center, where the first person also died.
On Saturday, it was announced a man in his 50s from the Seattle area, who also had underlying health conditions, had died from the illness.
It appears that there is a full blown outbreak taking place in King County, and that is extremely alarming because the county’s total population is over two million.
And according to a brand new study that was just released, it also appears that “the virus may have been spreading there for weeks”…
There was worse news: researchers who studied two cases in the state say that the virus may have been spreading there for weeks, suggesting the possibility that up to 1,500 people in the state may have been infected. Specifically, the researchers compared two cases to learn more about how the coronavirus spreads. The viral mutations suggest that it has been spreading in the state for close to six weeks, according to one of the scientists who compared the sequences, Trevor Bedford, an associate professor at the University of Washington.
If that is true, it could mean that 150 to 1,500 people “have either been infected and recovered or currently are infected now,” said Mike Famulare, a researcher at the Institute for Disease Modeling in Bellevue, Wash., who performed the analysis. Those cases, if they exist, have thus far been undetected.
New York
There have been rumors about COVID-19 in New York for some time now, but over the weekend a woman that recently traveled to Iran became the first officially confirmed case…
NEW York has confirmed its first case of the deadly coronavirus — the same day a second man died in Washington state from the illness.
A woman in her late 30s who had traveled to Iran was diagnosed with the virus, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.
The fact that she was recently in Iran is especially alarming, because the death rate in Iran has been higher than anywhere else in the world. This has led some to speculate that the Iranian strain of the virus may be more deadly, but this has not been confirmed at this point.
Rhode Island
Two individuals that recently traveled to Italy are believed to be the first confirmed cases in the smallest state in the country…
The Rhode Island Department of Health announced the state’s first “presumptive positive” cases, a man in his 40s and a teenage girl who traveled to Italy in mid-February, the department said.
Florida
With the number of tourists coming in and out of Florida, it was probably inevitable that the coronavirus would spread to that state fairly quickly, and over the weekend we learned that there are now two confirmed cases…
Two people in Florida have tested positive for the coronavirus, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Sunday night, the first two cases of the virus in the state.
The two patients are from Hillsborough and Manatee counties, according to the governor, who directed Surgeon General Scott Rivkees. to declare a public health emergency.
Oregon
Many of the victims that are now becoming “confirmed cases” have actually been exhibiting symptoms for quite some time.
In fact, the newly confirmed case in Oregon has been exhibiting symptoms since February 19th…
Oregon Health Authority has confirmed Oregon’s first, presumptive case of novel coronavirus, COVID-19, public health officials announced today.
The case, an adult resident of Washington County, experienced symptoms of COVID-19 beginning Feb. 19, and a sample was collected from the individual today. The sample was sent to the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory in Hillsboro, which used the new COVID-19 test kit it received Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The lab tested the sample today—only hours after it validated the new CDC test kit.
Illinois
A new case has been confirmed in Illinois, but at this point local officials are not releasing much information…
The new Illinois patient also received “presumptive positive” test results. Officials did not disclose how this patient became infected by the virus. They are now trying to identify and monitor anyone who might have had close contact with the patient.
Texas
This new case in Texas is very interesting.
Originally this particular individual tested negative and was released.
But after mixing with the general population, this patient has now tested positive…
The CDC has mistakenly released a patient from the Texas Center for Infectious Disease whose test later came back positive for COVID-19, says San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
The patient was part of the group that came back from Wuhan, China over two weeks ago via a State Department chartered flight. According to the CDC, the patient was asymptomatic and had met all of the CDC’s criteria for release.
As you can see, confirmed cases are now starting to come in fast and furious from all over the country.
And this is happening even though the CDC has greatly restricted the number of people being tested for the virus. The following piece of commentary about a particularly disturbing case in California comes from Ben Hunt…
The facts here are pretty clear. Patient comes in from another hospital on Wednesday, Feb. 19 – this is one week ago – already intubated and on a ventilator, and the doctors at UC Davis – who have treated other COVID-19 cases – IMMEDIATELY suspect COVID-19.
But the CDC refuses to test for COVID-19.
Why? Because it didn’t fit their “criteria” for testing. They didn’t know for sure that the patient was in mainland China within the past 14 days, and they didn’t know for sure that the patient was in close contact with another confirmed case, so BY DEFINITION this patient can’t possibly have COVID-19. No test for you!
U.S. officials are now promising a “radical expansion” in testing in the coming days, and that is certainly a positive development.
But at this point the cat is already out of the bag, and all efforts to contain the virus have failed.
The months ahead look like they are going to be extremely challenging, and this outbreak is likely to cause an enormous amount of fear.
We have never faced anything like this before, and so nobody is sure exactly what is going to happen next.
But what we do know is that the numbers continue to rise at an exponential rate all over the world, and a lot of people are dying. I am encouraging everyone to prepare for an extended pandemic, because it certainly appears that this virus is going to be with us for a long time to come.
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