Evacuee at Lackland Air Force Base is 15th virus case in US

NEW YORK — U.S. officials on Thursday announced the country’s 15th confirmed case of the new coronavirus — an evacuee from China who had been under quarantine in Texas.

The patient, who had been flown to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio last week, is now in isolation at a hospital and was reported in stable condition. The infection was confirmed through a Wednesday night lab test, making the person the first coronavirus patient in Texas.

“There may be additional cases we identify. I do want to prepare you for that,” said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control’s division of high consequence pathogens and pathology.

Two earlier U.S. cases were found among evacuees flown to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in Southern California.

Hundreds of people, including U.S. State Department employees and their families, were brought to military bases in Texas, California and Nebraska aboard chartered flights from Wuhan, a city of 11 million that is at the center of the outbreak.

There are 57 evacuees being held in quarantine at the Nebraska National Guard’s Camp Ashland southwest of Omaha, Nebraska, none of whom have shown any signs of the virus, Nebraska Medicine spokesman Taylor Wilson said. He said the Omaha hospital prepared to treat any of the evacuees if needed.

Why scientists are encouraging people to drink more coffee

Coffee, just what can’t it do?

The promise of strong bones meant something very different to us as children. We thought obtaining the physique of our favorite superhero was as simple as drinking as much milk as possible. Turns out, we were wrong about the prize and the best way to achieve it.

According to a new study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, there is a robust association between habitual coffee consumption and the prevention of bone fracturing later in life and the development of metabolic illnesses. In other words, more coffee for everyone!

Coffee, coffee, coffee

“Inconsistent associations between coffee consumption and bone mineral density (BMD) have been observed in epidemiological studies. Moreover, the relationship of bioactive components in coffee with BMD has not been studied. The aim of the current study is to identify coffee-associated metabolites and evaluate their association with BMD,” the authors wrote in the report.

In actuality, bone strength refers to mineral density. The amount of minerals present in bone tissue is a strong correlate of several metabolic bone diseases, including osteoporosis, rickets, osteomalacia, osteogenesis imperfecta, and fibrous dysplasia.

For many years research has been suppressed by a long-standing (and anecdotal) assumption that caffeine poses a negative effect on calcium absorption. Scholarly inspection concluded this impact to be a fractional one.

“There is no evidence that caffeine has any harmful effect on bone status or on the calcium economy in individuals who ingest the currently recommended daily allowances of calcium.” celebrated osteology expert,  Dr. Robert Heaney wrote back in 2002.

Coffee Consumption and its Association with Bone Mineral Density

The Hong Kong University researchers began their analysis with 564  healthy community-dwelling adults previously involved in an osteoporosis study from a few years back. The participants were tasked with documenting the frequency of their coffee consumption in the followup examination logged in November of last year.

Twelve serum metabolites important to bone mineral density were significantly more concentrated among regular coffee drinkers—three molecules (quinate, 3-hydroxypyridine sulfate, and trigonelline) evidenced particular relevance to the study’s premise.

“Among these metabolites, 11 known metabolites were previously identified to be associated with coffee intake and 6 of them were related to caffeine metabolism. Habitual coffee intake was positively and significantly associated with BMD at the lumbar spine and femoral neck,” the authors continued.

The health benefits linked to coffee consumption are almost all preventive in nature. The abundance of anti-oxidants contained in a single serving effectively disarms free-radicals which in turn delays many of the physical markers of the ageing process. These very same agents have been confirmed to be instrumental measures against cavities, diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver and various forms of cancer.

A study conducted back in 2018 that used mouse models determined that drinking four shots of espresso a day boosts heart health by reinvigorating important proteins and cardiovascular cells.

“For all those folks who drink lots of coffee and are concerned about the health effects of coffee, this is good news,” Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Chad Deal, who was not directly involved in the study, said in a press release. “It appears to show that coffee is, in general, probably good for bone health.” 

Health experts warn Congress coronavirus may hit US hard in next two to four weeks.

Leading health officials expect to see a significant uptick in coronavirus cases nationwide.

“We’re going to start to see those outbreaks emerge sometime in the next two to four weeks,” said Scott Gottlieb, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner. “We should be leaning in very aggressively to try to broaden diagnostic screening right now, particularly in communities where there is a lot of immigration where these efforts could emerge to identify them early enough that they’ll be small enough that we can intervene to prevent — prevent more epidemic spread in this country.”

Gottlieb, one of five panelists who briefed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday, said although U.S. customs officials blocked some travel and are screening travelers returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated, they could not have stopped every person with coronavirus from getting into the United States.

“I don’t think we should be planning for the onesie-twosie cases that we’ve been seeing thus far in the United States,” said Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. “We have to plan for the possibility that we have thousands of cases, you know.”

Hundreds of thousands of coronavirus cases could break out globally, George said, adding federal, state, and local governments should start planning for an outbreak on a massive scale.

“We’re going to see a lot more cases here, and I really worry about the helpers in the parasite patients,” said Luciana Borio, former director of medical and biodefense preparedness at the National Security Council.

Julie Gerberding, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the U.S. would begin to see more cases among people who did not visit China but were exposed to the virus by people who returned from China either before the travel ban or who were not flagged in health screenings upon their return.

“We shouldn’t assume that the 13 cases that we’ve identified — I think 10 of them were travel-related people who came directly from China and imported the virus into the United States — that we just managed to find all 10 people coming in from China who happened to have coronavirus,” said Gottlieb, who added many passengers returning from China or elsewhere could have been asymptomatic or only showed mild symptoms. “Some of the modeling out of the U.K. suggests that we’re capturing about 25% of cases at best. So for every case we identify, there’s three or four that we didn’t identify.”

He added, “One or a few breakouts may happen on a local level, but until there is a trend or deadly case, local governments may not realize or be able to sound off and at least some of those cases, probably are propagating at a local level, but not enough cases have accumulated yet to be identifiable.”

Gottlieb said he believes China first saw the epidemic spread internally in November and doubts the Chinese government’s data are sound. The coronavirus was confirmed to be in the U.S. in January, unbeknownst to the public. Chinese officials announced the first known human-to-human transmission on Jan. 20.

The panel members said they are watching the world to see how the virus progresses because it will show how cases exported from China become a global pandemic. Singapore has reported 50 cases, which Gottlieb said is “concerning” because it is the middle of summer there.

“We’re going to know much much more in the next two weeks as we examine what’s happening in Singapore. And what’s happening on a very unfortunate cruise ship because we get a better estimate of how many people with disease actually progressed to severe disease,” Gottlieb said. “What we should be worried about isn’t the cases that we know about — it’s the cases we don’t know about. There’s certainly cases we don’t know about.”

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Situation Report – 23

SITUATION IN NUMBERS total and new cases in last 24 hours
Globally
45 171 confirmed (2068 new)
China
44 730 confirmed (2022 new)
8204 severe (871 new)
1114 deaths (97 new)
Outside of China
441 confirmed (46 new)
24 countries
1 death

People Under Investigation (PUI) in the United States*†

People under Investigation (PUI) in the United States

Positive	13
Negative	347
Pending§	60
Total	420

^*Cumulative since January 21, 2020.

Evacuee Confirmed to Have Coronavirus in California as US Total Reaches 13

One of the evacuees who was transported from China to California last week due to coronavirus fears was diagnosed on Monday with the new virus, becoming the 13th known case on U.S. soil, reports said.

The patient left Wuhan — the epicenter of the virus — on a State Department chartered flight carrying 167 evacuees that arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego on Wednesday.

The patient is under observation and isolation at UC San Diego Medical Center and is “doing well,” according to the hospital.

“CDC is conducting a thorough contact investigation of the person who has tested positive to determine contacts and to assess if those contacts had high-risk exposures,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The evacuee was among four people — three adults and one child — who were taken to UC San Diego Medical Center with a fever or a cough, according to the CDC.

The CDC said all four patients had tested negative for the coronavirus on Sunday and were returned to MCAS Miramar, according to Reuters. However, on Monday, the CDC said that additional testing showed the patient had tested positive while in the 14-day mandatory quarantine.

Another patient was also transported to the hospital on Monday for evaluation and will remain there for further tests. It’s not clear if they were part of the four people originally tested.

“Both patients are doing well and have minimal symptoms,” the medical center said per the news organization.

195 Americans released from coronavirus quarantine at air base

The 195 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan, China, last month have now been released from the first mandatory quarantine the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ordered in more than 50 years.

The group, which faced numerous health screenings both in China and during their trip and quarantine, has now been “medically cleared,” health officials said Tuesday, clearing the way for them to leave the March Air Reserve Base in Southern California.

“Our guests at March Air Reserve Base are happy to see an official end today to their 14-day quarantine and are looking forward to returning home. We wish them well!” Riverside University Health System – Public Health said via Facebook Tuesday, posting an image of the evacuees gathered together outside, tossing blue face masks into the air.

While the evacuees are glad to see the end of an ordeal that began at the epicenter of a global health emergency, there are also some mixed feelings about disbanding a group that has grown close.

“They’re very excited to go home, and at the same time, we’re kind of sad saying our goodbyes to each other,” evacuee Matthew McCoy, who worked in Wuhan as a theme park designer, told NPR’s Patti Neighmond.

“We’ve all created a family environment here,” McCoy said, adding that many of the evacuees plan to stay in touch through special groups on Skype and other platforms.

McCoy says the group coped with the quarantine as a team, trying to maintain a positive attitude.

“We chose to work together,” he said. “We chose to create classes and things like that. That made it more of a positive outlook. And we all helped each other. It’s better than sitting around sulking and not doing anything.”

There are no confirmed cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus among the 195 evacuees, the health system said in a statement disseminated by the Department of Health and Human Services.

“They have completed their final health check this morning, which included their symptom check and their temperature check,” said Rear Admiral Dr. Nancy Knight of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Saying that it’s now safe for the group to rejoin their communities and families, Knight added, “This is a huge celebration for all of us here at March Air Reserve Base.”

Knight also stressed that the completion of the quarantine means that the evacuees have been determined to be entirely free of the virus that has now killed more than 1,000 people in China.

‘Diamond Princess’ Reports 66 New Coronavirus Infections, Bringing the Total to 136

The Diamond Princess, the cruise ship that has been quarantined off the coast of Yokohama, Japan for roughly a week now, saw the total number of confirmed nCoV infections climb to 136 on Monday, cementing its position as the host of the largest outbreak outside China.

Japanese health authorities have been extremely careful in dealing with the ship, which has become a massive albatross for the government of PM Shinzo Abe. While Hong Kong let a cruise ship sail yesterday following a 4-day quarantine (the ship was reportedly found to be free of viral infections), the ‘Diamond Princess’, and the 2,500+ remaining passengers and crew, will be stuck in place until mid-February. The NYT chronicled the growing sense of unease and paranoia aboard the ship, which we cited yesterday.

The ship’s captain Stefano Ravera announced Monday that 66 new cases of the virus had been confirmed, bringing the infection total of passengers and crew to 136, roughly equal to all the other cases in Asia outside China. Media reports have claimed more than 2,500 passengers and crew remain aboard the ship.

Novel Coronavirus(2019-nCoV)
Situation Report – 20

SITUATION IN NUMBERS
total and new cases in last 24 hours
Globally
37 558 confirmed (2676 new)
China
37 251 confirmed (2657 new)
6188 severe (87 new)
812 deaths (89 new)
Outside of China
307 confirmed (19 new)
24 countries
1 death

Clinical Characteristics of 138 Hospitalized Patients With 2019 Novel Coronavirus–Infected Pneumonia in Wuhan, China

Key Points

Question  What are the clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)–infected pneumonia (NCIP) in Wuhan, China?

Findings  In this single-center case series involving 138 patients with NCIP, 26% of patients required admission to the intensive care unit and 4.3% died. Presumed human-to-human hospital-associated transmission of 2019-nCoV was suspected in 41% of patients.

Meaning  In this case series in Wuhan, China, NCIP was frequently associated with presumed hospital-related transmission, 26% of patients required intensive care unit treatment, and mortality was 4.3%.

Abstract

Importance  In December 2019, novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)–infected pneumonia (NCIP) occurred in Wuhan, China. The number of cases has increased rapidly but information on the clinical characteristics of affected patients is limited.

Objective  To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of NCIP.

Design, Setting, and Participants  Retrospective, single-center case series of the 138 consecutive hospitalized patients with confirmed NCIP at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, China, from January 1 to January 28, 2020; final date of follow-up was February 3, 2020.

Exposures  Documented NCIP.

Main Outcomes and Measures  Epidemiological, demographic, clinical, laboratory, radiological, and treatment data were collected and analyzed. Outcomes of critically ill patients and noncritically ill patients were compared. Presumed hospital-related transmission was suspected if a cluster of health professionals or hospitalized patients in the same wards became infected and a possible source of infection could be tracked.

Results  Of 138 hospitalized patients with NCIP, the median age was 56 years (interquartile range, 42-68; range, 22-92 years) and 75 (54.3%) were men. Hospital-associated transmission was suspected as the presumed mechanism of infection for affected health professionals (40 [29%]) and hospitalized patients (17 [12.3%]). Common symptoms included fever (136 [98.6%]), fatigue (96 [69.6%]), and dry cough (82 [59.4%]). Lymphopenia (lymphocyte count, 0.8 × 10⁹/L [interquartile range {IQR}, 0.6-1.1]) occurred in 97 patients (70.3%), prolonged prothrombin time (13.0 seconds [IQR, 12.3-13.7]) in 80 patients (58%), and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (261 U/L [IQR, 182-403]) in 55 patients (39.9%). Chest computed tomographic scans showed bilateral patchy shadows or ground glass opacity in the lungs of all patients. Most patients received antiviral therapy (oseltamivir, 124 [89.9%]), and many received antibacterial therapy (moxifloxacin, 89 [64.4%]; ceftriaxone, 34 [24.6%]; azithromycin, 25 [18.1%]) and glucocorticoid therapy (62 [44.9%]). Thirty-six patients (26.1%) were transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) because of complications, including acute respiratory distress syndrome (22 [61.1%]), arrhythmia (16 [44.4%]), and shock (11 [30.6%]). The median time from first symptom to dyspnea was 5.0 days, to hospital admission was 7.0 days, and to ARDS was 8.0 days. Patients treated in the ICU (n = 36), compared with patients not treated in the ICU (n = 102), were older (median age, 66 years vs 51 years), were more likely to have underlying comorbidities (26 [72.2%] vs 38 [37.3%]), and were more likely to have dyspnea (23 [63.9%] vs 20 [19.6%]), and anorexia (24 [66.7%] vs 31 [30.4%]). Of the 36 cases in the ICU, 4 (11.1%) received high-flow oxygen therapy, 15 (41.7%) received noninvasive ventilation, and 17 (47.2%) received invasive ventilation (4 were switched to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). As of February 3, 47 patients (34.1%) were discharged and 6 died (overall mortality, 4.3%), but the remaining patients are still hospitalized. Among those discharged alive (n = 47), the median hospital stay was 10 days (IQR, 7.0-14.0).

Conclusions and Relevance  In this single-center case series of 138 hospitalized patients with confirmed NCIP in Wuhan, China, presumed hospital-related transmission of 2019-nCoV was suspected in 41% of patients, 26% of patients received ICU care, and mortality was 4.3%.

2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the U.S.

Updated February 7, 2020

CDC is closely monitoring an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus named 2019-nCoV. The outbreak first started in Wuhan, China, but cases have been identified in a growing number of other international locations, including the United States. This page will be updated regularly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

People Under Investigation (PUI) in the United States*†

People under Investigation (PUI) in the United States

Positive	12
Negative	225
Pending§	100
Total	337

Coronavirus Cases On Japan Cruise Ship Treble To 61

I first heard of this on Monday when the count was 10, including 2 U.S. citizens out of 428 aboard. Yesterday, it was 20, including 8 U.S. citizens.
Something new every day…………

Another 41 people on a cruise ship quarantined off Japan have the new coronavirus, the country’s health minister said Friday, confirming more on board will now be tested for the illness……..

Japanese authorities have said the ship’s quarantine may last until February 19, with passengers required to stay inside their cabins in a bid to prevent new infections.

Novel Coronavirus(2019-nCoV)
Situation Report – 17

SITUATION IN NUMBERS
total and new cases in last 24 hours
Globally
28 276 confirmed (3722 new)
China
28 060 confirmed (3697 new)
3859 severe (640 new)
564 deaths (73 new)
Outside of China
216 confirmed (25 new)
24 countries
1 death

Li Wenliang: Coronavirus kills Chinese whistleblower doctor

A Chinese doctor who tried to issue the first warnings about the deadly coronavirus outbreak has died, the hospital treating him has said.

Li Wenliang contracted the virus while working at Wuhan Central Hospital.

He had sent out a warning to fellow medics on 30 December but police told him to stop “making false comments”.

There had been contradictory reports about his death, but the People’s Daily now says he died at 02:58 on Friday (18:58 GMT Thursday).

The virus has killed 636 people and infected 31,161 in mainland China, the National Health Commission’s latest figures show.

The death toll includes 73 new deaths reported on Thursday…….

What is Li Wenliang’s story?

Dr Li, an ophthalmologist, posted his story on Weibo from a hospital bed a month after sending out his initial warning.

He had noticed seven cases of a virus that he thought looked like Sars – the virus that led to a global epidemic in 2003.

On 30 December he sent a message to fellow doctors in a chat group warning them to wear protective clothing to avoid infection.

Four days later he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter. In the letter he was accused of “making false comments” that had “severely disturbed the social order”.

He was one of eight people who police said were being investigated for “spreading rumours” Local authorities later apologised to Dr Li.

Pentagon designates a 5th US military base for Chinese coronavirus evacuees

The Pentagon is using Camp Ashland in Nebraska to quarantine up 75 individuals possibly infected with the coronavirus, the Defense Department announced Wednesday.

Americans evacuated overseas in need of quarantine will be flown to a remote spot at Eppley Airfield in Omaha as soon as Thursday, according to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and will be transported to the camp.

“DOD personnel will not be in direct contact with the evacuees and will minimize contact with personnel supporting the evacuees,” the announcement read. “Should routine monitoring of the evacuees identify ill individuals, [the DepartmentHealth and Human Services] HHS has procedures in place to transport them to a local civilian medical facility. HHS will also ensure that no evacuated personnel are transferred to any DOD installation if they are infected or ill.”

Nebraska National Guard officials have prepared three buildings with 85 beds at the camp, and Guard officials said evacuees won’t be interacting with guardsmen or employees there.

The HHS also said that planes will arrive at bases in California and Texas. All passengers will be screened for symptoms and are subject to 14 days of mandatory quarantine. It typically takes about two weeks before seeing symptoms of the coronavirus, which part of the reason it has spread so fast.

Novel Coronavirus(2019-nCoV)
Situation Report – 15

• No new countries reported cases of 2019-nCoV in the 24 hours since the previous situation report.

SITUATION IN NUMBERS
total and new cases in last 24 hours
Globally
20630 confirmed (3241 new)
China
20471 confirmed (3235 new)
2788 severe (492 new)
425 deaths (64 new)
Outside of China
159 confirmed (6 new)
23 countries
1 death

No change in the U.S.

2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the U.S.

Health officials confirm 6 cases of novel coronavirus in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif – According to the California Department of Public Health, they have confirmed a new case of novel coronavirus 2019 in Santa Clara County on Sunday.

In addition, two more cases have been confirmed in San Benito County, bringing California’s number of confirmed cases to six. This information is confirmed by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, the San Benito County Public Health Department and the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory.

hose sickened are husband and wife, and both are 57 years of age. One spouse traveled to China and one who did not. This marks the first instance of close household person-to-person transmission of novel coronavirus in California. There is no evidence of person-to-person transmission in the general public in California.

Currently, the California Department of Public Health confirms a total of six cases of novel coronavirus in California: two people in Santa Clara County, two people in San Benito County, one person in Los Angeles County and one person in Orange County have tested positive for novel coronavirus 2019.

This brings the U.S. total to 11.

Coronavirus: scientists identify possible new mode of transmission in human faeces

Not surprising as the virus that causes polio uses the same vector. I guess we’ll have to write off San Francisco now.

Novel Coronavirus(2019-nCoV)
Situation Report – 12

SITUATION IN NUMBERS
total and new cases in last 24 hours
Globally
11953 confirmed (2128 new)
China
11821 confirmed (2102 new)
1795 severe (268 new)
259 deaths (46 new)
Outside of China
132 confirmed (26 new)
23 countries (4 new)

Notable Epidemiological Events Reported in the Last 24 Hours

In France, for the first time outside China, a healthcare worker was diagnosed as being ill with 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease.
The health worker treated two patients who were later identified as probable cases.
The first instance of third-generation human-to-human transmission outside China has been identified, in an individual who was exposed to a confirmed case from the cluster in Bavaria, Germany.
For the first time, a case was exported from a country other than China: a patient was identified in South Korea following their exposure in Japan to a confirmed case.
In the last 24 hours, additional instances of human-to-human transmission outside China were reported:
in Japan, a tour guide who is part of the same cluster of Japanese cases who had contact with tourists from Wuhan;
in Germany, a case that is part of the cluster in Bavaria;
and in Thailand, a taxi driver who had no travel history to China.

Epidemiological link to Hubei Province
The outbreak of 2019-nCoV is still largely centered around Hubei Province.
In China, 60.5% of all cases since the start of the outbreak have been reported from Hubei Province. The remaining 39.5% of cases have been reported from 33 provinces, regions and cities. After Hubei Province, the second largest number of cases has been reported from Zhejiang Province (599 cases).
Of the 132 cases identified outside China, 14 were due to secondary transmission outside China. Of the remaining cases, travel history is available for 101 of them: all 101 had travelled to China in the 14 days before illness onset. Of the 81 for whom the exact destination in China was known, all had travelled to Hubei province.

Countries, territories or areas with reported confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV. Data as of 1 February 2020
WHO Regional Office Country/Territory/Area Confirmed Cases
Western Pacific
China* 11821
Japan 17
Republic of Korea 12
Viet Nam 6
Singapore 16
Australia 12
Malaysia 8
Cambodia 1
Philippines 1
South-East Asia Thailand 19
Nepal 1
Sri Lanka 1
India 1

Region of the Americas
United States of America 7
Canada 4

European Region
France 6
Finland 1
Germany 7
Italy 2
Russian Federation 2
Spain 1
Sweden 1
United Kingdom 2

Eastern Mediterranean
United Arab Emirates 4

Total Confirmed cases Total 11953

Coronavirus spread now a global emergency declares World Health Organization