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.

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.

Cane sword-wielding Dunnellon man accused of threatening Trump supporters

Around my neck of the woods, this man would be lucky to be alive.

James L. Whitehurst II faces 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

DUNNELLON — A 49-year-old Dunnellon (Florida) man accused of threatening multiple people favorable to President Donald Trump, was arrested and charged with 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of disorderly conduct by police.

On Thursday, Officer Megan Feliciani of the Dunnellon Police Department was called to the 11300 block of North Williams Street to investigate an armed man at a gathering where people were holding pro-Trump signs.

The victims told an officer that a man, later identified as James L. Whitehurst II, had approached them during their peaceful assembly with what was described as a cane sword in hand. The officer was told Whitehurst pointed the sword in their faces and made threatening statements.

The sword was allegedly 6 inches from their faces, according to the victims, and they felt afraid.

Feliciani spoke with Whitehurst, who told her he removed the sword from its holder and pointed it at the Trump supporters. He told the officer he meant no harm.

Whitehurst was arrested after and taken to the Marion County Jail.

 

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.

Home intruder shot, killed in rural Grant County

GAS CITY, Ind. (WISH) — A man at a home in a rural part of Grant County told police he shot and killed an intruder Monday afternoon, the sheriff’s department says.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Department Dispatch Center received a 911 call about 1 p.m. from a man who said he’d just shot and killed an intruder at the home near the intersection of East County Road 600 South and South County Road 500 East. That’s about a mile southwest of the I-69 interchange for U.S. 35 and State Road 22.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived and found two people outside the home, said a news release from sheriff’s Capt. Ed Beaty. The two people were taken into protective custody. One of the two people, Matthew Whitt, 39 of Wabash, was arrested on a parole violation.

The deputies also found a dead man lying on the floor near the back door of the home. He was suffering from what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head and torso.

The man was identified Tuesday as Steven Nickell, 33, of Muncie.

Beaty said Tuesday in a news release, “The nature and cause of the shooting is still under investigation and any information that did not come from an official release from the Grant County Sheriff’s Department should only be regarded as speculation at this point. Several interviews have been conducted and continue to be done, as well as the processing and collecting of evidence from the scene and other locations as it relates to this case.”

The Grant County Prosecutor’s Office was called to the scene. Indiana State Police also responded to the initial call.

Willow Man Jailed after being Shot in Shoulder Monday Morning

Unlike all the times Marshal Dillon got shot in the shoulder, getting hit there is one of the worst places since there’s so much bone, muscle and connective tissue necessary to enable the shoulder joint perform the amazing things it’s capable of.

Alaska State Troopers report that a Willow man was arrested on Misconduct Involving Weapons and Assault charges after he was treated for a gunshot wound just after midnight on Monday morning.

Troopers reported a call from Willow homeowner Sherry MacDougal that a suspect, she identified as 51-year-old Shawn Burke, had shown up at her residence with a rifle and shot at her home.

AST was told that the homeowner had shot Burke in the shoulder after the incident. He left the scene after being wounded.

The investigation would find Burke at a neighbor’s property and he was taken into custody and treated for his injury. After declining further treatment, Burke was transported to the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility in Palmer on charges of Misconduct Involving  Weapons and Assault III x3.

He was held without bail.

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.

Joy in the Wilderness

Of course, we know what transpired 4 years ago.

Twyla;
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiescat in pace.
Amen.

In 2010 Jim and Twyla Taylor sold their small farm in Missouri, resigned the pastorate of the church where they had been for twenty years, sold most of their possessions, said goodbye to their family and friends, and moved halfway around the world to the nation of Mozambique, Africa.

There, in one of the poorer nations of the world, they began a new life.What would cause someone to leave everything they are familiar with and move from a comfortable life to the challenges of living in the Developing World?

As you follow their journey you will get a glimpse into the experience of making such a decision. You will also see what it is like to build a life in the Third World. And you will share in some of the many adventures they had. From visiting villages that white people had never visited to traveling bush trails and meeting some of the most beautiful people in the world, you will get a behind-the-scenes look at missionary life as it is lived day to day.

It is Jim’s prayer that some of you who have been feeling the urge to “go” will see that stepping out and actually doing it can be the adventure of a lifetime!

Auto parts store owner shoots burglary suspect near Katy (Texas)

The owner of a used auto parts store shot one of two burglary suspects he caught breaking into his business early Monday morning, police say.

The man was at the S&T Auto Body Services shop on Cinnamon Drive near the Katy Freeway when he spotted the break-in, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. At some point during the burglary, the owner pulled a gun and shot at the suspects, striking one of them.

The other suspect managed to escape. The condition of the suspect who was shot was not immediately clear.

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

How Venezuela’s Good Citizens Were Disarmed is a Lesson For Us

When I was a little girl in the early 1990s, my father worked in the energy industry and often flitted off to South America. He brought us back postcards and chucherías from this faraway land of Venezuela, describing it as the most picturesque nation in Latin America. The nation was then awash in oil wealth, the highest growth rate in the region, boundless education opportunities, fine foods and world-class beaches.

It seemed a mystical paradise where nothing could go wrong. Until it did.

When I stepped foot into the embattled nation a year ago to cover the burgeoning humanitarian crisis, none of my experience in war zones prepared me for the calamity that seemed to get worse with every step across the Colombian border. Venezuela had sunk into a violent humanitarian crisis. There was next to no rule of law…….

Cúcuta, a city straddling the Colombian and Venezuelan border, had become the stuff of nightmares: a microcosm of the conflict burning Venezuela alive. Its citizens had become unable to defend themselves or their families from danger and economic ruin.

And the Venezuelans are the first to tell you that so many of them willfully surrendered their right to bear arms in the lead-up to the 2014 crackdown. They told me this as clear words of warning.

“Venezuela is paying the price for the gun ban. The civilians are unable to defend themselves from criminal actors and from this Maduro regime’s abuses,” activist and university teacher, Miguel Mandrade, 34, said from the fog-laden, barren city of San Cristobal. “The uprising would have taken a different path and a different result if civilians had the right to defend themselves with the firearms they once owned.”……..

Some 4 million have fled the profoundly impoverished nation that, as this was being written, was still led by socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro. Meanwhile, the millions left languishing inside Venezuela’s borders are starving and without critical services and medical care. Homicide and crime rates are escalating as the inflation rate soars. The government has unleashed its forces and proxy militias to wage war on a troubled and defenseless population.

But the trigger of gun prohibition wasn’t pulled in an instant. Over several years, Venezuelan authorities chipped away at individual gun rights.As they did so, crime rates crept higher and higher.

How They Lost Their Freedom
In 2002, Caracas enacted its first effort to restrict gun ownership, placing the National Armed Forces as the body to oversee the regulation of all firearms. In 2011, then-President Hugo Chávez launched a public disarmament campaign as part of his Presidential Commission on Disarmament, which was supposedly aimed at reducing gun violence. Resolutions were cemented to prohibit possessing guns during cultural and sporting events, as well as on public transportation and construction sites. A 12-month moratorium was also put in place with regard to issuing gun permits.

The following year, Caracas banned the commercial sales of guns and shuttered the doors of firearms stores across the country. It was mandated that only military, police and security forces could legally own and buy guns.

Then, in 2012, Maduro signed into law the Disarmament and Arms Munitions Control, which carried the explicit objective to “disarm all citizens.” Chávez initially ran a months-long amnesty program urging Venezuelans to swap their arms for electrical goods; however, only 37 surrenders were recorded, while more than 12,500 guns were seized by force.

The government held grandiose decimation displays in the streets by bulldozing firearms en masse in front of large crowds in a bid to demonstrate their commitment to supposedly end gun violence.

In 2014, a further 26,000 firearms were confiscated or crushed—coincidentally, Venezuela clocked in as having the world’s second-highest homicide rate that very same year. Each year that the gun-control reins were pulled tighter, murder rates increased.

In 2001, according to gunpolicy.org, 6,568 homicides were recorded in Venezuela. By 2014, that number had jumped to 19,030.

Not-so-coincidentally, the black market in weapons also began to boom, with an estimated 6 million illegal guns in the country.

“The market works through international borders, in maritime and land areas, and the government itself has been a gun provider,” said Walter Márquez, a Venezuelan historian and former National Assembly Representative. “The government took legal weapons away from private people, disarming all those who could oppose it.”……

Venezuela is a Lesson Americans Must Understand

Venezuela serves as a reminder that gun control can serve as a gateway to despotism. Some contend that not only is Venezuela suffering the consequences of failing to fight the ever-inching gun-control measures, but also of failing to create a culture that understood the importance of having a right to keep and bear arms.

“The Venezuelan population trusted the government at all times that it would always use its authority within certain boundaries, and whenever it got out, we thought it would be solved by democratic or legal mechanisms. Our political and public behavior confirmed our cultural naivety in this sense,” said Javier Vanegas, 29, a Venezuelan teacher. “We are paying the price of not having had a strong gun culture.”

Before the 2012 changes, there were only eight registered gun stores scattered across the nation of 31 million people. The process for law-abiding citizens even to obtain a legal gun permit and a firearm was a months-long ordeal hamstrung by protracted wait lines, high costs and demands for bribes. Only one department, which operated under the Ministry of Defense, had the authority to issue civilian permits.

The collectives ruthlessly oppress opposition groups, giving Maduro a cosmetic cover. When we saw them, we ran for cover.

In late 2017, when Venezuela was in the clutches of its spiraling economic catastrophe, Maduro announced he would distribute some 400,000 arms to his patriots—claiming a U.S.-led coup was coming—and the civilian population was left as sitting ducks. Since April of that year, hundreds of Venezuelans protesting the government, armed with little more than stones and paper signs, have been shot or have disappeared in retaliation.

“If citizens had access to guns, and if they had been armed since before the arrival of Chavez, it would have been, at least, a powerful obstacle to the socialist agenda,” said Vanegas. “Socialism thrives in chaos. The perfect tool for chaos in most of Latin-America is criminality. If the people had had the tool to defend themselves, instead of resorting to more state power to end the criminality (an end the government never intended to give), then, of course, it would have made a huge difference.”

In recent years, he said, the daily life of the unarmed Venezuelan has been shaped by crime.

“People have stopped going out. Businesses and businessmen and women went broke or closed shop and left. The youth began to be fearful of spending time out in the city,” Vanegas said. “I personally had one family member and two friends kidnapped for ransom.”

The stuff of nightmares quickly became normal to the likes of Vanegas, who reflected that his complacency has been shattered as his beloved country has fallen apart. Scores of ailing Venezuelans told me that even before the protests sparked five years ago, calling the police to report a crime entailed long wait times and pressure to bribe officers not only to come, but to process the case per the book. Now, even making such a call is basically useless.

One person I met on my travels in the region whispered in hushed tones that those who dare keep an old gun beneath their bed—or those who have the finances to find one on the black market—risk the punishment of 20 years behind bars. This person confessed that he kept an old revolver that once belonged to his grandfather. He worried that if he used it to save his own life, the Maduro regime would then come to take him away to prison.

“No civilian needs…”

A common statement from the fans of government monopoly on force is: “no civilian needs such weapons”, with “such weapons” being whatever they are trying to ban. Let’s look at this statement more closely.

The Secret Service staff are civilians. Police officers are civilians. All government organizations other than the five branches of the military are civilians. Secret Service agents have access to submachine guns like the P90 above, as well as much more powerful weapons. Why? Such arms are useful in protecting lives of the people they are trying to keep alive. Quite a few regular Americans — such as stalking victims — face daily risks at least as severe as those faced by the political elite.

The same is true of Trump’s family members.

So we have plenty of examples of civilian government employees using modern guns unavailable to the rest of the population to protect themselves. In addition to government employees, corporations (“special occupational taxpayers”) can own guns denied to the general public.

These corporations are definitely civilian structures, yet they own all kinds of high-tech weaponry far exceeding mere small arms in scope. Apparently, lots of civilians have a use for modern guns. Why shouldn’t lawful individuals be able to exercise their rights the same way?

Number of Professors Allegedly in Cahoots With Communist China Quickly Mounts

In recent months, U.S. authorities have discovered Chinese operatives scheming to compromise American interests through the university system, including plots to steal missile technology and cancer research.

Ye Yanqing used to be a student at Boston University until she chose to flee the country last month. The reason for her departure: an FBI investigation regarding her position as a Lieutenant in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to the Washington Times.

According to investigators, Ye was taking orders to gather intelligence from “senior leaders of the PLA while conducting research at Boston University,” according to the Washington Times. In addition to committing espionage, she also failed to disclose her position as an active-duty PLA officer, earning her charges of visa fraud in addition to charges of acting as a foreign government agent, making false statements to investigators, and conspiracy.

This sort of collusion isn’t limited to Chinese-born student-spies. Charles Lieber, the chair of Harvard’s chemistry department was taken into custody and charged Jan. 28 for making false statements to investigators about his financial ties to China.

Man Deliberately Crashes Van Into GOP Voter Registration Tent, Targeting Trump Campaign Volunteers

Law enforcement officials in Jacksonville, Fla., say a driver intentionally crashed a van into a tent where Trump campaign volunteers were registering voters Saturday afternoon.

Thankfully, no one was injured.

“We are investigating this as an aggravated assault,” Lt. Larry Gayle of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said. “Several people were in the area and could have been seriously hurt.”

According to Gayle, after plowing through the tent, the driver stopped, got out of the van, then took a video of the scene before flipping off the victims and fleeing the scene. Despite this, Gayle says they don’t know the motivation of the suspect, “but, we are just starting the investigation.”

Obviously they don’t want to speculate, but the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office should be treating this incident as a potential hate crime—just as they most certainly would be if the victims were minorities and the suspect was caucasian.

FEARING FOR HIS FAMILY’S LIFE, OHIO CO. HOMEOWNER SHOOTS PROWLER MULTIPLE TIMES

If what I had was a .22, I would too!

Believing his family was in mortal danger, an Ohio County homeowner has shot a prowler multiple times.

Ohio County Sheriff Tracy Beatty said that Thursday night at approximately 9:50, his office responded to a report of a prowler at the residence at 318 Hwy 85, in Centertown. With deputies en route and while on the phone with Ohio County Dispatch, the caller advised that her husband had shot the prowler, according to Beatty.

Upon police arriving at the scene, deputies found the prowler, Adam Hardin, of Livermore, on the ground next to the front porch suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.  The homeowner, Mark Stewart, told deputies that he confronted Hardin near the back of the residence.

After a “verbal confrontation,” Stewart retreated toward the front door of his home with Hardin following, Beatty said. Stewart continued to advise Hardin to stop or he would shoot, with Stewart telling deputies that he believed his family’s lives were in danger.

Beatty said that when Stewart got to his front door, Hardin continued up the steps and onto the porch, where Stewart shot Hardin four times with a .22 caliber handgun.

Hardin was transported to Ohio County Regional Hospital with life-threatening injuries, Beatty said. Hardin is believed to have been under the influence at the time of the shooting.

 

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

Store owner shoots suspect during robbery on Indy’s north side

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Police are investigating after a person was apparently shot while trying to rob an AutoZone Thursday night.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded to the 7400 block of North Michigan Road around 9:15 Thursday night on a call of a reported shooting.

When police arrived, they found a 17-year-old boy suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He was transported to an area hospital in a stable condition.

While interviewing witnesses, police discovered that the teenager was apparently trying to rob an AutoZone along with another suspect. The store owner pulled out a handgun and shot the suspect.

Police are looking for the other suspect in the robbery. They do not have details about the other suspect. We will provide additional details as they become available.

Security Guard Shoots, Kills Man Outside Popular Modesto Poker Room

MODESTO (CBS13) — The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office said there was a fatal shooting outside a popular poker room in Modesto that’s not known for violence.

The shooting happened in the parking lot of the Empire Sportsmen’s Club, near McHenry and Kiernan Avenues. Deputies have identified the man as Alexander Wever of Ripon.

This started with a man who crashed his car, then reportedly jumped out of the car with a baseball bat. Deputies say he started a fight, prompting the on-scene security staff to fire that fatal shot.

Hearing of the violence outside in the parking lot is shocking to loyal gamer Martym Vanderlinin who visited the spot on his birthday, one day after the fatal shooting.

“I’ve never had any problems here or seen any problems here,” he said.

Deputies responded to the scene after a reported crash on site………

“The subject, Alexander Wever was treated at the scene and transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead,” said Sgt. Josh Clayton with the Sheriff’s Office.

Homeowner fatally shot man attempting to enter home

The Gibson County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office is investigating the Thursday evening shooting death of a 43-year-old man by a homeowner, who authorities say was in his legal right to be armed, according to an initial investigation.

Around 6 p.m. on Thursday, Gibson County deputies responded to a shooting at 73 Oak Grove Rd in Milan, TN and found the man laying in the carport.

The homeowners said the man wanted to enter the home even though they didn’t know him, according to the initial report. A confrontation ensued, and the 31-year-old male homeowner shot the man.

He was pronounced dead at Milan Emergency Room, and his body was sent to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.

The sheriff’s office is still investigating and conducting interviews. District Attorney General Garry Brown will review the investigation once complete and will determine the outcome.

Homeowner shoots, injures intruder near downtown Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is investigating a shooting near downtown Las Vegas.

The incident took place around 5:23 p.m. in the 100 block of North 15th Street at the Fremont Villas.

“It’s shocking, and the neighborhood needs to step up,” said nearby neighbor BruceSchilke.

According to police, a homeowner was inside his apartment when a man unknown to him, attempted to burglarize it.

“This area is pretty calm. It’s just mostly like drugs and stuff. People get into fights but not breaking into houses,” said Harley Gill, who lives at 15th and Fremont.

At some point, the homeowner fired at least one round at the suspect, striking the burglar.

A neighbor across the street defends the victim’s actions.

“Thank God the homeowner had a gun and protected himself,” said Schilke. “These home invasions have got to stop.”

The injured suspect left the scene but was located near 14th Street and Fremont near a convenience store.

A clerk at the store showed News 3 video from around the time the burglary happened of a customer they say came in with a bullet wound.

You can see him in the footage walking in with a black hoodie.

“He went and got a beer and came up to me and said I need a beer,” the clerk said.

That’s when the clerk said she noticed the bullet wound.

“The girl was behind him and calling for an ambulance for him, and she told me that he was the one who got shot, and I could see a hole,” she said.

Once the man went outside, the clerk says she saw him with police.

“He was right out front and they put his hands behind his back and had him on the ground,” she said.

The suspect was transported to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Orban: Not a Single Muslim Immigrant in Hungary, Declares Liberalism Over

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, during a panel discussion at the National Conservatism conference in Rome on Tuesday, declared liberalism to be over and said that not a single Muslim immigrant lives in Hungary.

During conference, which was organized by the Edmund Burke Foundation, Orban declared liberalism to be over while adding that a fresh kind government in the form of Christian democracy is needed to replace it, About Hungary reports.

The Hungarian premier highlighted two catastrophic failures of liberal western governments in the recent past: their mishandling of the 2008 global financial crisis and their current mismanagement of the ongoing migrant crisis.

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.