Health officials in the Los Angeles area of California announced that six new cases of coronavirus have cropped up in a two-day time span and declared a local emergency.
Kathryn Barger, chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said Tuesday that the declaration was not intended to scare people but rather to free up money that can be used to help stymie the outbreak.
“I want to reiterate that this is not a response rooted in panic,” she said.
Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the County of Los Angeles Public Health Department, said everyone in the area who recently tested positive for the COVID-19 virus was tied to “an assumed known exposure.” The patients had either traveled to an area with an outbreak, were exposed to travelers from an outbreak area, or were in contact with another confirmed patient.
“We will ensure that people who test positive for the novel coronavirus and their close contacts are quickly identified and closely monitor[ed] and supported while they are in isolation and/or quarantined,” Ferrer said.
Vice President Mike Pence announced on Tuesday new guidance to ensure further testing of potential cases of the virus across the country. The guidance comes as the United States is grappling with a growing number of infections nationwide. There have been 128 confirmed cases and nine deaths in the country as of Wednesday afternoon.
A large share of the public is concerned about the impact of the coronavirus in the U.S., and half think it will become a national crisis, according to a recent poll.
The flu-like virus began in central China in December and has spread across the globe, infecting more than 94,000 people and killing at least 3,214. Other localized outbreaks include Italy, which has seen 2,502 infections and 79 deaths; South Korea, which has had 5,621 infections and 28 deaths; and Iran, which claims it’s had almost 3,000 infections and 92 deaths, but reports suggest the number there is much higher.
