After first U.S. coronavirus death near Canadian border, Trump administration considers restrictions at Mexican border
The Trump administration is considering imposing entry restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border to control the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, according to two U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials.
Mexico’s government said on Friday it had detected three cases of coronavirus infection in three men who had all recently traveled to Italy, making the country the second in Latin America to register the fast-spreading virus.
The concern over containing the virus at the southern U.S. border comes as the Trump administration also weighs possible restrictions on the entry of travelers from South Korea, Italy and Japan. [Continue reading…]
A woman in the Seattle area has died of the novel coronavirus, the first known death in the United States from the virus that has spread across the globe, officials announced on Saturday.
Kay Taylor, a spokeswoman EvergreenHealth, said the person had been a patient at the organization’s hospital in Kirkland, Wash. In a news conference, President Trump described the person as a “medically high risk” woman in her late 50s. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there was no evidence that the woman had traveled recently or had contact with someone known to have the virus, adding to growing signs that the virus may be spreading in the United States.
The death and indicatons of possible spread marked a new, urgent phase in the response to the virus in the United States, where 65 cases had previously been reported, none of them fatal. Most of the cases could be explained by overseas travel or contact with someone who had been ill. This week, though, four new cases, in California, Oregon and Washington, were the first in the United States where the cause was mysterious and unknown — a sign, experts warned, that the virus, which has killed more than 2,800 people worldwide and sickened tens of thousands of others, might now be spreading in the United States.
In the Northwest, especially, health officials were putting in place new precautions. They were already discussing the possibility that they may recommend cancellations of public events, including sports and entertainment, to limit the spread. They began warning that life in the coming weeks may undergo dramatic change. [Continue reading…]