First coronavirus death in US reported in Washington state

The Trump administration is considering imposing entry restrictions at the US-Mexico border to control the spread of the new coronavirus in the US.

By REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A swab to be used for testing novel coronavirus (photo credit: REUTERS/DAVID RYDER)
A swab to be used for testing novel coronavirus
(photo credit: REUTERS/DAVID RYDER)
Washington state health officials reported the first patient death from coronavirus in the United States on Saturday, according to a news release.
State health officials were due to provide more information at a news conference on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time (2100 GMT), according to the statement. No other details were immediately available.
The Trump administration is considering imposing entry restrictions at the US-Mexico border to control the spread of the new coronavirus in the United States, according to two US 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 flu-like illness.
The Trump administration is also weighing possible restrictions on the entry of travelers from South Korea, Italy and Japan.
The White House on Friday ordered the DHS to draft a range of options to respond to outbreaks in those countries, according to one of the officials and a third DHS official, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss the deliberations.
The Trump administration is readying new significant restrictions on travel to the United States for nearly all US citizens who have recently traveled to Iran or South Korea that could be announced as early as Saturday, according to two administration officials.
The restrictions – similar to the measures placed on travelers who have visited China – have been under serious discussion for more than a week, the officials said.
A group of 11 Republicans in the US House of Representatives led by Chip Roy of Texas sent a letter on Friday to top Trump administration officials that pressed for details on the plan to contain the coronavirus at the border with Mexico.
"Given the porous nature of our border, and the continued lack of operational control due to the influence of dangerous cartels, it is foreseeable, indeed predictable, that any outbreak in Central America or Mexico could cause a rush to our border," the lawmakers said. "The non-secure southern border is a liability and should be seen as such in any plan for preparedness response."
A group of three Republican senators led by Martha McSally sent a similar letter on Friday to Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection.
Members of a US government task force on the coronavirus were scheduled to meet on Saturday morning to discuss the response, an administration official told Reuters on Friday.
Over 8,400 people are currently being monitored in California after arriving on commercial flights for coronavirus symptoms from locations that have particular concentrations of coronavirus. The treatment of the group may be delayed, as the state is lacking test kits.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has assured the state that testing protocols will be advanced and access to test kits will expand "exponentially" in the coming days, Governor Gavin Newsom said.
CDC Director Robert Redfield told a US congressional hearing on Thursday that more test kits were being sent to California and the agency now backs expanded testing.
"When a clinician or a public health individual suspects coronavirus, then we should be able to get a test for coronavirus, so that's the current guidance that went out today," he said.
Newsom said the CDC has pledged to send more personnel to California to track the potential spread of the virus.
With new infections reported around the world now surpassing those in mainland China, the World Health Organization's director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Thursday even rich nations should prepare.
"No country should assume it won't get cases, that would be a fatal mistake, quite literally," Tedros said, pointing to Italy, where 17 people have died in Europe's worst outbreak.