LOS ANGELES _ Health officials on the West Coast on Sunday continued their efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus as new cases were reported in Washington, Illinois and Rhode Island, prompting more fears and concerns among the general public.
In addition to more than 60 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. linked to travel abroad, officials have announced that at least eight people appear to have contracted the virus in their communities. An outbreak at a long-term-care facility in Washington is expected to push that total higher in the coming days, officials said.
Washington reported two new cases Sunday, both men in their 60s with underlying health conditions. One was in critical but stable condition at Valley Medical Center in Renton; the second was in critical condition at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the cases were thought to be related to the long-term-care facility Life Care Center of Kirkland, where officials announced Saturday that one resident and one staffer had been diagnosed with coronavirus and more than 50 others had developed symptoms.
Authorities also announced Saturday that a King County man in his 50s with underlying medical conditions had become the first person in the U.S. to die from coronavirus. Officials said they did not know how he became ill, though he was admitted to EvergreenHealth Medical Center outside Seattle at the same time as at least one of the other COVID-19 patients in Washington.
Amid fears that COVID-19 is already circulating in local communities, stores across Southern California and nationwide have been experiencing a surge in demand for health gear, shelf-stable food and other supplies as people try to protect themselves from the virus and stock up in case of quarantine or scarcity. Some stores said the number of customers was similar to crowds seen during the Christmas holiday.
Experts said the virus was most likely to start spreading in coastal hubs of international travel. San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles typically receive the most passengers flying from Wuhan, China, where the outbreak began, on a daily basis.
In California, there are now three COVID-19 patients who did not recently travel outside the U.S. or come in contact with someone who did.
The most recent California patient, announced Saturday, was a woman described as "a household contact" of a Santa Clara County patient whose diagnosis was made public Friday. The county's health department is working to identify any people the Santa Clara County woman may have come into contact with who may be at risk, officials said.
The other California patient is a Solano County woman hospitalized at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and marked the nation's first announced case of "community spread," meaning the source of infection is unknown. The case led to 124 nurses and healthcare workers at the hospital being asked to self-quarantine, according to the California Nurses Assn.
Voluntary quarantining extended to students at UC Davis and other college campuses, and workers at the two hospitals where the woman, who had no known links to foreign travel, was treated. Three UC Davis students were under 14-day isolation on Thursday as one awaited test results after showing mild coronavirus symptoms. On Saturday, it was determined that that student did not have the virus. Another of those students also has tested negative for the virus.
It's possible that the spate of new cases were brought to light due to increased local testing capabilities and updated federal screening guidelines.
The Solano County woman who was eventually diagnosed with coronavirus was not tested for several days because she did not fit screening criteria set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which at the time recommended that only those with symptoms of the virus and a recent history of travel overseas, or contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus, should be tested.
On Tuesday, the CDC updated its guidelines to recommend testing of anyone with severe respiratory illness, regardless of whether they had traveled or were known to have been otherwise exposed to the coronavirus. The move was widely interpreted to be a response to the woman's diagnosis.
Those new guidelines prompted officials at EvergreenHealth Medical Center to "look at our most critically ill patients," which led to the testing of the man who later died of coronavirus, said Dr. Frank Riedo, medical director of infection control.
That man was reported as having coronavirus by Washington's Public Health Laboratories, which only recently acquired coronavirus test kits, Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, health officer for Public Health Seattle and King County, said Saturday.
"If we had the ability to test earlier," Duchin said, "I'm sure we would have identified patients earlier in the community."
California's health department recently announced eight testing labs that can handle coronavirus, in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Diego, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara and Tulare counties. Officials also announced the arrival of 1,200 testing kits from the federal government.
"The availability to test at California's public health laboratories is a significant step forward in our ability to respond rapidly to this evolving situation," Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health and state health officer, said in a statement. "As we face the likelihood of community transmission here in California, having this resource where we need it is essential to better inform public health response and protect our communities."
Testing at state laboratories also resulted in the new diagnoses in Washington, Illinois and Rhode Island.
The person who tested positive in Illinois is hospitalized in isolation, officials said.
The Rhode Island patient, a person in their 40s, was also being treated at a hospital. The patient, who had traveled to Italy in mid-February, had limited travel in Rhode Island since returning and had not returned to work, officials said.
