Coronavirus In The States: New York Cases Climb; North Carolina Officials Try To Stave Off Panic; New Jersey Might Have First Case

The Washington Post: Coronavirus To Test Georgia’s Chronic Health Gaps
First, a lawyer who commutes between the suburbs and his midtown Manhattan office was diagnosed with the coronavirus. Then, his wife and two children tested positive, along with a neighbor who drove him to the hospital. By Wednesday afternoon, another friend, his wife and three of their children were also infected. (Guarino, Bailey and Schwartzman, 3/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Eleven New Yorkers, Including Members Of Two Families, Have Coronavirus
Eleven New Yorkers, including nine members of two Westchester County families, have tested positive for the new coronavirus, and the number of cases is expected to grow, state officials said Wednesday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said all but one of the cases are tied to one another, with the connection being a 50-year-old lawyer from New Rochelle, N.Y., who was the second person in the state to contract the virus. (West and Vielkind, 3/4)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Teacher Shows Coronavirus Symptoms
A New York City public-school teacher who recently traveled to Italy is under self-quarantine after showing symptoms of the new coronavirus, prompting city officials to give her school a deep clean and to have disease specialists retrace her steps, officials said Wednesday. The teacher spent a few days in the classroom before showing signs of the illness, officials said at a City Hall news conference. (Honan and Hawkins, 3/4)

North Carolina Health News: Coronavirus Case: Officials Say Don't Panic 
Chris Kippes, director of the Wake County division of public health, spent more than 30 minutes on Wednesday trying to allay the anticipated public concern about North Carolina’s first case of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus spreading around the globe. Wake County Public Health Division Director Chris Kippes takes questions from the media about North Carolina’s first identified COVID-19 patient at a press conference on Tuesday March 3. Roy Cooper and state health officials informed the public on Tuesday that presumptive tests from the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health showed a Wake County man had contracted the novel virus. (Blythe and Ovaska, 3/5)

Charlotte Observer: Contacts Of NC Coronavirus Patient Under Voluntary Quarantine 
A day after a lone North Carolina patient tested positive for COVID-19, health officials say no one who has been in contact with the Wake County man has shown symptoms or been tested for coronavirus. But the man’s household members have been quarantined. And as a precaution, people outside his family — including some living in other counties across the state — have been asked to limit their travel and interactions with others to see whether they develop symptoms over the next two weeks. (Quillin and Bonner, 3/4)

North Carolina Health News: Officials Say Get Ready For Coronavirus 
Wake County health authorities attempted Wednesday to tamp down any public jitters in the wake of their announcement of North Carolina’s first identified case of coronavirus. The man, who had been exposed at a senior facility in Washington state, traveled home to Wake County, passing through Raleigh-Durham International Airport. In a county with more than a million people, the director of Wake County’s division of public health Chris Kippes stressed that the public’s energy would be better spent on prevention methods than panicking about any potential contamination from the man who tested positive for COVID-19. (Ovaska, 3/5)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Wants To Tap Millions Of Dollars In Emergency Funds To Prepare For Coronavirus 
Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday that he plans to seek immediate access to millions of dollars in the state’s rainy day fund to fight the novel coronavirus in addition to $10 million in extra funding in the state budget. There are no confirmed cases in the state, though 21 people have been tested in Maryland for the virus that has infected 159 people across the country and tens of thousands of people in countries across the globe. Ten people in Maryland already have tested negative, according to the Maryland Department of Health. (Cohn, Broadwater and Wood, 3/4)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Jewish School Sends Three Students Home Who May Have Had 'Indirect Contact’ With Coronavirus Patient 
A private all-girls Jewish school in Baltimore sent three students home early Wednesday because they may have come in contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. In an email sent to parents, Bnos Yisroel school leaders said the three girls had “possible indirect contact” with a person who tested positive for coronavirus in New York. The school, at 6300 Park Heights Ave, said it has contacted the Baltimore City and Maryland health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the local rabbi. (Oxenden, 3/5)

The Hill: AIPAC Says Group Of Attendees At Conference May Have Had Past Exposure To Coronavirus 
Attendees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference may have come into contact with the coronavirus, organizers said Wednesday. Some policy conference attendees from New York were potentially in contact prior to the conference with an individual who contracted the coronavirus, AIPAC President Betsy Berns Korn and AIPAC Chairman Dr. Mort Fridman said in a note to attendees. (Klar, 3/4)

Charlotte Observer: Charlotte Hospitals On How To Handle Coronavirus NC Spread 
After North Carolina announced the state’s first reported case of novel coronavirus Tuesday, local hospital experts say they expect to see an increase in patient visits in the future. But patients can take precautions against spreading the virus, like using hospitals’ virtual visit options. And Charlotte hospitals are able to help test for the virus. They would send patient samples to the state or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for novel coronavirus testing, according to Atrium Health. (Smoot, 3/5)

The Hill: New Jersey Reports Presumptive Positive For First Case Of Coronavirus 
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) on Wednesday evening announced the Garden State’s first presumptive case of coronavirus. Murphy said the patient in question was a man in his 30s who has been hospitalized in Bergen County since Tuesday, adding that an investigation is still underway. (Budryk, 3/4)

The Hill: NJ College Suspends Athletic Teams' Travel Amid Coronavirus Outbreak 
Kena University in Union, N.J., has suspended travel for its athletes amid the coronavirus outbreak out of an “abundance of caution," a spokesperson said Wednesday. The school has directed five of its 14 intercollegiate varsity programs not to travel, including its softball and baseball teams, which were slated to participate in spring break tournaments in Florida this week, spokeswoman Margaret McCorry said in a statement obtained by NJ.com. (Budryk, 3/4)

Georgia Health News: From A Scare In Shanghai To A Quarantine In Georgia 
Before traveling to China in late January, Holly Bik and her husband watched countless news reports and read as much as they could about the novel coronavirus, which had been detected in the country a few weeks earlier. Bik’s husband is from China. (She prefers not to publicize his name because of the sensitive situation in his homeland, but he is on an academic fellowship at the University of Georgia.) The couple, who live in Athens, had their first baby last June, and wanted the infant to meet his great-grandfather, who was recovering from surgery in a district called Qingpu, a suburb of Shanghai. (Tracy, Laguaite, Carter and Clements, 3/4)

The New York Times: Told To Stay Home, Suspected Coronavirus Patient Attended Event With Dartmouth Students
When an employee of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire showed signs of possible coronavirus last week, a medical worker who had examined him told him to avoid contact with others, pending further tests. Instead, he went to a mixer at a crowded music venue. Three days later, he was confirmed as the state’s first coronavirus case. And now a second case has been confirmed — a “close contact” of the patient’s — raising new questions about what should happen when suspected coronavirus patients ignore requests to self-quarantine. (Stockman, 3/4)

The Hill: Veterans Affairs Treating One Coronavirus Patient In California 
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is treating one patient with the novel coronavirus at its facility in Palo Alto, Calif., VA Secretary Robert Wilkie confirmed Wednesday. The case marks the first confirmation of a veteran testing positive for the virus that has been sweeping the globe and causing fears of a pandemic. (Kheel, 3/4)

The Washington Post: Poll: After Crime, Health Care Is Marylanders’s Top Concern, Due To Coronavirus
Anxiety about the global coronavirus outbreak has catapulted health care to the issue of most concern to more Maryland residents, according to a new poll. Since January, the number of residents who described health care as their top concern tripled to 17 percent, according to a Gonzales Maryland Poll released late Wednesday. The figure was second to crime. Fears over the threat of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, fueled the change, pollster Patrick E. Gonzales said. (Portnoy, 3/5)

The Baltimore Sun: Should Schools Close During A Coronavirus Outbreak? The Answer Isn’t So Obvious 
Every parent knows a child with a cold can be a leaky, disgusting mess. Snot everywhere. Coughs spread far and wide. Diseases can travel fast when those kids show up at a day care center or school and begin spreading their germs — or novel coronavirus — onto desks, doorknobs and cafeteria tables. And the first instinct of state officials might be to slow the spread of a disease by closing these germ spreading factories — quickly. (Bowie, 3/4)

WBUR: Gov. Baker Urges Schools, Colleges To Cancel International Travel Due To Coronavirus Concerns
Gov. Charlie Baker is urging colleges, universities and high schools to cancel upcoming organized international trips, amid concerns about the spread of COVID-19, the flu-like illness caused by the novel coronavirus. (Brown, Cain, McNerney and Jung, 3/4)

Boston Globe: Baker Administration Says Coronavirus Test Kits Are Coming To Mass., But Many Questions Remain
Governor Charlie Baker moved to reassure a jittery public that Massachusetts is taking decisive action to prevent the spread of coronavirus, announcing Wednesday the MBTA would begin routine disinfections of its stations and vehicles, and urging colleges and high schools to cancel student travel overseas. Just hours after Baker’s assurances at a Beacon Hill news conference, though, state lawmakers grilled administration officials on whether they are taking enough steps to keep the public safe. (Lazar, Vaccaro and Freyer, 3/4)

Dallas Morning News: Houston-Area Man May Be First Texas Case Of Coronavirus Outside Quarantine
A man in Fort Bend County, near Houston, has a “presumptive” case of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. Local health authorities said in a news release Wednesday that the Fort Bend County resident is a 70-year-old man who recently traveled abroad. He is in a hospital and is stable, according to Fort Bend County Health & Human Services. (Steele, 3/4)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas Is Ready For Coronavirus, Health Experts Say
If Dallas-area health care workers are prepared to face the novel coronavirus, they can thank Ebola. And SARS. And swine flu.Experts say the new disease, called COVID-19, could strain the local health care system if it hits during flu season. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization warned that global shortages of personal protective equipment due to hoarding, high demand and misuse are putting lives at risk. (Kuchment, 3/4)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The State Of Georgia’s Risk Factor For Coronavirus: Health Gaps
Earlier this week, Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey stood with Gov. Brian Kemp to announce that COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, had come to Georgia. Two patients, diagnosed and isolated quickly, were marking time in home recovery. The virus, they said, was being faced down exactly as planned. (Hart, 3/4)

The New York Times: We Spoke To Six Americans With Coronavirus
Late one night, after a test confirmed the stealth invasion of his cells by the new coronavirus, Dale Grizzle was seized with a violent fit of vomiting in his hospital room. Until then, Mr. Grizzle, 69, of Rydal, Ga., had maintained his trademark good spirits. Like most people who have contracted the virus, he had experienced mostly mild symptoms. But in that moment, Mr. Grizzle, a retired house painter with 13 grandchildren, found himself unable to fend off the darkness. “I got to thinking about, ‘Is my life going to end here?’” he recalled in a recent interview. “‘Is this going to be it?’ I had severe anxiety.” (Harmon, 3/4)