First American Dies In China; Hospitals Overwhelmed By Flu Brace For Coronavirus; U.S. Expected To Spend Another $66M

The New York Times: First American Dies Of Coronavirus, Raising Questions About U.S. Response
A United States citizen died from the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, American officials said on Saturday. It was the first known American death from the illness, and was likely to add to diplomatic friction over Beijing’s response to the epidemic. The death is also certain to raise questions over whether the Trump administration and the State Department in particular have taken sufficient action to ensure the safety of Americans in China and to aid in the evacuation of those who want to leave. (Zhong and Wong, 2/8)

The Wall Street Journal: American Citizen Diagnosed With Coronavirus Dies In China
The person was 60 years old and died Thursday at Wuhan’s Jinyintan Hospital, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said Saturday. He provided no further details. “We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” he said. “Out of the respect for the family’s privacy, we have no further comment.” A spokesperson at Jinyintan Hospital referred questions to the Wuhan foreign affairs office, which didn’t answer phone calls. (Woo, 2/8)

CNN: American Dies Of Coronavirus In China As The Last Scheduled Chartered Flights Evacuate Hundreds Of US Citizens
In a statement to CNN, the Chinese Foreign Ministry extended its condolences and described the patient as a "Chinese-American." The Chinese government had kept in contact with the patient's family in China, the statement said, and was working to assist the US and the family in "dealing with the aftermath." While most of the deaths have been limited to China, the coronavirus has raced across the continents, infecting more than 30,000 people, paralyzing the world's second-biggest economy and trapping residents at home and in quarantine. (Karimi, Andone and Lee, 2/8)

The Hill: First American Death Due To Coronavirus Reported In China
The U.S. in recent days has moved to evacuate hundreds of Americans from Wuhan amid the outbreak. On Friday, two flights from the city carrying about 300 U.S. citizens, family members and other passengers arrived in the U.S. (Byrnes, 2/8)

The New York Times: Inundated With Flu Patients, U.S. Hospitals Brace For Coronavirus
With an intense flu season in full swing, hundreds of thousands of coughing and feverish patients have already overwhelmed emergency rooms around the United States. Now, hospitals are bracing for the potential spread of coronavirus that could bring another surge of patients. So far, only a dozen people in the United States have become infected with the novel coronavirus, but an outbreak could severely strain the nation’s hospitals. (Abelson and Thomas, 2/7)

Stat: U.S. Hospitals Call All Hands On Deck To Brace For More Coronavirus Cases
Hospitals across the country are convening near-daily meetings to check in on their emergency preparedness plans. And they’ve called all hands on deck. Nearly everyone — from physicians and nurses to public affairs representatives and the employees responsible for ordering supplies and keeping the hospital clean — is involved in making sure a hospital’s existing emergency plans are up to date. U.S. health officials have stressed that the risk to the American public remains low. About 99% of the more than 28,000 cases have occurred in China, where the outbreak began. There have been 12 people in the U.S. infected with the virus, 10 of whom had recently traveled to China and two of whom had been in close contact with two of the initial U.S. patients. “But as we project outward with the potential for this to be a much longer situation, one of the things that we’re actively working on is projecting the long-term needs for our health care system,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on Wednesday. (Thielking, 2/7)

CNN: President Trump Tweeted The Coronavirus Could Weaken As Weather Warms. Scientists Say It's Too Early To Know
On Friday morning, President Trump tweeted about his phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the response to the coronavirus outbreak. Trump praised Xi as "strong, sharp and powerfully focused" on containing the virus, and added that he thinks Xi will be successful, "especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone." But are changing seasons and warmer weather the break the world is waiting for? Infectious disease experts tell CNN that it's too early to say, and nobody knows enough about the novel coronavirus to make assessments about its behavior. "It would be reckless to assume that things will quiet down in spring and summer," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. "We don't really understand the basis of seasonality, and of course we know we absolutely nothing about this particular virus," Hotez said. (Kounang, 2/7)

The Hill: Trump Health Officials Defend Coronavirus Quarantine, Travel Restrictions
U.S. health officials on Friday defended the Trump administration’s quarantine and travel restrictions that were implemented in response to the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. “The travel restrictions that we put in place in consultation with the president were very measured and incremental,” Alex Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), told reporters. “These were the uniform recommendations of the career public health officials here at HHS.” Last week, the administration declared a public health emergency because of the virus, and imposed a mandatory 14-day quarantine for any U.S. citizen who recently traveled to China’s Hubei province — the epicenter of the outbreak. Trump also imposed a ban on foreign nationals entering the U.S. who traveled to China in the past 14 days. (Weixel, 2/7)

Politico: Chinese Diplomat Pushes Back Against Coronavirus 'Rumors' From GOP Senator
Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai on Sunday pushed back on what he called “suspicion” and “rumors” about the origins of the Wuhan coronavirus. In an interview with CBS’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation,“ Cui acknowledged that “a lot is still unknown, and our scientists, Chinese scientist, American scientists, scientists of other countries are doing their best to learn more about the virus.” (Beavers, 2/9)

The Hill: Chinese Ambassador On Cotton Coronavirus Comments: 'It's Very Harmful To Stir Up' Unsubstantiated Rumors
“For one thing, this will create panic,” Cui said, adding that it could also foment xenophobia and racist discrimination. “There are all kinds of speculation and rumors,” he added, noting that there were also conspiracy theories about the virus originating in the United States. “How can we believe all these crazy things?” (Budryk, 2/9)

The Hill: US To Spend Up To $66M In Efforts To Counter Coronavirus: Health Officials
The federal government expects to spend up to $66 million in its initial response to the coronavirus that has sickened 37,000 worldwide, including 12 individuals in the U.S., according to a notice sent by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to Congress Sunday. The Trump administration declared a public health emergency last month over the virus, which was first detected in Wuhan, China, but has since spread to other countries. HHS expects its initial response will cost up to $66 million — more than half of the funds in the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund — a special fund created by Congress to help the agency immediately respond to outbreaks. (Hellmann, 2/9)

The Washington Post: Americans Quarantined For Coronavirus On Military Bases Share Experiences
Jarred Evans has explored every inch of the Air Force barracks where he has lived under federal quarantine for the past eight days. He has measured out its exact length: 0.45 miles. He has run through every stairwell, hallway and parking lot row hundreds of times, trying to keep in shape and stay sane. “It’s all in the mind. You have to stay mentally strong,” said Evans, 27, who was playing American football professionally in Wuhan, China, before he became one of 195 evacuees now living at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, Calif. (Wan, Sun and Satija, 2/6)

The Washington Post: On America’s College Campuses, The Coronavirus Delivers A Chill
Some students of Asian descent at Arizona State University felt a chill in the campus atmosphere soon after the disclosure last month that a person connected to the school tested positive for the novel coronavirus. It struck them that a routine cough or sneeze might draw sidelong looks from classmates worried about getting infected from a virus believed to have originated in China. (Anderson and Moriah, Balingit, 2/8)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: How Summit County Public Health Agencies Would Isolate, Quarantine Any Confirmed Cases Of Coronavirus
Summit County Public Health has made public its plan of action in the event that a confirmed case of the Wuhan coronavirus is discovered in the county. The one-page, risk-assessment guide covers isolation and quarantine procedures the agency would follow to protect the public from even one confirmed case or the discovery of someone with a high risk of exposure, said Epidemiology Coordinator Joan Hall. (Goist, 2/7)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Novel Coronavirus Less Deadly Than Past Epidemics, Local Experts Say
As the death toll of the novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, surpasses 640 in China, local infectious disease specialists say the mortality rate of the virus remains far below that of past outbreaks. “Although the number of infections, particularly in mainland China, is increasing day over day, the proportion of deaths related to infection is staying about the same,” said Dr. Amy Ray, medical director of infection prevention and employee health at MetroHealth Medical Center. (Christ and Washington, 2/7)

CNN: The Flu Is Widespread Across The US
While much of the world's attention has been focused on the Wuhan coronavirus, there's another virus that has been keeping doctors offices around the country incredibly busy this time of year. Flu activity continued to increase and remained high in the United States in the week ending February 1, according to new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is after dramatic drops in flu activity during the first two weeks of 2020. Flu virus activity was widespread in nearly every US region, with high levels of activity in 45 states and Puerto Rico. Influenza A and influenza B strains are approximately equal for the season overall, the CDC said, but in recent weeks there has been an increase in influenza A. Influenza B viruses are the most commonly reported flu viruses among children, including babies, and young adults up to age 24, while influenza A is most commonly reported among people 25 to 64 and 65 and older. (Christensen, 2/7)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Flu More Of A Threat In Georgia Than New Coronavirus
Thousands of miles from Atlanta, a new and mysterious coronavirus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December and continues to grab headlines here and around the globe. As the number of people sick and dying from the virus soars in China, worried U.S. residents are buying up surgical masks — in bulk. But there’s a much bigger threat closer to home, public health experts say. The flu season came early, raged hard, died down a bit and is rearing up again. (Oliviero, 2/7)