Trump To Assemble U.S. Task Force To Tackle Coronavirus; Top Health Officials Reiterate Americans Are At Low Risk

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Announces Coronavirus Task Force
President Trump announced a task force to address the fast-spreading coronavirus, which he said had been meeting daily since Monday. The task force is led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and will include national security adviser Robert O’Brien, Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and Domestic Policy Council Director Joseph Grogan, among others. It also includes top experts on infectious diseases. (Ballhaus, 1/29)

The Hill: White House Announces Task Force To Monitor Coronavirus
U.S. officials on Wednesday got the go-ahead to travel to China to study the coronavirus, lawmakers told The Hill. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also received permission to send a team of experts to collaborate with the Chinese government. (Samuels, 1/29)

Reuters: Trump Says He Spoke To China's Xi, U.S. Working Closely With China On Coronavirus
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the United States was working very closely with China on the coronavirus outbreak. "We're very much involved with them right now on the virus that's going around. ... I spoke to President Xi. We're working very closely with China," Trump said at a White House ceremony to sign a new North American trade deal with Canada and Mexico. (1/29)

Politico: Trump Has So Far Dodged Becoming Face Of Coronavirus Crisis
President Donald Trump is trying something new with a global crisis: keeping quiet. The president, for now, is letting his public health experts take the spotlight on the Wuhan coronavirus — and hardly even tweeting about it — as the outbreak sends stocks tumbling, disrupts travel and stokes fears about a global pandemic. (Owermohle and Ehley, 1/29)

Politico's Pulse Check: The Wuhan Coronavirus: Understanding The Threat And Government Response
A former HHS emergency-response official explains what we know about the coronavirus outbreak and how the U.S. government fights to stop potential pandemics. (1/30)

PBS NewsHour: Suspected U.S. Cases Of Novel Coronavirus Rise, CDC Says
There are 165 cases of novel coronavirus now under investigation in more than two dozen states, but the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. remains at five, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. On Sunday, health officials in the U.S. said they had diagnosed five patients with the flu-like virus in Washington State, Illinois, California and Arizona. On Monday, 110 people in 26 states had been identified as needing further monitoring. (Santhanam, 1/29)

The Washington Post: U.S. Plans New Evacuation Flights As Coronavirus Cases In China Grow By More Than 1,000 Per Day
The United States has announced a new evacuation flights for U.S. citizens trapped in Wuhan, the epicenter of the growing coronavirus outbreak in China. The World Health Organization will reconvene its emergency committee Thursday to determine whether the coronavirus outbreak amounts to a public health emergency of international concern, as the total number of people infected in mainland China surpassed those infected with SARS during the 2002-2003 epidemic. (Denyer and Schemm, 1/30)

The New York Times: Coronavirus In New York: Lunar New Year Events Canceled Over Fears
The Lunar New Year Chinese Temple Bazaar in Queens typically attracts hundreds of spectators who come to watch an array of dancers and artists. But this year, before the event, a paper cutting artist who had recently returned from Wuhan, China, told the organizers she was quarantining herself at home, as a precaution against the new coronavirus. A hand puppet company also pulled out, the organizers said in an interview. (Goldstein and Singer, 1/29)

The Wall Street Journal: An American Mother’s Desperate Attempt To Get Out Of Wuhan With Her Daughter
When Priscilla Dickey learned the U.S. government was planning an evacuation flight out of the Chinese city at the center of the largest quarantine zone in history, she was desperate to get a seat for her 8-year-old daughter, Hermione. Hermione was with her mother in Wuhan when authorities abruptly blocked transportation in and around the metropolis of 11 million people. The lockdown was China’s risky bid to slow the spread of a dangerous coronavirus—and Hermione had a fever. (Areddy, 1/29)

Los Angeles Times: Americans Clear Health Screening After Evacuting From Wuhan, China
The plane was the only way out of the besieged Chinese city, and Americans clamored for seats. A couple with a 7-year-old daughter did not receive the coveted call from officials offering them seats on the plane. A 65-year-old man’s phone rang, but he gave up his spot because others needed it more. According to some Americans trying to escape, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to who was tapped by U.S. officials to board the flight early Wednesday, whisking them away from Wuhan, the center of a respiratory virus outbreak that has killed at least 170 people in the last two months. (Chang, 1/29)

NPR: Worried About Catching The New Coronavirus? In The U.S., Flu Is A Bigger Threat
If you live in the U.S, your risk of contracting the new strain of coronavirus identified in China is exceedingly low. So far, the only people infected in the U.S. have traveled to the region in China where the virus first turned up in people. And, though that could change, one thing is for certain: Another severe respiratory virus that threatens lives — the influenza or "flu" virus — is very active in the U.S. right now. (Aubrey, 1/29)

The Hill: Coronavirus Poses New Test For Strained Public Health System
The emergence of the coronavirus could pose a tough test for a public health infrastructure that is fraying at the edges due to years of budget cuts and limited resources. While the number of public health issues facing the U.S. has increased in recent years, funding has not, stretching thin local and state health departments that are responsible for tracking and containing outbreaks while also addressing other health needs in their communities. (Hellmann, 1/30)

WBUR: Coronavirus: Americans Evacuated From Wuhan Will Remain At U.S. Air Base For 3 Days
The 195 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan, China, because of the coronavirus outbreak will remain at a military base in Southern California for three days while medical staff monitor their health, federal health officials said Wednesday, as the White House announced the formation of a special task force to handle the U.S. response to the outbreak. (Chappell, 1/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus: UCSF Expert Working On Quicker Diagnostic Test To Stop Spread
An infectious disease expert at UCSF is working on a quick diagnostic test for the deadly coronavirus, which has rapidly spread from Wuhan, China, to spark global concern and prompt public health preparations in at least two Bay Area counties. Dr. Charles Chiu, a professor of laboratory medicine and infectious diseases and director of a center that studies emerging pathogens, has partnered with San Francisco company Mammoth Biosciences to create a simple test that could diagnose the new coronavirus within several hours. (Bauman, 1/29)

Georgia Health News: Foundation Steps In To Help CDC Fight Coronavirus
The CDC Foundation has launched an emergency response fund to help the CDC address the novel coronavirus, a respiratory illness that has sickened more than 6,000 people in China and reached the United States and other countries. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has contributed $1 million to kick off that fund-raising effort, which started this week. (Miller, 1/29)

Boston Globe: ‘Sick Passenger’ From China Arrives At Logan, But Doesn’t Have Symptoms Of Coronavirus
Emergency medical workers responded to Logan International Airport Wednesday afternoon to care for a passenger from China who was reportedly sick. But the patient did not meet the criteria for possibly suffering from the novel coronavirus that has sickened thousands in China, according to city health officials. The traveler was evaluated and declined transportation to a hospital. It’s not clear what symptoms the passenger had. (Freyer, 1/29)