On 11 occasions this week AlertsUSA subscribers were notified via SMS messages to their mobile devices regarding safety and security matters. All of these alerts dealt with the increasingly dangerous situation with the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Starting last Saturday (shortly after our last weekly update was issued), the U.S. State Department announced Level 4 Do Not Travel advisories for areas of Italy and S. Korea with coronavirus activity. With respect to Italy, the advisory urges avoiding all travel to the Lombardy region (Milan), as well as the Veneto region (Venice), due to the level of community transmission of the virus and imposition of local quarantine procedures.
With respect to South Korea, the advisory urges avoiding the city of Daegu, again, due to the level of community transmission of the virus and imposition of local quarantine procedures.
The remainder of Italy and S. Korea are under Level 3 advisories, which urges American citizens to reconsider travel to the countries entirely.
Additionally, new boarding restrictions are in place for airline passengers in Italy and S. Korea headed to the U.S.:
As of 12:00 AM March 3, all passengers on U.S.-bound flights from Italy and S. Korea whose temperature is higher than 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit are not being permitted to board. Travelers should be prepared for additional travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice.
SAN ANTONIO MAYOR BANS QUARANTINED EVACUEES FROM CITY
On Monday, the Mayor of San Antonio, Texas declared a public health emergency and banned current and former coronavirus evacuees quarantined at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland after an individual, who twice tested negative for the virus, was released into the city and was later found to have a positive test result. This individual, a woman, spent more than 12 hours in public where she checked into a hotel before visiting North Star Mall where she sat for a meal in the food court. The mall was subsequently closed for 24 hours while it was cleaned and disinfected.
Under Texas state law, the mayor of a municipality may control who comes in or out of a disaster area.
CA GOVERNOR BARS CRUISE SHIP FROM DOCKING
On Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom barred the Grand Princess cruise ship from docking in San Francisco until passengers and crew could be tested for the coronavirus. The move came after a 71-YO man who had been on the ship's previous cruise died of the coronavirus. Health authorities later disclosed that at least nine other people who were on the same excursion were also found to be infected. And some passengers from that trip stayed aboard for the current voyage.
Friday evening, AlertsUSA subscribers were informed of an announcement by Vice President Mike Pence that a portion of the 3500 passengers aboard the cruise ship were tested and 21, including 19 crew members and 2 passengers, were also found to be infected. Vice President Pence further indicated that the cruise ship would proceed to an unspecified non-commercial dock where the passengers would disembark and at least a portion transferred top quarantine facilities.
DOD DEPLYS SOLDIERS TO US/MX PORTS OF ENTRY
Also on Friday, AlertsUSA subscribers were informed that the Dept. of Defense was deploying a 160-soldier Crisis Response Force to San Ysidro, CA and El Paso, TX to erect temporary barriers at ports of entry as well as to provide force protection to Customs and Border protection agents. According to CBP, the deployment is necessary in case a federal appeals court nixes a Trump Administration policy known as "Remain in Mexico," which could result in large groups attempting to forcibly enter the United States, as well as due to coronavirus containment concerns.
NOW IS THE TIME TO PREPARE
Once again, AlertsUSA strongly encourages reader to use the totality of U.S. and foreign government actions in response to this global public health crisis as your cue prepare yourself, your family, and any business interests, for the possibility that the virus has a greater impact here in North America. The Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health all warn that we are only witnessing the tip of the iceberg and that more cases of the coronavirus will be appearing across the United States, especially now that we have accurate testing capabilities being deployed to state and local labs nationwide.
To further drive home the seriousness of the need to prepare, consider the following quote made Friday by Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, during an interview with Britain's Channel 4 News:
"I've been working on epidemic preparedness for about 20 years, and completely dispassionately, without elevating the temperature or speaking hyperbolically, this is the most frightening disease I've ever encountered in my career, and that includes ebola, it includes MERS, it includes SARS. And it is frightening because of the combination of infectiousness and a lethality that appears to be many-fold higher than flu"
OFFICIAL CASE NUMBERS
World Health Organization
Centers for Disease Control (U.S.)
Johns Hopkins CSSE (Interactive map updated multiple times daily)
WHO RISK OF SPREAD & IMPACT ASSESSMENT
China Very High
Regional Level Very High
Global Level Very High
PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS RESOURCES
Official Coronavirus Information Pages:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Food and Drug Administration
Public Health Agency of Canada
Infection Prevention and Control Canada
World Health Organization
Official Pandemic Preparedness Guidance:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Department of Homeland Security / Ready.Gov
World Health Organization
Assorted Resources
(While some of the resources below were prepared for pandemic influenza, the broader guidance contain therein is directly applicable to the current coronavirus crisis).
Home Care for Patients w/ Suspected Coronavirus Infection
Community Mitigation Guidelines to Prevent Pandemic Influenza
Fundamentals of Emergency Planning for Schools
Healthcare Systems Preparedness for COVID-19
Pub Health Guidance for Community-Level Preparedness & Response (SARS)
Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist
Faith-based & Community Org. Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Checklist
WHO Checklist for Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Planning
Get Your Workplace Ready for Pandemic Flu
Dept of Defense Coronavirus Response Page
DHS Supplemental Instructions For Inbound Flights
View Last Week's Issue
Additional Coronavirus News Items
Why do so many epidemics originate in Africa and Asia?
A second LAX screener tests positive for the coronavirus
Pentagon is 'fully confident' military can withstand threat of coronavirus
Officials Prep to Keep Pentagon Running in Event of Major Outbreak
British army on standby over coronavirus spread
Greece shuts schools as WHO warns about local transmission
Chaos at hospitals due to shortage of coronavirus tests
Satellite images reveal the effects the coronavirus has had
Italy calls in retired doctors to help fight coronavirus
15-minute virus test used in China, Italy and Japan – but NOT in the UK or US
Coronavirus: UN asks 9 countries to delay peacekeeper rotations
UK officials are secretly arranging for 200 mobile morgues
Coronavirus cases pass 100K globally as Iran threatens force to restrict travel
Another senior Iranian official dies from coronavirus
Report: US Congressional Staffer Tests Positive for Coronavirus
IRGC claims coronavirus outbreak 'may be an American biological invasion
KSA: Extraordinary measures to protect Mecca and Medina from COVID-19
Virus ripples through travel, energy, financial markets
Bodies 'pile up' in morgue as Iran feels strain of coronavirus
Virus fears grip markets again; stocks and bond yields slide
Wall Street drops over 3% on virus fears, travel shares slammed
IMF provides $50bn to fight coronavirus outbreak
Virus ripples through travel, energy, financial markets
Trade group: Airline industry will lose at least $63B due to COVID-19
AlertsUSA continues to monitor the domestic and international threat environment around the clock and will immediately notify service subscribers, via SMS messages to their mobile devices, of new alerts, warnings and advisories or any developments which signal a change the overall threat picture for American citizens as events warrant.