Americans should brace for the likelihood that the coronavirus will spread to communities in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday.
“It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the head of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
She added that Americans should prepare for disruptions to their daily lives, including school closings, working from home and delayed elective medical procedures, as efforts to contain and control the possible spread in the U.S. may accelerate in the coming weeks.
“We have no idea whether the spread of the disease to the United States would be mild or severe, but that Americans should be ready for significant disruption to their daily lives.”
On Feb. 25, the Chinese government said that there had been 508 new confirmed cases by the end of the previous day, along with 74 deaths, bringing the total number of accumulated infections nationwide to 77,658, with 2,663 deaths.
Iran confirmed 95 cases across the country, with at least 15 deaths, as concerns grew about the outbreak’s spread through the Middle East. Meanwhile, South Korea reported 144 new cases of coronavirus, bringing its national tally to 977.
Measures to contain the virus in the U.S. so far have involved restricting travel to and from China — the center of the outbreak — and isolating cases identified so far in this country.
On Monday, the Trump administration requested $2.5 billion to help stop the spread of the virus. It asked Congress to authorize $1.25 billion in new emergency funds and called for diverting another $1.25 billion from other federal programs.
