The coronavirus outbreak that first exploded in Wuhan, China, has now infected more than 83,000 people and killed nearly 3,000 people globally as of Friday morning.
China, though hardest hit, has seen lower numbers of new infections, with 327 additional cases reported Friday, bringing the country’s total to 78,824. South Korea has recorded 2,337 cases, the most outside of China.
Emerging clusters in Italy and in Iran, which has had 34 deaths and 388 cases, have in turn led to infections of people in other countries. France and Germany were also seeing increases, with dozens of infections.
The spread of the virus and the illness it causes, officially named by the World Health Organization as COVID-19, triggered a global response as health officials scrambled to quarantine evacuees, identify cases and treat patients. As more countries are hit with the health emergency, they face an economic crisis with the outbreak sapping financial markets, emptying shops and businesses, and putting major sites and events off limits.
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Whistleblower says workers weren’t prepared for evacuees
Federal workers did not have the necessary protective gear or training when they were sent to help quarantined Americans who were evacuated from China during the coronavirus outbreak, according to a government whistleblower complaint.
The complaint alleges employees with the Department of Health and Human Services were sent to Travis and March Air Force bases in California without full protective gear and training on how to protect themselves in a viral hot zone.
While helping the evacuees, team members noticed that workers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were in full gear to protect them from getting sick whereas they had no respirator masks, only gloves and masks at times.
The team consisted of about 14 employees who had been deployed to help connect the evacuees with government assistance from mid-January until early February.
The complaint was first reported by the Washington Post, which was told by the whistleblower’s lawyers that workers didn’t show any symptoms of infection and weren’t tested for the virus.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., who said the whistleblower contacted his office, said the whistleblower also alleged retaliation by superiors for having filed the complaint.
“My concern from the moment I heard it is that individuals at HHS are not taking the complaints of HHS employees seriously,” Gomez said in an interview. “Their superiors are not supposed to brush them off. By retaliating against people if they do call out a problem, that only discourages other people from ever reporting violations.”
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Gomez’s office said the complaint was filed by a high-ranking official at the Administration for Children and Families, a social service agency with HHS. According to the Post, the whistleblower is seeking federal protection alleging improper reassignment after raising concerns. If the official doesn’t accept the post by March 5, the Post reported that she would be terminated.
The Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal watchdog agency that investigates personnel issues, confirmed Thursday that it had received the complaint and opened a case. HHS said it was “evaluating the complaint.”
“We take all whistleblower complaints very seriously and are providing the complainant all appropriate protections under the Whistleblower Protection Act,” HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said in a statement.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar denied the accusation in a hearing Thursday when asked by Gomez if it was possible that protocols were broken given the urgency surrounding the virus, according to CBS News.
“Urgency does not compensate for violating isolation and quarantine protocols for personal protection,” he said. “I’m not aware of any violation of quarantine or isolation protocols.”
Lawyer Ari Wilkenfeld, representing the unidentified whistleblower, said in a statement: “This matter concerns HHS’ response to the coronavirus, and its failure to protect its employees and potentially the public. The retaliatory efforts to intimidate and silence our client must be opposed.”
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Diamond Princess passenger dies
A fifth Diamond Princess cruise passenger has died, according to Japanese news source Kyodo News and the latest Johns Hopkins death count from the ship. The man is from the U.K., according to Kyodo and the BBC.
The British passenger is the fifth person to die from the outbreak aboard the Diamond Princess and is the first person from his country to succumb to the virus.
– David Oliver
BTS, Green Day cancel shows in Asia
BTS, Green Day and the National Symphony Orchestra are canceling their upcoming concert dates in Asia amid coronavirus concerns.
“We regret to announce that the BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR … has been cancelled,” the K-pop group’s agency Big Hit Entertainment said in a statement.
Green Day, which was scheduled to perform in Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan starting in March as part of its Hella Mega Tour, followed suit. On Friday, the group announced it’s nixing tour dates in Asia.
The National Symphony Orchestra, meanwhile, canceled the five remaining performances in Japan, citing a recommendation from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that major cultural events be canceled for the next two weeks.
– Anika Reed
California monitoring 8,400 people for coronavirus
Across California, more than 8,400 people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus after traveling to Asia are being monitored, Gov. Gavin Newsomsaid Thursday during a press conference.
State and federal health officials are also moving quickly to locate everyone who came in contact with a Northern California woman believed to be the first in the U.S. to contract the coronavirus with no known connection to travel abroad or other known cases.
The woman lived in Solano County, home to the Travis Air Force Base, where dozens of people infected in China or on cruise ships have been treated. There was no evidence the woman had any connection to the base, said California Department of Public Health Director Sonia Angels during a press conference with Newsom Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, officials in San Francisco and in Santa Clara and San Diego counties have issued emergency declarations aimed at preparing the areas for an outbreak.
Does the Pope have the coronavirus?
Pope Francis has apparently come down with a cold. While the Vatican hasn’t confirmed what the 83-year-old pontiff has, he was seen coughing and blowing his nose during Ash Wednesday Mass this week.
He also canceled a planned trip across town to celebrate Mass with Rome priests and his official audiences on Friday.
His illness comes amid an outbreak of the virus in Italy that has sickened more than 650 people, almost all of them in the north. Rome had three cases, but all three recovered.
Japan travel warning: Tokyo Disneyland to close
Tokyo Disneyland said Friday that it would close for two weeks as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus in Japan, one day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asked schools nationwide to close for most of March.
The park will be closed beginning Saturday with plans to reopen March 15. In a statement on its website, the park cited the elevated risk of infection in crowded venues.
The closures come as the number of cases in Japan continues to climb. According to data from Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, there have been 228 cases, not counting the 705 cases and four deaths from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama.
“The coming week or two is an extremely important time,” Abe said Thursday as he asked elementary, middle and high schools to shut down. “This is to prioritize the health and safety of the children and take precautions to avoid the risk of possible large-scale infections.”
– Jayme Deerwester
Contributing: Marco della Cava, USA TODAY; Ricardo Alonso-Zalvidar, Associated Press. Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.
Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/28/coronavirus-whistleblower-complaint-prepared-covid-evacuees/4901176002/
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