March 9 coronavirus news

Two more people have tested positive for novel coronavirus in Los Angeles County, Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced Monday.

Officials have not been able to trace the source of the first person’s infection and it may be the county’s first case of community-spread coronavirus, Ferrer said.

The second patient recently traveled to Japan. Both patients are in isolation and their close contacts will be quarantined.

A lab in Los Angeles County has tested about 60 people for coronavirus. That number does not include commercial testing, which started Friday, according to Ferrer.

A woman in her 60s is the first coronavirus-related death in Santa Clara County.

The woman, who had been hospitalized for several weeks, is believed to have contracted the virus through community transmission, according to a statement from the county’s health department.

This case was previously announced on February 28.

The numbers of new daily confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in China have dropped over the past few weeks.

China's National Health Commission reported 40 new confirmed cases of the virus Sunday, the lowest number of new cases in a day since Jan. 18. 

Some shopping and dining attractions at Shanghai Disney Resort resumed operations Monday “as the first step of a phased reopening,” the Shanghai Disney announced in a statement. 

Twelve out of 14 filed hospitals in Wuhan have been closed after many patients were discharged, according to China's state media People’s Daily. 

And northwest China’s Qinghai province became the first province to reopen its schools in China, with more than 100 high schools opening earlier today.

Ohio has declared a state of emergency over coronavirus concerns, Gov. Mike DeWine tweeted.

The declaration comes after three people in his state tested positive for coronavirus.

The vast majority of US deaths from coronavirus appear to involve patients ages 70 and up, based on broad age range information provided by health authorities.

Officials provided basic age information in only 18 of the 22 US death cases. 

Of those 18, seven were in their 70s, five were in their 80s, three were in their 90s, two were in their 50s and one was in their 60s.

A 19th patient was described as “elderly,” but no age range was given.

This is in line with what US Surgeon General Jerome Adams told CNN Sunday about the pandemic in general — that the average age of those who died from the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus was 80, and that the average age of those seeking medical treatment was 60.

It's too early to know for sure. But other coronaviruses, like ones that cause the common cold, might give us clues.

With "common cold coronaviruses, you don't actually have immunity that lasts for very long, and so we don't know the answer with this specific coronavirus," said Dr. Celine Gounder, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the New York University School of Medicine.

"If you recover, are you immune? And if you are immune, how long does that last? And that's actually going to be one of the challenges with designing a vaccine is how do you actually cause the immunity to last long enough to protect you."

There are now 24 people in mandatory quarantine and 2,019 in voluntary isolation across New York City, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The mayor said city officials have evidence that those in quarantine are “honoring those quarantines.”

The mayor said there will be no public school international trips through the end for the school year and nurses are being added to every public school building this week. No international travel is permitted for city employees.

Ireland has canceled all of its annual St Patrick’s Day parades and is reviewing whether to go ahead with other events scheduled for the holiday, the Irish government said in a statement on Monday. 

Here's the government's statement:

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged colleges and universities to considering canceling study abroad trips and other international travel for students.

Institutions of higher education "should consider asking current program participants to return to their home country," the center said in a statement, noting that "students may face unpredictable circumstances, travel restrictions, challenges in returning home or accessing health care while abroad.

Schools should work with public health officials to determine the best way to transport students home.

"All plans for returning study abroad students should be designed to protect participants from stigma and discrimination," the CDC said.