March 12 coronavirus news

President Trump said today that domestic travel restrictions due to the novel coronavirus haven’t been discussed, but they remain a possibility.

“Are you considering travel restrictions within the United States, such as to Washington state or to California?” a reporter asked the President during an Oval Office meeting between Trump and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

“You see what they’re doing in New Rochelle, which is good, frankly, but it’s not enforced,” Trump said of the New York area being impacted by the virus. “It’s not very strong, but people know they’re being watched.”

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Public worship services at Lakewood Church in Houston have been canceled this weekend, according to a post late Wednesday night.

The services, hosted by Joel Osteen, will still be streamed on multiple platforms, according to the post. The public gatherings were canceled after Houston's mayor declared a public health emergency.

Lakewood hosts its services at the former Compaq Center, which hosted the NBA's Houston Rockets among other local teams until 2003. The arena holds approximately 16,000 people, a church spokesman told CNN last year.

Major League Soccer, with teams in the US and Canada, has announced it is suspending its season for 30 days as the coronavirus pandemic grows.

The decision goes into effect immediately.

Testing is the only way to know for sure if you have the flu or coronavirus. But there have been problems with coronavirus testing — from faulty test kits to major shortages and delays in getting tested.

The flu and coronavirus share some common symptoms, such as fever and cough, but shortness of breath is a common hallmark of coronavirus.

Of course, some people with coronavirus have no symptoms at all. And asymptomatic people can still spread coronavirus to others.

So anyone who has had close contact with someone known to have coronavirus should ask a health care provider about getting tested, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Anyone who recently traveled to a part of the world where coronavirus is widespread should do the same.

The ATP has initiated a six-week suspension of the men’s professional tennis tour due to “escalating health and safety issues” surrounding the global coronavirus outbreak. 

Effective immediately, Jersey City, New Jersey, is rolling out a curfew on large nightclubs in response to coronavirus concerns, the city's Mayor said.

Mayor Steve Fulop said the fact that these clubs can welcome as many as 1,000 people each night is the cause for concern, but he did not elaborate on what capacity would fall under a curfew, nor what that curfew would be.

As of now, restaurants would remain unaffected. Fulop said, though he wanted to “find the balance” between a large restaurant and a small nightclub with respect to whom the curfews would apply.

Jersey City has no positive cases of COVID-19. Three people have been tested with a negative result and a fourth is awaiting a result.

Fabio Wajngarten, the press secretary for Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, according to two sources who spoke to CNN.

The health of the Brazilian president is being monitored.

Wajngarten was with Bolsonaro on last weekend’s US trip, during which the Brazilian president dined with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago. 

Wajngarten posted a picture of himself with Trump on Instagram a few days ago.

While Italy imposes a nationwide lockdown, and Ireland announces school suspensions, blanket bans aren't quite so simple in fellow European country Germany.

Essentially, German chancellor Angela Merkel does not have the sweeping power to close down large parts of public life across the entire country.

Germany is a federal state. So when it comes to political decisions like canceling public events, closing down schools or implement new health regulations, those are taken at state level.

Merkel and her national ministers can only make recommendations. Over the last few days, Germany’s Health Minister, Jens Spahn, has repeatedly recommended canceling mass public gatherings with over 1,000 people.

Some of Germany’s hardest-hit regions have implemented this ban already — but not all of them have. The same goes for the closure of schools and universities. Some have been shut, while others continue to operate. 

The US has canceled travel from 26 European countries to the US for the next 30 days, beginning Friday, as the coronavirus continues to spread worldwide.

In Italy, the country is in total lockdown. CNN’s Melissa Bell is at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome, where air travel is highly restricted.

In a live broadcast for “Go There,” CNN’s show on Facebook Watch, Bell shows the quiet scene outside the international departures terminal and answers viewer questions about the lockdown and US travel ban.