State of Emergency Declared in Florida

As of march first, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has just declared a state of emergency in response to the appearance of coronavirus within the state. A resident of Manatee county and a resident of Hillsborough county have tested positive for the virus.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday that a case of the coronavirus has also been confirmed in Chicago. A woman in her 60’s in who had recently traveled to Wuhan returned to Chicago on Jan. 13 and became ill days later. As of Friday, she was still hospitalized but was recovering well.

On Thursday morning, a travel lock down was imposed in Wuhan, china, leaving thousands of people stranded. Later that day, public transportation was also halted in nearby cities such as Huanggang, Ezhou, Zhijiang, and Chibi which, collectively, are home to over nine million people.

On Friday authorities expanded the travel lockdown in central China, affecting an additional 35 million people. The rapid spread of the virus has overwhelmed the Chinese province hospitals. Chinese health officials reported that there have been 26 deaths and 830 cases of the coronavirus.

Breaking news about the coronavirus will be continually updated as new information is released.