Panic buying has spread across the US from New Jersey to San Francisco with worried shoppers emptying shelves to stock up on supplies amid a surge in deadly coronavirus cases.
New diagnoses in several states pushed the tally of COVID-19 cases past 100, and New Hampshire reported its first patient Monday, raising the total of affected states to 11. Seattle officials announced four more deaths, bringing the total in the US to six.
The recent boom in numbers has brought chaotic scenes to supermarkets throughout the country with shoppers lining up with trolleys overflowing with bundles of toilet paper, racks of water bottles and shelves cleaned out of hand sanitizing gel.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday warned it could begin testing up to a million people by the end of the week, as the global total of confirmed cases soared to more than 90,000 today, including 3,117 deaths.
As shoppers backed up in Costco wholesale outlets across the nation, the Surgeon General Jerome Adams urged the public not to go overboard in its reaction to the contagion.
‘Caution, preparedness, but not panic,’ Adams said during Monday’s stop in Connecticut. ‘That’s how we’re going to successfully navigate this coronavirus situation.’
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A shopper in Commack, New York, overstocking on extra food, supplies and water, for coronavirus threat on Monday. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday warned it could begin testing up to a million people by the end of the week.
A shopper leaving a supermarket in Sanford, Florida, on Monday with his trolley overflowing with crates of water, toilet roll and cleaning supplies
A sign at Fred Meyer states that they are sold out of hand sanitizer and face masks in Portland, Oregon on Monday
A single can of Lysol disinfectant spray remains on the shelf of a Walgreens in Portland, Oregon, as cleaning products and disinfectant soared into high demand
Adams and state Public Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell urged the public to take precautions such as washing hands, elbow ‘bumping’ instead of hand shaking and getting flu shots.
They said flu shots would decrease the number of people hospitalized because of flu and free up space, if needed, to treat patients sickened by the coronavirus.
Health officials had previously warned that cases were bound to increase across the US as more tests were run, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was widely panned for lagging in distributing the tests, many of which turned out to be faulty.
In an effort to expand testing, a number of private companies, states and research institutions have been given authorization to make their own tests.
FDA Commissioner Dr Stephen Hahn said that by the end of this week, he expected that enough tests will be distributed to screen one million people in the US.
But it comes after the sudden uptick in cases in Washington – which had not reported a second case until this weekend – suggested that the virus may have been spreading in communities there for weeks.
Up until now, the US testing capacity was only between 75,000 and 100,00 kits, Dr Hahn said during a Monday press briefing.
Shopper at Costco in Commack, New York, waits on line with a flatbed cart filled with extra food and drink for coronavirus threat (left), and shoppers at a wholesale store in Mountain View, California (right)
A sign outside an Ace Hardware pictured in Portland, Oregon, warning shoppers that they are sold out of all masks as Americans looked to stock up against the virus
All safety masks at an Ace Hardware store in Oregon had been cleared out on Monday as people took to panic buying amid growing fears over the coronavirus
Shoppers with the trunk of their family car stocked up with crates of water bottles as panic buying gripped the nation amid the deadly global contagion
Patrons with shopping carts loaded with tissue and water wait in checkout queues at a very busy Costco in Miami, Florida
But on Saturday, officials enacted a new policy clearing the way for non-CDC tests to be made and sent to labs across the country.
Validation processes could still take 15 days, however.
US health officials have also begun using the flu surveillance system to track coronavirus.
Vice President Mike Pence met with the nation’s governors on Monday and pledged to continue updating them weekly by teleconference. President Donald Trump met with pharmaceutical companies to talk about progress toward a vaccine.
Four of the dead were residents of a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, according to King County health authorities. The nursing home cases especially troubled health care experts because of the vulnerability of sick and elderly people to the illness and existing problems in nursing facilities.
‘It’s going to be a disaster,’ said Charlene Harrington, who studies nursing homes at the University of California, San Francisco. Infection is already a huge problem in U.S. nursing homes because of a lack of nurses and training.
In Texas, tension between U.S. and local officials brewed over the planned release Monday of more than 120 ex-passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship in quarantine in San Antonio. Mayor Ron Nirenberg declared a public safety emergency in an attempt to continue the quarantine. He and other officials in San Antonio called for more lab testing of the passengers after one woman tested positive after release.
Shoppers at Costco in Brooklyn panic buy water, tissues and cleaning products after New York confirmed its first case of coronavirus
A man walks in front of empty shelves in Home Depot that usually are full of respirators in Portland, Oregon on Monday
Panic buying in central Florida amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, with a woman stocking up on water, canned and frozen foods on Monday
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said its case count includes 45 infections among people who were on the cruise ship, one more than previously reported. The count includes people who tested positive after returning from travel to outbreak areas in other parts of the world, their close contacts and infections that appear to be from community spread – people who did not travel or have known contact with other infected people.
The CDC recently broadened its guidelines for who should be tested for the new virus to include people with symptoms but without a travel history to virus hot zones.
More testing will bring more confirmed cases, experts said, but they cautioned that does not mean the virus is gaining speed. Instead, the testing is likely to reveal a picture of the virus’ spread that was previously invisible.
In Seattle, schools and one skyscraper closed, but health experts cautioned that closures can have downsides.
On Monday, the F5 technology company said it was closing its 44-story tower in downtown Seattle after learning an employee had been in contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. The employee tested negative, but company spokesman Rob Gruening said the tower was closed as a precaution.
Empty shelves were seen at some supermarkets in New York as fear of the spread of coronavirus gripped the city
Shoppers rushed to stock-up on essential items at supermarkets across the US. Pictured are customers in New York on Sunday
More than 10 schools in the Seattle area were closed for deep cleaning over virus concerns, although the city-county public health department said it was not yet recommending school closures or cancellation of activities.
Closing schools and canceling large gatherings are what’s called social distancing, the idea that distancing people will reduce spread.
The evidence for those steps is ‘not as strong as we would like it to be,’ Jennifer Nuzzo of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security cautioned Monday during a webinar.
Measures such as school closures have been used during flu outbreaks, and the new coronavirus isn’t acting exactly like flu. Moreover, they have downsides.
Thermometers are nearly sold out at a Walgreens in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, as people prepare to self test for the deadly virus which causes fever
A woman prepares to load supplies in a BJs club store parking lot in Oregon on Monday
A couple loads supplies into the back of their sedan at a wholesale store in Florida, including bottles of Clorex bleach
‘Maybe it makes people more likely to stay at home. Maybe it doesn’t if people re-congregate elsewhere,’ Nuzzo said.
Closing schools also leaves health care workers, first responders and others without child care, making it difficult for them to come to work.
Trump and members of his Cabinet met at the White House with executives of 10 pharmaceutical companies to discuss ways to speed the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus.
Vice President Mike Pence (center) confirmed the deaths of six Americans from coronavirus as FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn (not pictured) said one million people could be tested for the virus by week’s end
There are no proven treatments for COVID-19. In China, scientists have been testing a combination of HIV drugs against the new virus, as well as an experimental drug named remdesivir that was in development to fight Ebola. In the U.S., the University of Nebraska Medical Center also began testing remdesivir in some Americans who were found to have COVID-19 after being evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan.
It’s not clear how quickly such studies will answer whether any of the drugs help. Many patients recover without needing any treatment. The biggest concern is how to help the fraction who become severely ill.
Pence, who also attended the Monday meeting, said other meetings are being arranged with leaders of airlines and cruise ship operations.
Over the weekend pictures of empty shelves at grocery stores in New York emerged. Panic purchasing has been seen of masks and other personal protective gear as well as food items
Empty shelves at a grocery store in New York. Shoppers have been stock-piling essential items over the weekend amid fears of the spreading virus
The number of Americans diagnosed with the virus has hit 77 over the weekend, but has now climbed to 86
Concerned New Yorkers stocked up on masks and hand sanitizer on Monday after officials confirmed the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Manhattan
On Capitol Hill, negotiations on a bipartisan, emergency $7 billion to $8 billion measure to battle the virus are almost complete, according to both Democratic and GOP aides. The measure appears on track to be unveiled as early as Tuesday, and the hope is to speed it quickly through both House and Senate by the end of the week.
The measure would finance both federal and state response efforts, fund the federal government’s drive to develop and produce a vaccine, and offer Small Business Administration disaster loans to help businesses directly affected by the virus crisis.
At the Pentagon, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, told reporters that the COVID-19 outbreak has had little impact on the U.S. military. ‘Right now the overall broad impact to the U.S. uniformed military is very, very minimal. That’s not to say it’s zero,’ he said.