GENEVA—Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is now officially a pandemic, the World Health Organization announced today, as new cases in the United States climbed to 938 and deaths to 29.
“WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, W.H.O. director-general. “Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.”
But Adhanom Ghebreyesus said—as cases have increased 13-fold outside of China, while the number of affected countries have tripled—that the whole-of-society must build around a comprehensive strategy to prevent infections to protect the citizens of the world.
This comes as the United States faces criticism over its Centers for Disease Control response, being led by Vice President Mike Pence. U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ9), who represents portions of the Northern Valley in Congress, called on the C.D.C. to increase its transparency as the epidemic grows.
The C.D.C. has not confirmed a single case of COVID-19 in New Jersey, despite a man dying from the virus, and Gov. Phil Murphy and Bergen County Executive James Tedesco both declaring a state of emergency due to the escalating pandemic.
The New Jersey Department of Health says 23 patients are presumptively positive—all awaiting confirmation by C.D.C. labs in Atlanta. There are 37 more persons under investigation in the state.
“By the end of this week, there will be more than 4 million more tests made available in jurisdictions around the country; 1 million are already in place,” said Vice President Pence on March 10.
Democrats from New Jersey called on C.D.C. Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield to address testing delays, saying New Jersey anticipated confirmation of initial presumptive cases by Saturday, March 7, 2020, and the CDC did not meet its own deadline. When the State of New Jersey asked CDC about these delays, the agency was not able to provide an explanation, said the lawmakers, including both senators and nine members of the House.
“While we understand that the CDC is quite busy handling this crisis, it is important the states can confirm a positive or negative test result in order to contain a potentially further damaging outbreak in our communities,” wrote the members in a letter to Redfield. “Additionally, with the Administration’s plan to distribute millions of test kits this week, we must ensure that the CDC can quickly and efficiently analyze test results. The gaps in testing we are currently experiencing hinder the nation’s ability to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.”
Worldwide, there are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives, W.H.O. said today.
According to an updated issued by Bergen County Executive James Tedesco March 11, municipalities with presumptive positive cases are: Englewood, three cases; Fort Lee one case; Bergenfield, two cases; Teaneck, three cases; Little Ferry, one case (patient deceased).
Tedesco said all county-operated senior activity centers will be closed effective March 11 at 5 p.m. until further notice.The Fort Lee Senior Center has also been ordered closed for 14 days as a preemptive measure, city officials there announced.
The East Ramapo School District in nearby Rockland County, N.Y., closed for two days this week for disinfecting after fears some students there were exposed, and Bergen County school districts have been warned to prepare to close preemptively or reactively.
‘We cannot say this loudly enough…’
“We cannot say this loudly enough, or clearly enough, or often enough: all countries can still change the course of this pandemic,” said Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace, and mobilize their people in the response, those with a handful of cases can prevent those cases becoming clusters, and those clusters becoming community transmission.”
In nearby New Rochelle, N.Y, a containment zone has been declared, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo calling in the national guard to disinfect building and provide food in a 1-mile radius are where public events have been suspended and many are quarantined.
“Several countries have demonstrated that this virus can be suppressed and controlled,” said Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The challenge for many countries who are now dealing with large clusters or community transmission is not whether they can do the same – it’s whether they will.”
The WHO director general said all countries must strike a fine balance between protecting health, minimizing economic and social disruption, and respecting human rights.
“This is not just a public health crisis, it is a crisis that will touch every sector – so every sector and every individual must be involved in the fight,” said Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “I remind all countries that we are calling on you to activate and scale up your emergency response mechanisms;
• “Communicate with your people about the risks and how they can protect themselves – this is everybody’s business;
• “Find, isolate, test and treat every case and trace every contact;
• “Ready your hospitals;
• “Protect and train your health workers.
“And let’s all look out for each other, because we need each other.”
This story was updated at March 11 at 4:36 p.m.
