Vice president on coronavirus outbreak: ‘Risk of contracting coronavirus remains low’

About 6:35 p.m. EDT, President Donald Trump told the media during the news conference he planned to implement a “payroll tax cut or relief” to assist businesses with hourly employees who may need to stay home due to coronavirus. He said he would share more on the measure, which will ensure “people won’t lose their jobs,” during a news conference Tuesday. Vice President Mike Pence assured Americans during the news conference that the risk of contracting the novel virus and the risk of “serious disease” remains low. The White House’s Coronavirus Task Force team has met with nursing home, airline and pharmaceutical experts to mitigate the risks tied to coronavirus, which has claimed the lives of 26 Americans, according to CBS News.

Reporters at the news conference asked whether Pence or Trump had been tested for the virus, but only Pence confirmed that he had not been tested. The vice president said he wasn’t sure if President Trump has been tested.

6:20 p.m.: Washington health officials announced Monday that three more people have died of coronavirus in the state, bringing the death toll to 21.

5:20 p.m.:  Several lawmakers had contact with a CPAC attendee diagnosed with coronavirus. The four Republican congressmen who have confirmed contact with the attendee, Sen. Ted Cruz,  Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Doug Collins and Rep. Matt Gaetz, will self-quarantine. Collins and Gaetz made contact with the president on Friday and Monday, respectively.

4:20 p.m.: Florida officials advise some who have traveled to self-quarantine. State officials announce that the "mandatory" advisory applied to those who had returned or would be returning from China, South Korea, Italy and Iran, as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention had advised.

4 p.m.: The CDC confirmed two positive coronavirus cases in South Carolina on Monday. There are five other "presumed positive cases" in the state, Live5News reporter Emma Galasso reported Monday, citing South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

2:20 p.m. The first coronavirus case in Louisiana was confirmed by state health officials Monday.

2:10 p.m.: All Fulton County schools and offices will close Tuesday because an employee at a local school was determined to be infected with coronavirus.

12:04 p.m.: Detroit officials have announced they are restoring water to thousands of residents and imposing a moratorium on water shutoffs as the coronavirus spreads in the U.S. About 3,000 people were without water due to unpaid bills, according to Detroit Metro Times reporter Steve Neavling.

“The notion that a City could shut off water on people in the midst of a potential infectious disease epidemic – really EVER – is unconscionable,” said the former Detroit Health Department’s executive director.

11:40 a.m.: During a news conference, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that cases of COVID-19 now total 142 in the state, which reportedly puts the state number of cases "ahead of Washington." Washington state had harbored the most cases of coronavirus in one state previously.

11:15 a.m.: District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday that several hundred people who visited Christ Church Georgetown on Feb. 24 or between Feb. 28 and March 3 are being asked to self-quarantine for 14 days since their entrance into the church. The pastor there, the Rev. Timothy Cole, was diagnosed with coronavirus Saturday.

10:45 a.m. Florida theme parks, other destinations eye coronavirus. 
As Florida's busy spring break season kicked off this month, coronavirus czar Vice President Mike Pence addressed something that's been on the mind of tens of thousands of families preparing to travel to theme parks: Is it safe?

10:40 a.m. Dublin cancels St. Patrick's Day parade, according to Irish Times.

10:35 a.m. Health officials say 220 hospitalized and more than 300 in intensive care in Lombardy region of Italy due to COVID-19.

9:56 a.m. S&P 500 index drops 7%, triggering halt. Stocks plunged 7% on Wall Street on Monday, triggering a trading halt for 15 minutes. The steep drop followed similar falls in Europe after a fight among major crude-producing countries jolted investors already on edge about the widening fallout from the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

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9 a.m. 321 patients test positive for COVID-19 coronavirus in the Netherlands, up from 265.

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7:28 a.m. Stocks plunge Monday as coronavirus closes sites around the world.

The world’s largest economies delivered more worrisome cues Monday as anxiety over the virus outbreak sent stock and oil prices plunging and closed sites from the Sistine Chapel to Saudi Arabian schools.

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