Total confirmed cases in the United States has now passed 1,000 with a total of 1,025 #COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths with 8 recovered.

The United States lags far behind South Korea, Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan in tests administered (see graph below). Whereas South Korea has performed over 210,000 coronavirus tests, the United States stands at 8.554.

California and Washington state emerged as the first foci for the coronavirus in the U.S. Both states have reported cases of community spread, in which an infected person has no history of travel to affected areas or exposure to someone known to have the COVID-19 illness. Both King County, WA and Sacramento County, CA are no longer requiring automatic 14-day quarantines for those exposed to an individual with coronavirus, Instead, isolation is only recommended if they begin to show symptoms.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (who has been a steady voice in this evolving epidemic) said, “The decision of what steps to implement will be local.”

She continued, “You will see, I think, lots more communities starting to implement some kind of mitigation measures when they’re seeing community spread. It will look different in different places. And that’s why it’s really important for folks to stay informed of what’s going on in their local area and to follow their advice of the local health department.”

Today, Los Angeles County announced its first coronavirus case of community spread, with the total number of cases rising to 20. The County has only performed an estimated 80-100 tests due to ‘limited testing capacity.’ At this time, the County Health Department has recommended social distancing (such as avoiding unnecessary travel, public events and other large gatherings), and that individuals who are sick stay home in order to protect others who may be most vulnerable to the virus.