At this writing there are 98,385 worldwide confirmed novel coronavirus cases with 3,383 deaths and 55,423 recoveries. In the United States there are 233 confirmed cases with 12 deaths (10 in King County, WA; 1 in Snohomish County, WA; and 1 in Placer County, CA). There are 8 confirmed recoveries in the United States.

At Santa Monica Primary Care, we continue to manage all patients with concerning symptoms via telemedicine and video medicine modalities. We have also been sending out and receiving back viral and bacterial swab kits from patients that remain at home with upper respiratory illnesses. Unaffected family members or friends have been kind enough to ferry these kits back and forth on our behalf. We have not yet had to send any patients to local hospitals for further evaluation. Beginning next week, we will begin to resume more normal (although still slightly curtailed) operations seeing back routine annual physical examinations as well as other regular visits. We will still triage all cough, fever, and viral symptoms by telemedicine for the foreseeable future.

In other #COVID-19 news:

1. The Grand Princess cruise ship will remain off the coast near San Francisco as passengers undergo coronavirus testing. At least 11 passengers and 10 crew members are symptomatic. A man died of COVID-19 after sailing on the ship from Feb. 11 to 21. Officials believe this elderly male, was exposed to the novel coronavirus during a trip from San Francisco to Mexico. He had underlying health conditions and spent nearly a week at home before being hospitalized in California’s Placer County. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance on Feb. 27. Another California resident who was on the same trip also has been found to be infected, That person is currently hospitalized in Sonoma County.

2.The United States may have exported its first case of #COVID-19 to Canada. The latest Toronto case revealed is a person who traveled to Las Vegas for an international conference. The person went to the Emergency Department at Toronto Western Hospital Wednesday with respiratory symptoms.

3.The number of new cases in South Korea appears to be falling, but officials said they are concerned about the number of new countries reporting COVID-19.

4. In the quote of the day (and perhaps for the entire week or longer) – WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “We’re concerned that some countries have either not taken this seriously enough, or have decided there’s nothing they can do. … This is not a drill. This is not the time to give up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops.”

link: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/live-blog/2020-03-05-coronavirus-news-n1150561