WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) – The coronavirus spurred more disruptions to U.S. daily life on Wednesday as the largest public school district in Washington state announced a two-week closure, and the governor banned public gatherings of more than 250 people in the Seattle region.
The greater Seattle area is the epicenter of the deadliest, and one of the largest, clusters of coronavirus infections in the United States, accounting for the bulk of at least 37 people killed in the country by the highly contagious respiratory illness, also known as COVID-19.
The outbreak took a major toll on U.S. sports as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) said on Wednesday that its wildly popular “March Madness” basketball tournament games would be played in arenas without fans.
The Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association likewise said they would play home games in empty arenas after San Francisco on Wednesday banned non-essential social events of 1,000 people or more.
Even late-night television is taking a hit, with at least two shows produced in New York City – NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” – planning to begin taping without a live studio audience for the first time, Hollywood trade publication Variety reported.
The federal government appeared likely to take action to discourage Americans from visiting Europe and a top health official warned that the U.S. outbreak would grow worse.
Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told a congressional hearing that the outbreak was headed on an upward trajectory.
“We will see more cases and things will get worse than they are now,” Fauci told the House of Representatives Oversight Committee.
President Donald Trump, who has publicly downplayed the risks from coronavirus in recent weeks, said he would address economic and healthcare aspects of the outbreak in remarks from the White House around 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT Thursday).
“I am fully prepared to use the full power of the Federal Government to deal with our current challenge of the CoronaVirus!” Trump wrote on Twitter. The president faces re-election in November.
STOCKS PLUNGE AGAIN
Wall Street stocks plunged because of uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI confirming a bear market for the first time in over a decade. [L1N2B42ID]
The market concern was compounded by a Reuters report that the White House had ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified.
Sources familiar with the matter said the White House was considering issuing advisories against Americans visiting Europe as well as potential new restrictions on travelers from some European nations entering the country.
One source said Trump was expected to announce travel restrictions on several European countries hard hit by the virus, but not the UK.
In Washington state, Governor Jay Inslee prohibited gatherings of over 250 people in three Seattle-area counties and said he may soon close all schools.
Seattle Public Schools announced a cancellation of all classes and other activities, including childcare and athletics, for at least two weeks starting on Thursday in a measure designed to “disrupt widespread infection” by the coronavirus.
The closure, idling some 53,000 students, is believed to mark the first U.S. big-city school district to halt instruction due to the coronavirus.
Washington state has documented 366 coronavirus cases, including 29 deaths, most of them concentrated in the Seattle area around a long-term care facility in the suburb of Kirkland. There were 1,281 cases in total in the United States, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
The World Health Organization described the coronavirus, which emerged late last year in China, as a pandemic on Wednesday for the first time.
STIMULUS MEASURES
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Trump administration was looking into steps that could put hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy to shield it from a slowdown brought on by the disruption from coronavirus.
The White House is examining payroll tax relief measures, loan guarantees, reimbursing workers for lost pay, aid to small and mid-sized businesses and support for airlines, hotels and other travel businesses, Mnuchin said.
“Whatever we do, kind of in the next 48 hours, that’s just the first step. … And I think there’s big bipartisan support,” Mnuchin told a House committee.
Social and public routines have seen widespread disruptions for weeks, with concerts and conferences canceled and universities closing their campuses as they shift to online instruction.
Public gatherings have been suspended in a coronavirus “hot zone” in New Rochelle, a New York City suburb.
Democratic presidential contenders Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders were reassessing how to campaign in the face of the spreading outbreak.
Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Susan Heavey, David Lawder, Andrea Shalal and Richard Cowan in Washington, and Maria Caspani and Michael Erman in New York; Writing by Alistair Bell and Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Peter Cooney