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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday alerted Americans to begin preparing for the spread of coronavirus in the United States after infections surfaced in several more countries. The announcement signaled a change in tone for the Atlanta-based U.S. health agency, which had largely been focused on efforts to stop the virus from entering the country and quarantining individuals traveling from China. (Steenhuysen and Bartz, 2/26)

“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a news briefing. She said that cities and towns should plan for “social distancing measures,” like dividing school classes into smaller groups of students or closing schools altogether. Meetings and conferences may have to be canceled, she said. Businesses should arrange for employees to work from home. “We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare, in the expectation that this could be bad,” Dr. Messonnier said. (Belluck and Weiland, 2/25)

Messonnier advised parents to talk to schools about the possibility of internet-based learning in the event that COVID-19 spreads and students would need to refrain from attending classes in a school building, and for businesses to think about how to use teleconferencing meetings in the event that employees would need to work from home. Messonnier said officials would also need to consider whether large community-based events would need to be canceled in such an event. (Shalby and Peltz, 2/25)

She stressed that the current risk remains low. Almost all the cases that have occurred in the United States have been among travelers who have been infected overseas. In addition, there's always the chance that the coronavirus could begin to subside as spring and summer arrive. Infectious disease experts say that 80% of infections are mild, no more severe than the common cold. (Stein and Wamsley, 2/25)

Messonnier said that, until this point, the CDC's goal has been containment and to slow the spread of the virus, but the strategy will soon have to switch to mitigation. "The most important tools we have for that are non-pharmaceutical interventions," said Messonnier. These include individual, community, and environmental measures that range from closing schools to self-quarantine to cancelling mass gatherings in public spaces, she said. (Soucheray, 2/25)

So far, American public-health systems have sought to contain the virus by isolating confirmed cases while monitoring close contacts of these patients for signs of infection. This strategy is most effective when the case count is relatively low and each case can be epidemiologically linked to each other and traced to an original source, health authorities say. That is the current situation with the confirmed U.S. cases. But if the virus spreads more widely, it might become difficult or impossible to contain it with the current methods, experts say. Instead, the efforts would shift to strategies such as closing schools, canceling mass gatherings and requiring employees to work from home. “The disruption to everyday life might be severe,” Dr. Messonnier said. (Abbott and Armour, 2/25)

Messonnier pointed to a government study, Community Mitigation Guidelines to Prevent Pandemic Influenza — United States, 2017, as the “framework for our response strategy,” saying it provided a guide to what can be done at the individual, community, and environmental level during a pandemic when there’s no vaccine or proven medical treatment. She said the “most important tools" against the virus would be the “nonpharmaceutical interventions,” or NPIs, outlined in the study. The NPIs used would vary by community depending on local conditions. (Finucane, 2/25)

The momentum and nature with which the virus is spreading renders the U.S. travel bans against some foreign nationals obsolete, some public health officials have warned. (Santhanam, 2/25)

The CDC’s messaging seemed to be at odds with the position of the World Health Organization, which reiterated Tuesday that countries could stop transmission chains if they acted swiftly and aggressively. (Thielking and Branswell, 2/25)

The warnings from officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, contrasted sharply with assessments from President Trump and other White House officials, who have largely dismissed concerns about the virus. The mixed messages continued Tuesday as dire warnings issued to senators and reporters early in the day gave way to a more positive assessment, after the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 3.4 percent, bringing the two-day loss to more than 1,900 points — the worst in two years. “We believe the immediate risk here in the United States remains low, and we’re working hard to keep that risk low,” Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, said during a hastily convened afternoon news briefing. (Werner, Abutaleb, Sun and Bernstein, 2/25)

American health officials warned on Tuesday that the coronavirus is likely to spread in communities in the United States. They urged individuals to get themselves and their families ready. But what can you do? Infectious disease experts stressed that people should not panic and offered practical advice. “The mantra is, ‘Keep calm and carry on,’” said Dr. Marguerite Neill, an infectious disease expert at Brown University. (Kolata, 2/25)

Major U.S. hospital systems are burning through their supplies of specialized masks needed for a widespread epidemic of coronavirus, in part because federal protocols call for them to be thrown out after a single use in practice sessions, federal officials have told health-care leaders. Some hospitals have just a week’s inventory of the N95 face masks, which filter out 95 percent of all airborne particles, even as a top official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday that spread of the virus in the United States now appears inevitable. (Sun, Rowland and Bernstein, 2/25)

San Francisco declared a local emergency over the coronavirus on Tuesday, despite having no cases, as U.S. officials urged Americans to prepare for the spread of infections within their communities. California's fourth-largest city said it made the move to boost its coronavirus preparedness and raise public awareness of risks the virus may spread to the city. (2/26)

“Although there are still zero confirmed cases in San Francisco residents, the global picture is changing rapidly, and we need to step up preparedness,” Breed said in a statement Tuesday. “We see the virus spreading in new parts of the world every day, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect San Franciscans from harm.” While three people have been treated for COVID-19 at San Francisco hospitals, there have been no confirmed cases of the illness in the city. (Shalby, 2/25)

Declaring a state of emergency allows San Francisco officials to marshal resources and personnel to accelerate emergency planning measures and to expand capabilities for a rapid response to a potential coronavirus case in the city. Santa Clara County declared a state of emergency a few weeks ago for similar reasons. (Fracassa, 2/25)

The novel coronavirus is likely to spread in local U.S. communities in the near future, federal officials warned Tuesday.“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country any more, but a question of when this will happen,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She said there is no way to know whether the outbreak will be mild or severe. (McClurg, 2/25)

A U.S. soldier stationed in South Korea has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the first such case involving a U.S. service member. United States Forces Korea (USFK) said in a statement Tuesday that a soldier stationed in Camp Carroll had tested positive and is currently in quarantine at his off-base residence. (Conradis, 2/25)

The U.S. Forces Korea, which oversees the roughly 28,500 American military personnel in South Korea, had instructed soldiers to not visit off-base establishments and placed its risk level at high. Coming joint military exercises with the U.S. and South Korea could be scaled back due to the coronavirus, the two countries said earlier this week. (Martin and Yoon, 2/26)

The soldier, who is stationed at Camp Carroll which is approximately 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the city of Daegu, is the first US service member to test positive for the novel coronavirus. "The patient, a 23-year old male, is currently in self quarantine at his off-base residence. He visited Camp Walker on 24 February and Camp Carroll 21-25 February. KCDC and USFK health professionals are actively conducting contact tracing to determine whether any others may have been exposed," the statement said. (Berlinger, 2/26)

At a performance by the ubiquitous Chinese dance troupe Shen Yun, the only thing audiences risk exposure to is a little culture and some religious and political propaganda. But for the past few days, health officials in Utah have had to quash social media-fueled rumors linking the dancers to covid-19, better known as the disease caused by the coronavirus. Even in states like Utah, which have no confirmed reports of coronavirus infection, concerns over the outbreak have grown as the virus has infected nearly 80,000 people across Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. The growing concerns have prompted significant misinformation — and a rise in anti-Asian prejudice. (Bellware and Wong, 2/25)

A South Korean flight attendant who has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus may have serviced trips between Seoul and Los Angeles last week, according to several South Korean media outlets. South Korea’s Center for Disease Control said Wednesday local time that a female flight attendant who serviced a flight Feb. 15 from Tel Aviv to Seoul had tested positive for the virus. (Kim, 2/25)

As international markets are left gasping from the effects of the spreading coronavirus — with the Dow shedding another 879 points on Tuesday — one American business is struggling to keep pace with the skyrocketing demand for its products. "It's a madhouse," said Mike Bowen, executive vice president and partner of Prestige Ameritech, the nation's largest surgical mask manufacturer. "We are going as fast as we can." (Legare, 2/25)