indica News Bureau-
California is monitoring more than 8,400 people who arrived on commercial flights for coronavirus symptoms from “points of concern,” but the state lacks test kits and has been held back by federal testing rules, Governor Gavin Newsom said.
This statement comes just one day after health officials confirmed California has the first case of person-to-person transmission of the new coronavirus in which the source is unknown. CDC officials are not able to determine the source of the infection of a resident in Solano County after doctors confirmed that the patient did not have relevant travel history or contact with any known infected person. Public health authorities are trying to trace all contacts the woman had after she became sick, but they are not saying where she lives, where she went in her community before she sought care, or who may be at risk of exposure.
Dozens of staff members at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville who had contact with her have been asked to stay home and monitor themselves for symptoms. Some may be placed under quarantine, said Dr. Bela Matyas, public health officer with Solano County Health and Social Services. The total number of possibly exposed health care workers was unknown but less than 100, officials said.
The woman’s family is under isolation, and her co-workers have been identified and their risk evaluated, Matyas said.
In addition, some workers at UC Davis Medical Center are isolating themselves at home.
California has had more coronavirus cases than any other state and has also been the nucleus of quarantine efforts in the United States. The sense of concern became more heightened after officials confirmed what is believed to be the first documented case of community transmission, in Solano County.
Newsom also said 33 people in California have tested positive for the virus, although five of them left the state. The total of 33 is dramatically different from what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported.
While more than 800 people have flown into the state via government-sanctioned evacuations following the outbreak in China, thousands of other passengers landed in California through traditional travel.
Officials also have told several school districts to prepare for potential outbreaks.
Newsom said the state has 200 testing kits on-hand and will be receiving more in the coming days. The current stock is “simply inadequate to do justice to the kind of testing that is required”, he said.
“We’ll get the kits any day now. We have a robust tracking system,” said California Health and Human Services Agency Director Dr. Mark Ghaly.
Facebook cancels its annual conference f8
Facebook is canceling F8, its annual conference for developers, because of the new coronavirus.
The conference was scheduled to take place in early May in the San Francisco Bay area. Last year’s event was attended by more than 5,000 people from around the world.
Facebook says it is planning other ways for its developer community to get together, including live streams, locally hosted events and videos. In an statement facebook said,
“In light of the growing concerns around COVID-19, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person component of F8 this year, in order to prioritize the health and safety of our developer partners, employees and everyone who helps put F8 on. We plan to replace the in-person F8 event with locally hosted events, videos and live-streamed content.”
F8 isn’t the first major tech event to be canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak: Mobile World Congress was canceled earlier in February due to similar concerns over the virus. Meanwhile, GDC 2020 has seen multiple major companies and developers pull out due to related fears, including Unity, Sony, Electronic Arts, Facebook, Kojima Productions, and Microsoft’s Game Stack team, although the conference itself is still planned to take place next month.