“While we have had no cases yet, it is likely we will see some and we are ready,” Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a video released this week. As of Friday, 18 people between the ages of 3 and 58 had been tested for the virus in California, according to the state Department of Public Health. In China, the pneumonia-like illnesses from the newly identified coronavirus first appeared last month in Wuhan, an industrial and transportation hub in central China’s Hubei province. Though the coronavirus hasn’t yet arrived in California, it’s affected the region’s travel agencies at a time when they typically do a brisk business. “Right now, I ... think even if the tickets were free of charge, no one would take it,” he said.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 25, 2020 22:06 UTC