The mounting effort in the US to contain the new coronavirus and financial fallout intensified on a grueling day: communities canceled public events nationwide, universities moved to cancel in-person classes, and families grappled with the impact of disruptions to public schools. The number of confirmed cases of the infection topped 1,000 in the U.S. and the World Health Organization declared the global crisis is now a pandemic. As government officials warned that the outbreak in the U.S. will only get worse, the Capitol was set to halt public tours of the building as the shifting developments raised questions, urgency and a new level of unease. “I can say we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said in testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He said the virus is “10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.”-AP

Source: The Standard March 12, 2020 00:33 UTC