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At least 34 people in the United States are infected with the coronavirus spreading from China, federal health officials said on Friday. “This new virus represents a tremendous public health threat,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at a news briefing. But so far there has been no community spread of the infection in the United States, she added; all of the cases have been linked to overseas travel. But so far there has been no community spread of the infection in the United States, she added; all of the cases have been linked to overseas travel. (Grady, 2/21)

U.S. health officials on Friday said they are preparing for the possibility of the spread of the new coronavirus through U.S. communities that would force closures of schools and businesses. The United States has yet to see community spread of the virus that emerged in central China in late December. But health authorities are preparing medical personnel for the risk, Nancy Messonnier, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters on a conference call. (Steenhuysen and Hay, 2/21)

"The day may come when we may need to implement such measures as seen in Asia," Nancy Messonnier, MD, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a press conference, referencing the closing of businesses, schools, and churches in multiple countries where transmission is now occurring within the community. (Stephanie Soucheray, 2/21)

The White House will soon ask Congress for emergency funds to fight the coronavirus outbreak, after weeks of hesitation by the administration to press for additional funding, said four individuals with knowledge of the pending request. However, the amount could be significantly lower than some public health officials have argued is necessary — potentially as little as $1 billion, said two individuals, which could be rapidly exhausted by development of potential vaccines, widespread lab tests and numerous other investments. (Diamond, 2/22)

A group of Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), last week sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney urging the administration to request emergency funds to fight the spread of the virus. “We strongly urge the Administration to transmit an emergency supplemental request that ensures it can and will fully reimburse states for the costs they are incurring as part of this response — including costs associated with the enactment of travel screening and quarantine policies laid out by the Federal government,” the senators said. (Wise, 2/23)

The Trump administration is bracing for a possible coronavirus outbreak in the United States that could sicken thousands — straining the government's public health response and threatening an economic slowdown in the heat of President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. That stark realization has taken hold in high-level White House meetings, during which some administration officials have voiced concerns the coronavirus is already spreading undetected within U.S. borders, two officials told POLITICO. (Diamond and Cancryn, 2/21)

President Trump was infuriated that 14 American citizens who had tested positive for coronavirus were permitted to return this week to the United States, said two senior administration officials. The decision had taken the president, a self-declared “germophobe,” by surprise. Officials at the State Department decided to bring back the citizens, who had been quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, after consulting with a senior official at the Department of Health and Human Services. (Wong and Rogers, 2/22)

The Trump administration has backed off plans to quarantine patients from the Diamond Princess cruise ship stricken with coronavirus at a federal facility in Alabama, the state's governor and a U.S. senator said on Sunday. The news came as worry grew over the spread outside China of the sometimes fatal virus, with a spike in the number of cases found in South Korea, Iran and Italy. Experts were baffled over outbreaks with no clear link to China. (Whitcomb, 2/24)

A court temporarily blocked the U.S. government from sending up to 50 people infected with a new virus from China to a Southern California city for quarantine after local officials argued that the plan lacked details about how the community would be protected from the outbreak. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order late Friday to halt the transportation of anyone who has tested positive for the new coronavirus to Costa Mesa, a city of 110,000 in the heart of Orange County. U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Stanton scheduled a hearing on the issue Monday. (2/22)

The lawsuit’s allegation that as many as 50 people were diagnosed with coronavirus does not match up with the number of confirmed cases reported by the federal government on Friday. It remains unclear whether the lawsuit conflates with actual confirmed cases the people at risk of contracting the infection because they were in environments with greater exposure to the virus. (Abutaleb, 2/22)

Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu might be a landing spot for Americans suspected of being infected with the new strain of coronavirus. Late Sunday night, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that the base could house travelers coming through Los Angeles International Airport. There, doctors would assess whether patients had contracted the COVID-19 virus, which has killed more than 2,600 people — mostly in China. (Oreskes, 2/23)

The scramble to find places to quarantine American coronavirus patients is beginning to run into resistance from local officials who do not want the patients housed in their backyards. The city of Costa Mesa, Calif., has gone to court to block state and federal officials, at least temporarily, from placing dozens of people evacuated from Asia in a state-owned residential center in their community. (Stockman, 2/23)

In the fraught months and years after the 9/11 attacks and the anthrax cases that followed, federal and state health officials began planning for the unthinkable — a disease outbreak that could affect millions and strain health care systems to the limit. Now health officials say that same planning has New Hampshire well-positioned to handle an outbreak of the coronavirus that has sickened tens of thousands of people and killed more than 2,200, the overwhelming majority of them in China. (Wickham, 2/22)

Two cases of coronavirus have been confirmed among evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, raising the total in San Antonio to three, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. (Caruba, 2/21)

As cases of the new coronavirus continue to spread around the world, Michigan health officials confirmed Friday that about 325 people in the state are being monitored for symptoms. Those people are not in a quarantine facility, said Lynn Sutfin, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Rather, they are being asked to self-isolate at home because they are considered at moderate risk or low risk for contracting the virus now named COVID-19. (Shamus, 2/21)

The genetic code of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is only about 30,000 characters long, but what a story it tells. Those nucleotides conceal secrets of the virus’ past, including its origins, its passage among families and its journey to distant ports. They signal how long it has been at large and whether it can hide by infecting people who show no outward signs of illness. And they can point the way to medicines, vaccines and public health strategies that might bring a runaway crisis under control. (Healy, 2/22)

Top health experts from around the world are mobilizing to combat the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 77,000 people worldwide. The global health threat posed by the coronavirus has kicked the world's scientific community into overdrive as it races to develop a life-saving vaccine to fight the epidemic that has killed more than 2,300 people to date. (Cannon, 2/22)

A worsening coronavirus outbreak reportedly could threaten shortages of about 150 prescription drugs, several of them with no alternatives. China’s role in supplying the ingredients used in medications means that decreased Chinese production capability amid the outbreaks could threaten supplies of the drugs, which include antibiotics, generics, and branded drugs, two sources familiar with a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) list of at-risk drugs told Axios. (Budryk, 2/23)

The coronavirus outbreak in China has pulled vital medical resources and personnel away from regular procedures. This is causing complications for people who need treatment for other diseases. (Feng, 2/22)