What the new phase of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. means for you
As U.S. public health officials are working to figure out how a California woman contracted a novel coronavirus that’s spreading widely around the world, experts say the case marks a troubling new phase of the outbreak in the United States. The 50-year-old woman tested positive for the virus on February 26. The case appears to be the first in the United States of what’s known as community spread, meaning the woman had no history of travel to affected areas and was not exposed to someone known to have the COVID-19 illness. Since the start of the outbreak, there have been more than 83,000 cases of the disease in at least 57 countries. A few regions — including Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan — have reported sustained community spread, meaning the virus is circulating among people outside China’s borders, where the outbreak first began. The World Health Organization on February 28 upgraded...