March 3 coronavirus news

Our live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak has moved here.

Amazon is informing employees that one of its Seattle-based workers has been diagnosed with coronavirus. 

According to a mass email for all staff members in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington, the employee infected with the novel coronavirus first became ill on February 25 and has not been back to work since that time. 

The company said it has directly notified all coworkers who had been in close contact with the patient. The worker was based at the downtown office building the company refers to as Amazon Brazil, according to the email.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the email to CNN, adding, “We’re supporting the affected employee.” 

It was not immediately clear whether the case was included in Washington state’s count of coronavirus patients in King County, which stood at 21 on Monday.

New Zealand has reported a second case of the novel coronavirus, the country's Ministry of Health said in a statement on Wednesday, local time.

The patient is a New Zealand citizen in her 30s who recently returned to Auckland from northern Italy, the statement said. She does not require hospital level care and is currently under self-isolation at home.

The country's first case — which was confirmed last month — is a New Zealand citizen who traveled to Iran and returned to New Zealand via Bali.

There are seven new cases of novel coronavirus confirmed in Malaysia, bringing the country's total to 36, Noor Hisham Abdullah, the director general of Health Malaysia, announced on Twitter Tuesday.

The director general said all the new cases are close contacts of a patient who previously contracted the virus and they are currently in a stable condition.

A senior administration official acknowledged that the Trump administration is feeling a major sense of urgency to distribute testing kits for the coronavirus amid bipartisan criticism that the kits are being deployed too slowly.

The official conceded that the question from health professionals nationwide, and from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, is: “Why can’t the feds give us tests?”

This official went on to note that roughly one million kits are expected to be distributed throughout the country in the coming days. The official emphasized that the administration is eager for the kits to be deployed in order to obtain the data needed to assess just how widespread the outbreak is becoming, something that cannot be clearly determined at the moment.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that most events of the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, will be held without spectators this weekend based on guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on preventing the spread of coronavirus. 

The Arnold Sports Festival is an annual multi-sport festival held in Columbus that includes the Arnold Classic, a bodybuilding competition named for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Schwarzenegger called the decision a "very sad moment for us, for my partners Jim Lorimer and Bob Lorimer, because we have been doing this now since 1976 when we held the first Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe competition in Columbus, Ohio, and ever since we have been doing this without any interruption whatsoever.” 

The former California governor added, “Let me be very clear that we have the biggest and the best health and fitness festival in the world, but we would never choose making money over people’s health.”

The British Columbia Ministry of Health announced three additional confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Canadian province this evening.

This brings British Columbia's coronavirus total to 12, according to Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer.

According to Henry, the new cases include...

The three individuals did not require hospitalization and are recovering in their homes, according to Henry.

By the numbers: These new cases bring Canada’s total number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases to 33, including 20 in Ontario, 12 in British Columbia and one in Quebec.

Vice President Mike Pence pledged that upcoming briefings on coronavirus would be on camera, following a Tuesday evening on the record briefing led by Pence that the White House press office insisted remain off camera. 

The press office also insisted that reporters not broadcast any sound from the briefing, in which the vice president announced several new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiatives, including a change in policy that now allows any American to receive a coronavirus test, if a doctor deems it necessary. 

When pressed about the briefing being off camera, Pence said it was because President Trump had already made multiple on camera statements today.

"You’re going to see us in here every day answering questions… but the president was at NIH today and the president addressed the country today," Pence said.

He added that “I expect we’ll be back on camera tomorrow.” 

Some context: On two occasions last week, Trump and members of the Coronavirus Task Force briefed reporters on camera from the briefing room.  

Now that coronavirus is spreading in the US, lots of people are going to their doctors, urgent care clinics or emergency rooms to find out whether their coughs, sneezes and fevers mean they have the coronavirus.

But some are worried about the cost of that testing after the Miami Herald wrote a story about a man who went to the hospital with flu-like symptoms and was told he might owe $3,270. (Turns out he actually had the flu, but his limited-coverage insurance policy left him with a $1,400 bill.)

Here's how much it will cost you if you seek care: The coronavirus test itself shouldn’t generate a bill – for now – since the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is picking up the tab. That could change as more labs start running the test.

But the visit and other tests aren’t free. How much you’ll owe depends on several factors, including what insurance you have, where you seek treatment and what tests providers give you. For instance, those who haven’t satisfied their deductibles will likely be on the hook for more of the bill. Going to the emergency room is typically far more pricey than visiting your doctor or an urgent care clinic.

Those feeling sick can call their insurers to learn what the costs they might incur.

State governments and the Trump administration are also looking to relieve the financial burden so Americans don’t hesitate to get checked out — which could worsen the disease’s spread.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday required health insurers in his state to waive any cost sharing associated with testing for coronavirus. And the Trump administration is looking at providing hospitals with funding to care for the uninsured.

Congress is still hashing out a multi-billion supplemental spending bill to respond to the public health emergency.

The final sticking point: Making an eventual vaccine affordable.