Growing threat seen as toll rises to 9 in US

WASHINGTON－Three more deaths in the state of Washington were linked to the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the total fatalities in the United States to nine as health officials warned that the country is on the brink of a larger outbreak that may reflect its spread in other countries.

The number of infections in the US overall climbed past 118 as of Wednesday, scattered across at least 15 states, with 27 cases in Washington alone.

"What is happening now in the United States may be the beginning of what is happening abroad," said Nancy Messonnier of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noting that in China, where the outbreak began more than two months ago, older and sicker people are about twice as likely to become seriously ill as those who are younger and healthier.

A nursing home outbreak apparently seeded the first case in North Carolina, authorities said. A Wake County resident who had visited the Washington state nursing home tested positive but is in isolation at home and is doing well, according to the North Carolina governor's office.

In suburban Seattle, 27 firefighters and paramedics who responded to calls at the nursing home were tested for the virus on Tuesday using a drive-thru system set up in a hospital parking area.

Thirty-year-old firefighter Kevin Grimstad took care of two patients on Jan 29 at Life Care Center in Kirkland. He is among 10 from the Kirkland Fire Department who developed symptoms after calls to the nursing facility.

"It's crazy. A couple of weeks ago, it seemed like a foreign thing and now we're getting tested," Grimstad said. "If I was exposed a month ago, the problem is more widespread than we know."

In the nation's capital, officials moved on a number of fronts.

The White House is considering paying hospitals to treat uninsured novel coronavirus patients as 27 million US citizens are without healthcare, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The government is considering using a national disaster program to pay hospitals and doctors for treating uninsured patients, the newspaper said. The reimbursement program would pay providers 110 percent of Medicare for treating patients.

Also, the Food and Drug and Administration sought to ease a shortage of face masks by giving healthcare workers the OK to use an industrial type of respirator mask designed to protect construction crews from dust and debris.

While some lawmakers expressed skepticism about US health officials' claims that testing for the virus should be widely available, authorities have said labs across the country should have the capacity to run as many as 1 million tests by the end of the week.

But some people who want to be tested for the virus in Washington state are encountering confusion, a lack of testing options and other problems as health authorities scramble to deal with the crisis, The Associated Press reported.

Ai Heping in New York and Agencies contributed to this story.