2 die in Florida after testing positive for coronavirus

MIAMI — Florida health officials said late Friday that two people who tested positive for the new coronavirus have died in the state.

The Florida Department of Health said the two people who died were in their 70s and had traveled overseas.

One of them was a man with underlying health issues in Santa Rosa County, in Florida’s Panhandle, according to the statement. It added that the second death was that of an elderly person in Lee County, in the Fort Myers area.

The statement did not give immediate indications of where the two had traveled.

As of Friday, Florida authorities said seven people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19.

One of the new cases was only confirmed after the person had died, according to the statement. The other two cases that were confirmed to have tested positive on Friday were a 65-year-old man and a 75-year-old man, both in Broward County, home to Fort Lauderdale. The state’s health department said both men have been isolated until public health officials clear them.

Officials had previously announced five Florida residents who had been traveling in China have also been quarantined elsewhere after testing positive for the virus.

Officials continued to say on Friday that the risk to those in the state remains low as most cases have concentrated in Washington state and California, where a cruise ship is being held off the coast after a passenger on a previous trip died and others became infected.

Pence: 21 on cruise ship off California test positive for virus

Twenty-one people aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast tested positive for the new coronavirus, including 19 crew members, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday, amid evidence the vessel was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of at least 10 cases during its previous voyage.

Three Las Vegas family members are among the thousands onboard.

Federal officials have been working with the state and “we have developed a plan to bring the ship to a non-commercial port,” Pence said. “All passengers and crew will be tested for the virus. Those that will need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those who will require medical help will receive it.”

Princess Cruises said 45 of the more than 3,500 people on board were tested in the first round. A military helicopter crew lowered test kits onto the 951-foot (290-meter) Grand Princess by rope Thursday and later retrieved them for analysis as the vessel waited off San Francisco, under orders to keep its distance from shore.

Health officials trying to establish whether the virus is circulating on the Grand Princess undertook the testing after reporting that a passenger on a previous voyage of the ship, in February, died of the disease.

In the past few days, health authorities disclosed that at least nine other people who were on the same journey were also found to be infected. And some passengers on that trip stayed aboard for the current voyage.

“The ship will not come on shore until we appropriately assess the passengers,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.

Markets take a beating despite good jobs report

NEW YORK — Stocks kept falling Friday, and bond yields took more breathtaking drops as a brutal, dizzying couple weeks of trading showed no sign of letting up.

Even a better-than-expected report on U.S. jobs wasn’t enough to pull markets from the undertow. It’s usually the most anticipated piece of economic data each month, but investors looked past February’s solid hiring numbers because they came from before the new coronavirus was spreading quickly across the country.

Fear coursed across borders and across markets. The lowlight was another plunge in Treasury yields to more record lows. The 10-year Treasury yield falls when investors are worried about a weaker economy and inflation ahead, and it fell below 0.70% during the morning. Earlier this week, it had never in history been below 1%. It was at 1.90% at the start of the year, before the virus fears took hold.

“The bond market says the monster under the bed is much bigger and scarier than anyone expects right now,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial.

U.S. stock indexes slumped more than 2% in midday trading, following 3% losses for Europe and 2% losses for Asia. Crude oil lost nearly 8% on worries that producers won’t cut supplies enough to match the falling demand from an economy weakened by the virus. A measure of fear in the U.S. stock market surged 17%.

Fear of the unknown

At the heart of the drops is the fear of the unknown. The virus usually causes only mild to moderate symptoms. But because it’s new, health experts aren’t sure how far it will spread and how much damage it will ultimately do, both to health and to the economy.

The number of infections has topped 100,000 worldwide, and businesses are already reporting hits to their earnings. Apple has said manufacturing slowdowns in China is hurting its sales, and United Airlines is cutting flights in the face of weaker demand. An airline industry group says the outbreak could erase as much as $113 billion in revenue.

Not knowing how bad the viral outbreak will ultimately get, some investors are reacting by simply selling. Many analysts and professional investors say they expect the market’s sharp swings to continue as long as the number of new cases accelerates.

The S&P 500 was down 2.6%, as of 8:50 a.m. Pacific time. It has been a remarkably turbulent week, and the index is close to flat for the week even after two straight days of big losses. It started off with a 4.6% jump on Monday, then fell 2.8%, rose 4.2% and fell 3.4%.

“At this point no one can really explain why the markets behave the way they do, and what may be next,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. The only thing we can say is this high volatility is bad,”.

If Friday’s moves hold, this will be the first time the S&P 500 has swung more than 2% in either direction over five straight days since December 2008. That was during the depths of the financial crisis, when investors worried that the world’s financial system may melt down.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 552 points, or 2.1%, to 25,568. It had been down as many as 894 earlier. The Nasdaq fell 2.7%.

S&P 500 off 13% in 2 weeks

The S&P 500 had set a record high just two weeks ago, on Feb. 19. It’s lost nearly 13% since then.

Given all the uncertainty around what’s ultimately a health scare, analysts say it’s difficult to find a single sell-off from the past that can provide a good perspective on what may happen next. One thing for certain is that many investors saw the stock market as expensive heading into this downturn. They said corporate profits would need to jump in 2020, as many analysts had expected to justify the prices, but the virus has now put that under threat.

The bond market sounded the alarm on the potential economic effects of the virus long before the stock market, and yields fell further Friday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to to 0.74% from 0.92% late Thursday. The 30-year yield fell to 1.31% from 1.57%.

The two-year Treasury yield, which moves on expectations for moves by the Federal Reserve, fell to 0.46% from 0.62% as traders built up bets that the Fed will cut rates deeper to cushion the economic blow from the virus.

The Fed surprised the market earlier this week with a half-percentage point cut, its steepest move since 2008 and also the first move between regularly scheduled meetings since then. Investors expect other central banks around the world to follow suit in hopes of supporting markets.

At the same time, doubts are high about how much effect lower rates can have. Cheaper loans may encourage some people buy cars, homes or make other big purchases, but they can’t get workers back into factories if they’re out on quarantine.

Cases top 100,000

As of 11 a.m. Pacific time Friday, there were 101,587 worldwide cases with 3,460 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins CSSE website. The United States had 245 cases and 14 deaths.

The first two cases in Nevada were confirmed Thursday, one in Las Vegas and one in Washoe County.

As the number of people worldwide infected with the new coronavirus surpasses 100,000, there is a sense of déjà vu across the West. The spreading outbreak brought scenes of disruption like the ones that played out in Asia: runs on household basics, canceled public events and a cruise ship ordered to stay at sea over virus fears. The potential for the epidemic to deepen poverty in Africa and the Middle East as the epidemic takes an economic toll is another concern.

The new virus has spread to about 90 countries. The Netherlands reported its first virus death Friday while Serbia, Slovakia, Peru and Cameroon announced their first infections.

The new coronavirus is known to affect the elderly more than other groups.

These are some of the latest developments Friday:

Economic toll grows

The virus’ economic toll from disruptions such as halted travel, closed businesses and reduced factory orders threatens already struggling communities for months to come. The head of the United Nations’ food agency warned of the potential for “absolute devastation” as virus cases worldwide closes in on 100,000 and the outbreak’s effects ripple through Africa and the Middle East.

Virus breaches Vatican walls

A Vatican spokesman confirmed the first case of coronavirus at the city-state that is home to the pope. Spokesman Matteo Bruni said non-emergency medical services at the Vatican have been closed for sanitizing. More details on the identity of the person testing positive were not made available. Pope Francis has been recovering from a cold all week and the Vatican has said he doesn’t have another pathology.

Toyko Olympics hold test event — minus fans, top athletes

Despite the spreading virus, Tokyo Olympic organizers have finally held a test event.

The recent outbreak of the coronavirus has forced them to rearrange or postpone several. But they allowed a sport climbing event on Friday to go ahead, with a few restrictions: no fans and no top athletes. Instead they used amateurs to test the climbing facility.

Almost all sports events and large gatherings have been shut down in Japan.

Preseason baseball is being played without fans, the soccer J-League is suspended until March 18, and a spring sumo event will be contested in an empty arena. Schools are also closed across the country.

The International Olympic Committee and local organizers say the Olympics will open as scheduled on July 24. The Paralympics are set for Aug. 25.

Virologists, however, say it’s impossible to tell if the spreading virus will allow that to happen, and a cancellation or a postponement are possible.

Twelve deaths in Japan have been attributed to the virus.