- And our health reporter, Lorie Johnson,

has been closely followingthe coronavirus for weeks.

She is here with us now for more.

So Lorie, there is a newcase out of California,

and a lot of people aretalking about that right now.

What's different about that case?

- This is a patient withconfirmed coronavirus

in the Sacramento area,and the CDC believes

that this is the firstcase in the United States

of what they're callingcommunity transmission.

So this is a person whohad not been to China,

and had not been in contact with anyone

who was in China, and apparentlyhadn't been in contact

with anyone who had the virus.

Of course officials aredoing what they call

contact tracing for allcoronavirus patients,

where they go back andkind of interview people

that this patient has come in contact with

and they may find thesource, but at this point

it's an unknown source.

This patient is in the hospital right now

at University of CaliforniaDavis in Sacramento,

and all the healthcareworkers are also being tested

for the coronavirus at this point.

- Okay, and overall, scope-wise,

what have we seen happen withthe coronavirus this week?

How quickly is it spreading?

- Well, it's very interesting.

The number of cases in China

is really dropping off.

We have seen a steadydecline in new cases.

The new low now, accordingto Chinese officials,

is about 400 new cases.

That compares to 2000 new cases

about this time last month.

They say that it peakedabout this time last month.

Starbucks is now opening itscoffee shops that it closed.

85% of the ones that itclosed are now opening again

because this appears tobe dissipating in China.

Meanwhile, more newcases outside of China.

For example, in South Korea alone,

more than 500 new cases.

Right now we're looking at 4000 new cases

outside of China and 61 deaths.

That's a death rate of about 1.5 to 1.6%

which is lower than the death rate

in China that we saw of 2%.

- Now who in the U.S. needs to be thinking

about preparing, just onan individual family basis,

for this potentially spreading

at a greater rate in the U.S.?

- Well, the good news aboutthis, if you can find it,

is that this does not seemto be attacking children.

Health officials have looked at reports

from the first 72,000 coronavirus patients

and zero children under theage of nine died from it.

Very few children under theage of 20 even contracted it.

Most of the people who get it are over 50.

Most of the people whodie from it are over 70.

About 80% of the peoplewho contract this virus

do not have very aggressivesymptoms, mild symptoms,

so mild that they don'tneed to be hospitalized.

So we're really looking at older folks

with pre-existing conditions,

co-morbidities if you will,people who already have

heart issues or lung issues.

This is a respiratory situation,

so symptoms include difficulty breathing

and coughing, and fever.

- Okay, so that is veryhelpful information

for everyone as we planand think about this.

Lorie Johnson, thanks for your time.