SACRAMENTO (Diya TV) — With the Coronavirus now afflicting more than 250,000 people and killing 11,000 globally, health workers on the frontlines are increasingly putting their own lives at risk to help stop the spread of the virus. Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in a COVID-19 seminar on Diya TV said his own father and sister are treating patients without enough protective equipment, and they aren’t the only ones. Now there’s an urgent plea from first responders for folks with extra masks, goggles and other medical equipment to donate them to their local hospitals to better protect doctors and patients.
A member of Vice President Mike Pence’s team is the first known staffer in the White House to contract COVID-19.
President Donald Trump declared a major disaster in the State of New York and ordered federal assistance be given. And New York City is closing all non-essential businesses starting Sunday. The Big Apple accounts for almost a third of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases.
Ravi Kapur contributed to this report.
