AP/Journal Gazette: U.S. readies as virus from China spreading
“…U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Saturday approved a request from the Department of Health and Human Services for the possible use of military facilities to accommodate 1,000 people who may have to be quarantined upon arrival from overseas due to a new virus. … An order signed Friday by President Donald Trump temporarily bars entry to foreign nationals who have traveled to China within the last 14 days, with the exception of immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Americans returning from China will be allowed into the country but will face screening at select ports of entry and be required to undertake 14 days of self-screening to ensure they don’t pose a health risk. Those returning from Hubei province will be subject to up to 14 days of mandatory quarantine…” (2/2).

POLITICO: White House seeks to calm U.S. fears over Wuhan coronavirus
“White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien on Sunday sought to quell fears over the Wuhan coronavirus, saying the outbreak poses ‘low risk’ now in the United States. ‘Right now there’s no reason for Americans to panic. This is something that is a low risk, we think in the U.S,’ O’Brien said on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’…” (Cammarata, 2/2).

Reuters: Trump says U.S. has ‘shut down’ coronavirus threat; China shuns U.S. help
“The United States has taken decisive action to protect Americans from the threat of a fast-moving coronavirus while offering help to China, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, but a key adviser said Beijing had not accepted the offers of assistance. Trump appeared to downplay concerns about the impact in the United States of the flu-like virus that has killed 350 people in China and spread to more than two dozen countries, telling Fox television in an interview, ‘We’re gonna see what happens, but we did shut it down, yes’…” (Chiacu et al., 2/2).

STAT: To fight coronavirus spread, the U.S. may expand ‘social distancing’ measures. But it comes at a cost
“Canceling large public gatherings. Asking students to stay home from school. Closing down borders. Many places around the world have already implemented such drastic steps in response to the new coronavirus outbreak that originated in China and has spread to at least 27 territories outside mainland China. If the U.S., which has 11 cases so far, begins to see sustained human-to-human transmission, health officials may also have to rapidly step up their own use of ‘social distancing’ measures to prevent further spread…” (Chakradhar, 2/3).

Washington Post: White House advisers study potential economic fallout from coronavirus as global response intensifies
“White House economic advisers are studying the potential impact that the coronavirus scare could have on the U.S. economy, according to two people familiar with the internal review, as federal officials enact unprecedented travel restrictions amid the disease’s spread in China. The White House National Economic Council and the Council of Economic Advisers are jointly assessing both the potential short-term and long-term effects of the coronavirus, these officials said, with fears mounting over the virus’s spread into the United States…” (Stein, 2/2).

Additional coverage of the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus outbreak is available from AP, Fox News, The Hill (2), Military.com, New York Times, Reuters (2), and STAT.