The Wall Street Journal - 11.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Wednesday, March 11, 2020 |A

His lungs would fill with saliva

and nurses would dash in and

clear them out. “The feeling of

choking. That was the worst

part,” he said.

The agony went on for

days. Slowly he began to get

better. “What these people did

for me in that last two weeks,

I’m forever indebted to them,”

he said.

Mr. Thibault said he hopes

to leave the hospital by the

weekend. He is worried some

people don’t realize how seri-

ous it can be and hopes people

are taking the recommended

safety steps. “It almost killed

me,” he said. “It’s alarming

when I hear people minimize

it as a simple cold. It was no

simple cold for me.”

didn’t fit the criteria for the test

because he didn’t really have

the symptoms. He stayed home

from work, but just got worse.

He went to a hospital but was

again told he didn’t meet the

criteria for the test, he said.

Doctors there were concerned,

however, and Mr. Thibault said

he quickly got a call from the

Rhode Island Department of

Health, which told him to get

tested. A health department

spokesman said the agency can’t

comment on specific patients,

but noted that the CDC’s guid-

ance for testing has evolved.

Later that week, Mr. Thiba-

ult was at the Miriam Hospital

and tested positive.

Gagging and coughing, Mr.

Thibault said he felt scared.

unusually sluggish on the flight

back to the U.S. “Something is

wrong,” he told his wife when

he got home on Feb. 22. The

next day he went to a walk-in

clinic. Mr. Thibault has asthma,

but he exercises every day and

said he rarely gets sick.

He said he told the clinic he

had been to Italy and wondered

aloud if he could have the novel

coronavirus. He was told he

of sightseeing in Italy. In that

short period, he began to hear

about Italy cordoning off some

towns, and by the time they de-

parted for the French Riviera he

was relieved to be leaving Italy.

It was apparently too late.

Italy would become one of the

hardest-hit places for the virus.

A self-described germa-

phobe, Mr. Thibault isn’t sure

exactly how he became in-

fected. He said he used hand

sanitizer constantly on the

trip. But the group’s local tour

guide said he felt like he was

coming down with the flu, and

he and Mr. Thibault passed a

microphone back and forth to

talk to the students.

Mr. Thibault had no symp-

toms during the trip, but he felt

that attacked his lungs. “I was

one inch from death,” he said.

Mr. Thibault’s ordeal began

with a school trip from Feb. 14

to 22 that went through Italy.

The married father of two is

the vice principal of student

life at Saint Raphael Academy.

When the group of 38 peo-

ple left the U.S., coronavirus

was in the news but there

“were no cases of community-

spread coronavirus in Italy

and no CDC travel warning in

effect,” the school has said.

When the group landed in Mi-

lan, Mr. Thibault thought it was

strange to see people in hazmat

suits in the airport, but every-

thing seemed calm. The group

headed to the Italian Riviera, and

began what would be two days

Marc Thibault was groggy
and surrounded by beeping
machines, but he was alert
enough to know what it meant
when he looked up and saw a
priest, wearing protective gear,
by his bedside at the Miriam
Hospital in Rhode Island.
“Holy cow,” he thought to
himself. “I’m 48 years old and
I’m getting my last rites.”
Mr. Thibault, one of the
first Americans diagnosed
with the novel coronavirus, re-
counted days of pain and fear
in his first interview Tuesday,
speaking from the intensive-
care unit at the Providence
hospital where he has been for
13 days, fighting the illness

BYJENNIFERLEVITZ

Rhode Island Man Recounts Coming ‘One Inch From Death’

‘Holy cow,’

Marc Thibault

thought. ‘I’m

48 years old

and I’m

getting my

last rites.’

imburse families.

Amherst will pro-rate dorm

fees and dining plans and con-

tinue to pay students who nor-

mally hold on-campus jobs, Dr.

Martin said. The school ex-

pects about 200 to 300 of its

1,800 students to remain on

campus, either because they

live abroad and can’t get

home, or because traveling

home would be a financial

hardship.

There are also questions

about whether students are

safer back at home, if those

destinations are in areas with

major outbreaks.

Barrie Beth Mesner doesn’t

want her twin sons—freshmen

at the University of Maryland

and University of Massachu-

setts Amherst—back home.

Tuesday afternoon, the Uni-

versity System of Maryland

Chancellor urged schools to

prepare for students to remain

off campus for at least two

weeks after the end of spring

break, meaning they won’t go

back until early April, at best.

Ms. Mesner lives in Mama-

roneck, N.Y., just a few miles

from one of the biggest out-

breaks in the nation.

“Coming home is actually

much, much worse. Here, ev-

erywhere we go, we’re afraid

we’re going to catch it,” she

said. Her sons’ grades would

suffer, and they would learn

less, she worried, if they have

to move to remote instruction.

On Friday, the University of

THE CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC

longer periods of change from

the outset. Cornell University

and the Massachusetts Insti-

tute of Technology on Tuesday

asked that students stay home

for the rest of the semester af-

ter spring break, finishing all

classes virtually.

College campuses are dis-

tinctly positioned in the

crosshairs of the fast-spread-

ing virus: People live in close

quarters, gather frequently in

large groups and travel inter-

nationally. Spring break also

hits at a bad time, as it scat-

ters students and raises con-

cerns they might return hav-

ing been exposed to the virus.

“We’re all in uncharted ter-

ritory,” said Amherst College

President Biddy Martin. Her

school decided to move to re-

mote instruction after the

Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention’s language

shifted from containment to

mitigation of the virus. “This

is the time to act. Not wait un-

til we actually have an out-

break on the campus.”

The moves ripple beyond

students, faculty and staff and

could dent local economies in

college towns. Many schools

haven’t built the infrastructure

to teach all courses online, and

if they have, not all faculty are

familiar with the technology.

Some colleges haven’t de-

termined if they will refund

room and board. Harvard said

it is still working on the de-

tails around whether it will re-

Washington and other Seattle-

area universities announced

plans to cancel in-person

classes and finals for the cur-

rent week, but aimed to re-

sume regular operations when

the spring quarter begins on

March 30. Stanford University

said it would use online

courses for the last two weeks

of its term.

Then came notices from Co-

lumbia University, Rice Univer-

sity, Ohio State University, San

Jose State University, and oth-

ers announcing adjustments to

their class plans. Many have

urged students not to come

back to campus after spring

break.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on

Tuesday asked all universities

in the state to move to remote

instruction. Ohio State Univer-

sity is currently on spring

break, and will move classes

online for at least the last

week of March. Students can

return to campus, where so-

cial-distancing measures will

be in place, or remain at

home.

Future students are also af-

fected. The University of Penn-

sylvania, Stanford and other

schools have called off ac-

cepted-student weekends—

usually a prime opportunity to

get applicants to commit to en-

rolling, with festive campus

tours, classroom visits and

overnight dorm stays.

—Jon Kamp

contributed to this article.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Col-

leges across the nation began

taking the unprecedented step

of sending students home for

the rest of the spring semes-

ter, as they struggled to re-

spond to the escalating uncer-

tainties of the coronavirus.

Harvard University on Tues-

day morning told students to

move out of their campus

housing no later than Sunday

and not to return until further

notice. Classes will be taught

remotely. The school, which

has no confirmed cases of the

virus, has a regularly scheduled

spring break next week.

A handful of schools, in-

cluding Vanderbilt University

and the University of Califor-

nia, Berkeley, announced plans

in recent days to shift to re-

mote instruction, and on Tues-

day, Syracuse University, Mid-

dlebury College, Rutgers

University, Indiana University

and Grinnell College also

joined the pack. Many don’t

have diagnosed Covid-19 cases

on campus.

Some institutions have said

they will go online through the

end of the month, then reas-

sess, while others expected

BYMELISSAKORN

Colleges Send Students Packing

Campuses aim to beat

coronavirus with shift

to remote instruction,

at least for a while

Students carried boxes to their dorms at Harvard on Tuesday after

the school asked students not to return after spring break.

BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS

Responses

To Virus

Escalate

Passengers disembarked from the virus-struck Grand Princess cruise ship at the Port of Oakland in California on Tuesday.

More coverage

 Drugmakers race to launch

clinical trials ..................... B

 Open offices spur virus

worries................................ B

 Infections tied to Biogen

meeting grow................... B

JOSH EDELSON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

The disease caused by the
novel coronavirus has turned up
among residents or workers in at
least 11 elder-care facilities in the
Seattle area, and at least three
have reported fatalities among
residents, local health authori-
ties said Tuesday.
The prospect for Covid-
breaking loose in nursing homes
and other elder-care centers is a
major worry around the U.S.
Residents are often vulnerable to
respiratory illnesses because of
their age and underlying health.
Outbreaks can also spread
among employees, keeping them
home and making it harder to
staff facilities.
Such problems have racked
the Life Care Center of Kirkland,
a nursing home east of Seattle
linked to 19 of the 22 deaths in
King County, Wash., through
Monday, according to the local
public-health department. Sev-
eral Life Care patients who died
haven’t had postmortem tests,
according to a spokesman for the
nursing home.
Another nine long-term care
facilities in King County have
also been linked to cases, either
among residents or staff, accord-
ing to Public Health-Seattle &
King County.
The health department didn’t
respond to questions about
whether it knows how the virus
reached these facilities.
In a potential complication
for tracking efforts, Life Care
Center of Kirkland has said the
coronavirus appeared to reach
the facility at least 10 days be-
fore testing finally confirmed
there was a problem there.
Until that confirmation, on
Feb. 29, nursing staff would
sometimes work there while also
working at other nursing homes,
said Tim Killian, a spokesman for
the Life Care home. That
stopped after the virus’s pres-
ence was known, he said.
A man in his 80s who lived at
the Ida Culver House Ravenna
retirement community in Seattle
died Monday, according to the
public-health agency. A day ear-
lier, an 80-year-old woman who
resided at the Issaquah Nursing
& Rehabilitation Center died, the
agency said. Both of these people
had been hospitalized.
The Ida Culver House Ra-
venna said it learned Monday
another resident had tested posi-
tive. They were transferred to a
local hospital. The Issaquah
nursing home said Monday there
were two other patients with
Covid-19 in quarantine on site,
three in quarantine off site and
two staff members with the ill-
ness also in off-site quarantine.
That home is east of Seattle.
To the north, in Snohomish
County, the local health district
said Tuesday that it was investi-
gating three confirmed cases of
Covid-19 linked to the Josephine
Caring Community, a long-term
care facility.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced
Tuesday new rules aimed at pro-
tecting residents in elder-care fa-
cilities. These include limiting
visitors to residents’ rooms and
screening all workers and volun-
teers for the illness at the begin-
ning and end of every shift.

BYJONKAMP

Illness Hits

11 Care

Sites Near

Seattle

United States of America. We

haven’t seen this anywhere

else,” Mr. Cuomo said.

As measures in the U.S.

ramped up, the slowing spread

of the virus in the hardest-hit

countries in Asia bolstered the

case for government-imposed

lockdowns.

President Xi Jinping of

China flew to the central city of

Wuhan for a surprise visit, his

first trip to the center of the

epidemic since the health crisis

erupted. His arrival in the city,

ContinuedfromPageOne

which was locked down about a

month and a half ago, was a

sign that conditions have im-

proved so much that authori-

ties deemed it safe for the

country’s top leader to visit.

South Korea also reported a

drop in new case numbers—

which topped 900 at their

peak—over the past week.

Meanwhile, in Italy, the na-

tion with the highest number

of cases outside of China, resi-

dents woke up Tuesday under

an unprecedented nationwide

quarantine and began working

out what they can and can’t do.

U.S. airlines outlined plans

to cut more flights in domestic

and international markets,

park planes and freeze hiring,

as businesses stop employee

travel and people put off vaca-

tions as the virus spreads.

Google advised all employees

in North America to work re-

motely for the rest of March.

Democratic presidential

nominees Bernie Sanders and

Joe Biden canceled rallies in

Cleveland, ahead of Ohio’s pri-

mary next week, citing con-

cerns about the coronavirus.

Earlier Tuesday, Ohio’s secre-

tary of state ordered counties

to move polling stations lo-

cated at long-term care facili-

ties and encouraged residents

to vote with mail-in ballots.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine

called for sporting events in

his state to bar spectators, set-

ting up a potential conflict

with college and professional

leagues that have big events

scheduled this month. None of

them immediately responded

to the governor’s request, one

of the farthest-reaching by a

local official in the nation.

Harvard University told stu-

dents Tuesday morning they

had until Sunday to move out

of their campus housing, while

the University System of Mary-

land asked students to stay off

campus for at least two weeks

after their spring breaks.

In Washington state, one of

the hardest-hit areas, local

health officials reported 74

cases of the coronavirus in

King County, where the Life

Care Center nursing facility

has been at the center of the

state’s deadly outbreak. Public-

health officials said residents,

employees, or both, at 10 long-

term care facilities in the

county tested positive for the

virus—signaling its spread

among vulnerable populations.

Gov. Jay Inslee issued new

rules protecting nursing homes

in the state, requiring visitors

and employees to be screened

upon arrival and ordering any

residents who test positive for

the virus to be isolated, among

other measures. He also said

the state is considering manda-

tory social distancing measures.

King County reported two

more deaths Tuesday, while

New Jersey announced the

state’s first fatality.

At least 14 U.S. states have

declared states of emergency as

local officials encourage more

vulnerable populations—like

those over age 60 or with un-

derlying medical conditions—to

stay home and avoid large

crowds. Case numbers grew

across the U.S., with 267 total

confirmed cases in Washington

and 173 total in New York.

Globally, the total number of

confirmed coronavirus cases

across 115 countries and re-

gions climbed to 119,086, ac-

cording to Johns Hopkins data

More than 4,250 people have

been killed by the disease.