U.S. ramps up COVID-19 response

The California National Guard dropped coronavirus test kits from helicopters to a cruise ship anchored off San Francisco on Thursday. Officials are testing only 45 people, but all 3,500 crew and passengers have to stay aboard the Grand Princess for now after one traveler from a previous voyage died of COVID-19 and at least four others became infected.

Where is the outbreak spreading? The United States has more than 200 cases of the disease caused by the new coronavirus in 18 states. Colorado and Nevada reported their first cases on Thursday, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency after three people there tested positive. The U.S. death toll climbed to 12. All but one has occurred in Washington state, where nine of the deceased were residents of the Life Care Center of Kirkland nursing facility near Seattle. President Donald Trump on Friday signed an $8.3 billion package to fight COVID-19 after it passed in the Senate 96-1 on Thursday. The number of infected people around the world climbed toward 100,000 on Friday.

Dig deeper: Read my report in Compassion about how coronavirus could affect prison inmates.