Concerns. Pres. Trump because of all we have done, the risk to the American People remains very low. We have the greatest experts in the world really come in the world right here. We are ready to adapt and we are ready to do whatever we have to as the disease spreads, if it spreads. Amy as trump spokeke up it was reported a person was diagnosed with the coronavirus in california, who had not traveled to any of the affected regions of the world nor had known contact with anyone who did. It is called community spread. We will speak with Pulitzer Prize winning Science WriterLaurie Garrett who says trump has sabotaged americas coronavirus response. We will also talk to science investigative journalist sonia shah about the connection between coronavirus and climate change. Her book pandemic tracking contagion from cholera to ebola and beyond. Then as trump leaves india, the death toll from antimuslim violence in new delhi has risen to at least 34. 20 to 25 people started beating me. The rest were standing by as if they were watching a show. There were thousands behind them. They kept hitting me. No one came forward to save me. Somehow, some people came from the other side. I was unconscious. I did not have much consciousness. My clothing was drenched in blood. Amy we will go to new delhi for the latest. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. U. S. Health officials said wednesday they have identified the first case of a Coronavirus Infection by a person who had not travel to any of the affected regions of the world nor had known contact with anyone else who did. The case in Northern California came as governments worldwide took increasingly severe measures to stop the transmsmission of the virus, whh causes respiratory trouble and is sometimes fatal. In saudidi arabia, officicials e bebeen muslim pilgrims fromm enentering the country to visit the holy cities of mecca and medina. In south k korea, the number of coronavirus cases has passed 1700, making it the largest outbreak outside of china. The u. S. And south korea wednesday called off joint military exercises indefinitely. Meanwhile, japan says the 2020 summer olylympics are still scheduduled to take place in the capital tokyo. In the u. S. , President Trump has sought repeatedly to dismiss the threat of the virus, tweeting on wednesday morning low ratings fake news msdnc cnn are doing Everything Possible to make the caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent do nothing democrat comrades are all talk, no action. Usa in great shape President Trump tweeted, misspelling the word coronavirus. Trumps comments prompted alarm among covers numbers, but democrat and republican. This is joe kennedy of massachusetts questioning health and Human Services secretary alec cesar on wednesday alec cesar on wednesday. I dont want to panic over this, either. The stock market is crashing. He is outright contradicting everything that you all have just said. Clubs at think he expressing confidence with no medical basis. That is what you just explained to us. He is expressing he is expressing that the American People need to take a breath here, that there is no change to anyones daily life from this, that the country has a plan. We have pandemic plans. Amy later on wednesday, President Trump held a News Conference at the white house saying he has cap Vice President mike pencece to coordinate fedel response to the coronavirus. Kids is not a Public Health expert and as governor of indiana, slashed Public Health spending and widely blamed for an outbreak of hiv in his home state. Meanwhile, the centers for Disease Control and prevention in atlanta is warning the true number of u. S. Coronavirus cases might be higher than reported because test kit sent out nationwide earlier this month includeded a faulty component. After the headlines, we will spend the rest of the hour discussing the growing threat of the coronavirus. Wisconsin, gunmen opened fire inside a sprawling brbrewery wednesday, killing fie people before taking his own life. The shooter was i identified asa 51yearold m man who worked att the factory y complex. X. Police have not yet identififiea motive in ththe killing. In immigration news, and report by physicians for human rights finds the trump administrations separation of families at the u. S. Mexico border is tantamount to torture. The report studied 17 adults and nine children separated for about two months under trumps socalled zero tolerance policy, finding people experienced shock, terror, and grief constituting cruel, unusual, and degrading treatment. The report warns of longlasting effects of family separations with people put at higher risk of anxiety, depression, psycycsis, and addiction, alalog with hheher rates of chrhronic medical conditions like cardrdiovascular disease and premature death. In arizona, federal prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor charge wednesday against humanitarian aid volunteer scott warren, one day before he was to be sentenced for driving on protected lands to drop water, food, and other aid to migrants crossing the sonoran desert. The single misdemeanor count was the last charge faced by scott warren, who at one point faced up to 20 years in federal prison for felony charges of harboring migrants after he provided food, water, and shelter to a pair of men who barely survived their journey into the u. S. After a first trial ended in a hung jury, scott warren was acquitted of felony charges in a second trial. To see our full coverage of the warren case, including our trip with him on a water drop in the sononoran desert last summe, go to democracynow. Org. The house of representatives voted 410 to 4 thursday to make lynching a federal hate crime. The emmett till antilynching act was named for the 14yearold africanamerican boy whose killing 65 years ago remains one of the most horrific examples of racial terror in the jim crow south. If signed into law by President Trump, the bill will finally end what proponents say have been 200 failed attempts to pass similar legislation in the past. This is california democrat, africanamerican congresswoman karen bass, who cosponsored the antilynching bill. Noted, theditorial elatioion of the audience witnessing a lynching as follows girls giggled as the fly spat on the blood that dripped from the negros nose. Public spectacles. As i said, their advertised in newspapers and postcards were sold. Souvenirs were made from victims remains. Amy federal officials said wednesday theyve arrested five members s of a farright White Nationalist group who were conspiring to threaten and intimidate journalists and activists around the United States. U. S. Prosecutors say members of the neonazi group atomwaffen threatened black and jewish journalists in arizona and the seattle area, while others harassed and threatened an unnamed reporter from propublica. That reporter is likely journalist a. C. Thompson, whos written extensively about atomwaffen and one of its leaders, john cameron denton, who was among those arrested on wednesday. In media news, abc has suspended veteran correspondent david wright after a farright activist published secretly recorded video in which he complains about President Trump and corporate control of the mass media. In the sevenminute, highlyedited video posted online by the Group Project vetatas, wght t isverheard callg himsela socialt who favors nioional althth iurancece and statg g therare e tomany billionair a and t bigig a wealth gap. Wright goes on to say the ommercial imperaveve is incoatatibleith h ne, andnd blas a abcs s pant compa disney for croppromong i its entertainmenbrbrandsn shows like good morning americaca. Projecveveritais a a rhtwinin group atat oft sets upting operatnsns tarting joualists d planneparenthond acvists byecordingovert videos andeleasingeceptive edit footage the groups founr, james okeefe,as convied on a sdemeanocharge aer he tempted wiretaphe phone of theu. S. Senor mary landeu in 20. Inesponse its latt sting operatn, mediaritic da oomkin cled projt verita wi some, b said in this case the group had done the u. S. A favor. Froomkin wrote the groups sneaky surveillance has uncovered someone speaking profound truths about how commercial pressures have skewed corporate medias politicalnews values not toward making things up, but toward turning it all into shallow, valueneutral entertainment. In s saudi arabia,a, u. S. Marins he joioint mitary y exercises wednesday wiwith their sauaudi coununterparts on the kingng abdulaziz z nala b base. The woworkings were e widely ses a warnining to iran. The joint exercises came as Houthi Rebels in northern yemen launched a new offenensive followowing the rececent increan the n number of u. S. S. Backed sasaudiled coalalition airstrts in yemenen, more than n people e 100,000 died and far more e have been displacaced since sauaudi arab begegan its warar on yemenn 2015 with the support of the obama administration. In philadelphia, seven jewish activists were arrested tuesday outside joe bidens campaign headquarters, calling on the president ial contender to skip the annual conference of aipac, the American Israel Public Affairs committee. Members of the progressive Jewish Organization if not now are demandining biden reverse decades of support for israels occupation of the west bank and gaza first, as head of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee and later as Vice President. The protest came as the president ial campaigns of Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg said they would not attend this years aipac Conference Following similar moves by Senators Elizabeth Warren and bernie sanders. In a statement, if not now cofounder Dani Moscovitch wrote even moderates in the Democratic Party are now refusing to attend a conference by a rightwing lobby that allies with bigots just to shield the Israeli Government from any consequences for denying the Palestinian People freedom and dignity. Billionaire former new york city mayor and democratic president ial hopeful Michael Bloomberg is scheduled to attend the aipac conference in march as a a keynote speakeker. In puerto rico, a transgender activist was shot and killed early monday morning just hours after Someone Called Police to complain that shed used a public restroom at a mcdonalds. Disturbing video posted to social media appears to show the final moment of neulisa luciano ruizs life as her attackerers followed her in a car before opening fire with at least 10 gunshots. Local police say they suspect four teenagers were involved in the murder. Ruiz was at least the second trans or gender nonconforming person murdered in the u. S. In 2020. In c cmate news,s, the trurump administration has abruptly halted a project to protect the new york city region from flooding due to rising seas and extreme weather just weeks after President Trump mocked plans to build a sea wall to protect the city as costly, foolish environmentally unfriendly. The move ends a 19 million project by the army corps of engineers to research what steps would best protect residents of coastal new york and new jersey, along with lowlying areas of nenew york harbor. And on capitol hill, new york congressmember alexandria ocasiocortez read the entirety of the Green New Deal into the congressional record wednesday, one year after she first intrtroduced t the histoc legislatioion. Realizeze that many of my colleagueses have never eveven d the r resolutioion that they are speaking on. They have not openened a singlee word of it. And d it is actually only about i have iright in front of me just 14 pages long. So i have decided that since my colleagues some of my colleagues across the aisle could not, for some reason, read the resolution, that perhapsps this our would be spent just reading it to them. Amy the Green New Deal seeks to bring the u. S. To netzero Greenhouse Gas emissions in 10 years, while investing in Public Transit and federal jobs, fully transitioning the u. S. Electricity grid off fossil fuels, and codifying Indigenous Peoples rights to prior consent and approval for decisions that affect them. And thosose are some of the headlines this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. The coronavirus disease that was first diagnosed in chinas Hubei Province has now spread to at least 47 countries and every continent except antarctica. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak an International Health emergency. Nearly 3000 people have died so far r and more than 81,000 p pee have now been infected witith te virus that causes the respiratory disease cocovid19. To contain the spread of the coronavirus in japan, where the number of cases has reached 200, today Prime Minister shinzo abe called for schools to be closed. Elementary, all middle, and high schools and special needs schooools to be temporarily closed from march 2 until spring vacation. Amy y meanwhile, japan says the 2020 summer olympics are still scheduled to take place in the capital tokyo. In south korea, the number of coronavirus s cases has passed 1700, making it the largest outbreakak outside of china. At least one u. S. Soldier stationed at a base in the area has tested positive for the virus, and the u. S. And south korea have called off joint military e exercises. This comes as the government of iran says at least 245 people hahave been infectcted and 26 he died, but t experts say ththe tl is likely much higher. Meanwhile, officials in kuwait reported 43 new cacases and saui arabia has t taken the unprecedented step of barring muslim pilgrims from entering the country to visit the holy cities of mecca and medina. Here in the United States, President Trumpmp downplayeyed e threatat from coronavirus andd anannounced Vice President mike pence would be his point person to coordinate government efforts to prevent a widespread outbreak. Pres. Trump because of all we have done, the risk to the American People remains very low. We have the greatest fates really in the world experts really in the world right here. We are ready to adapt and do whatever we have to as the disease spreads if it spreads. Amy as trump spoke, a new milestone in the coronavirus outbreak was reported. In a possible example of community spread. A person was diagnosed with the virus in Northern California had not traveled to any of the affected regions of the world, nor had known contact with ananyone else who did. Officials say they dont know how the person was exposed and have begun tracing the persons contacts in order to determine how they got. On wednesday morning, trump tweeted low ratings fake news msdnc comcast and cnn are doing Everything Possible to make the caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent do nothing democrat comrades are all talk, no action. Usa in great shape President Trump tweeted, misspelling the word coronavirus. This is democratic Congressmember Joe Kennedy of massachusetts questioning health and Human Services secretary alex azar on wednesday. Mr. Secretary, i dont want to panic over this, either. The stock market is crashing. He is trying to stop shes outright contradicting everything you all ive just said. Outright contradiction. I think he is expressing confidence it. Ith no basis to come on. He is expressing that the American People need to take a breath here, that there is no change to anyones daily life from this, that the country has a plan. We have pandemic plans. Amy meanwhile, the centers for Disease Control and prevention in atlanta is warning the number of cases might be higher than reported because test kit sent out nationwide earlier this month included a faulty component. To break down the news on the outbreak worldwide and here this country, were joined in new york by Laurie Garrett former , a senior fellow for Global Health at the council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prize winning Science Writer. Author of several books, including ebola