Seattle readies modular homes for virus quarantine

Tensions over how to contain the coronavirus escalated Tuesday in the United States as the death toll climbed to nine. All of the deaths have occurred in Washington state, and most were residents of a nursing home in suburban Seattle.

One death was confirmed at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.

The number of infections in the U.S. overall climbed past one hundred, scattered across at least 15 states, with 27 cases in Washington alone.

Officials in Seattle are getting quarantine housing ready if needed by re-purposing fourteen modular homes originally meant for the city's homeless.

Staff have cleaned the homes with the first one arriving at its temporary location Tuesday.

Each trailer includes four units, each about the size of a small hotel room with beds and bathrooms.

No patients are currently occupying the housing units but officials say they'll be ready by the end of the week if needed.

County officials say all the homes are being placed on existing county land and will pose no threat to the general public.

Researchers in Washington believe the virus may have been circulating the state undetected for weeks.

That has raised fears that there could be hundreds of undiagnosed cases in the area.