The White House is upping regulations on nursing homes amid the concerns that coronavirus might spread to elderly Americans, Vice President Mike Pence said at a press conference Wednesday. 

The vice president said that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued new guidelines on nursing homes nationwide. Pence said the intention of the new guidelines are to raise the bar on infectious disease control. "People operating the nursing homes, like many of the CEOs that we met with today, are complying with the new standards to keep our elderly safe," Pence said.

Seema Verma, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said the department sent out a memo Wednesday about limiting visitors to nursing homes and monitoring staff. "And then finally we put out some information to our state surveyors that are going to be surveying our nation's nursing homes and hospitals around infection control," Verma said. 

A majority of the nine deaths reported in the U.S. so far from the virus were residents of a long-term care center in Washington state. Last July, the Trump administration proposed rolling back regulations requiring all nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to employ infection prevention specialists at least part time, citing “excessively burdensome requirements” on the industry.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee issued a statement saying some attendees from New York who came to its Washington, D.C., conference may have been in contact with someone who contracted coronavirus.

The AIPAC Policy Conference, held this year from March 1-3, is billed by the group as "the largest gathering of America's pro-Israel community." The official website for the conference says over 18,000 people were in attendance.

The coronavirus patient who came into contact with the attendees was not at the conference, the AIPAC statement said. The attendees who were potentially exposed are in self-quarantine.

AIPAC says, to their knowledge, no one who attended the conference has tested positive for coronavirus.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City men's basketball team cancelled its Saturday game at Seattle University, citing the spread of coronavirus.

Hours earlier, another school from the Western Athletic Conference, Chicago State University, announced it had called off its men's and women's basketball games this week.  Despite these cancellations, all WAC teams are expected to play at next week's conference tournament in Las Vegas, league spokesman Chris Thompson told NBC News on Wednesday afternoon.

Airbnb has activated its “extenuating circumstances policy” amid the increasing spread of the coronavirus.

Under the policy, guests and hosts have the option to cancel eligible reservations free for travel from or within mainland China and South Korea during a specific booking window. 

The policy also covers reservations that must be changed or canceled in other countries, in “compliance with disease control restrictions” put in place by authorities, the company noted, while also urging people to continue to abide by its nondiscrimination policy.

The policy also covers cancellations by those diagnosed or suspected of being infected.