The coronavirus has taken the world by storm over the past few weeks. It started in Wuhan, China and has now spread to multiple countries, many of the world’s experts in infectious disease believe that coronavirus is approaching the title of a pandemic. The virus is very transmissible, over the last 3 weeks known cases have risen from about 50 in only China to over 14,000 in 23 countries. There have been over 300 recorded deaths, but only one outside of China, in the Philippines. The outbreak has definitely caused a scare for many people, I know that many of my friends and family are paranoid about contracting the virus and have been more conscious about washing their hands and having good hygiene in general.
While we do know that the coronavirus is highly transmissible, experts are not yet sure about how deadly the virus is, there have not been enough cases or tests in to determine that. The swine flu was scary to many when it emerged in 2009, but it ended up being less deadly than the normal seasonal flu. People are afraid of the coronavirus because it is unfamiliar and threatening, however doctors in the United States are urging people not to forget about the flu. People in the US are much more likely to retract influenza than they are to get coronavirus because in order to get it you must come into contact with someone who has it and very few people in the US have contracted it. The flu has killed as many as 61,000 Americans in a year, while the coronavirus has yet to kill a single American.
China has taken measures to stop the spread of coronavirus as well as treat those who already have it. They recently completed construction on an emergency hospital that took them just 9 days to build and its use will be devoted to only coronavirus patients. Some countries have started to restrict travel in and out of China in an effort to stop the spread. Several Chinese cities are also on lockdown and quarantine, including Wuhan where the virus originated. It is clear that China is taking this very seriously and that is a good thing for everyone. If China can cut off the virus in their country where it originated, it will go a long way in killing the virus everywhere once and for all.
Eric's Blog 