Coronavirus

The amount of people affected by the infamous Coronavirus has rapidly increased over the last few weeks in China and has travelled to the US. There are very few cases here in America, but in China, the death toll has already risen over 100. The virus is not typically this lethal, human coronavirus is more uncommon but the symptoms are similar to a cold under normal circumstances. What is occurring right now is a rarer form, one that makes it too complicated for us to understand and maintain at this time.

It has become necessary to take precautions against this in both the US and China, in fact it has led to the world’s largest quarantine holding across the globe, an estimated 56 million people. The coronavirus is one that we don’t know much about, which makes it difficult to administer help to those who have it. The quarantine locks down multiple cities in China, stopping people from entering and leaving the areas, especially Wuhan. Although, before this was put in place, about 5 million people had already left the epicenter of the outbreak. Travel to and from China is also accelerated because of the Lunar New Year. This led to it spreading to many other countries and now some airports are requiring screenings for people flying in from China. There are even some here in California, from Ontario to a Riverside military base. More screenings are being put in place to avoid this virus becoming widespread here in America.

There are 5 known cases in our country and more are being discovered in over a dozen other countries worldwide. The first symptoms are a runny nose, sore throat, cough, fever, diarrhea and body aches. After that the symptoms escalate similar to pneumonia and or kidney failure. In cases of death, this is what the victims perished from and what ultimately killed them because oxygen is prevented from supplying the body. To date, there have been 170 deaths in China and 7,700 infected, worldwide. The virus has now surpassed the SARS outbreak.

What makes this outbreak more complex is that some individuals are transmitting and infecting others without knowing or showing symptoms of the coronavirus. The first transmission in the United States occured this week. Those who might seem healthy could be carrying it with them despite not being directly affected, which leads to more uncertainty on the next steps we need to take. The quarantine in China along with screenings and treatments in other countries are expected to have some effect, soon they hope to come up with a real and functional solution to maintaining and resolving this outbreak.

Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Marketwatch