Coronavirus Information for the Average Person
By Melissa and Ilinca
Trying to buy a face mask? In all likelihood, you won’t be able to find one. Amid the terror and panic surrounding the new coronavirus outbreak, both individuals and countries are going to extraordinary lengths to prevent the spread of disease. In mid-December, a new disease was discovered in the city of Wuhan, China. Current information suggests it had a link to a large seafood and live animal market in that area. The illness has been termed 2019-nCoV, which stands for 2019 Novel Coronavirus. Following the rapid spread of the disease and new cases overseas, everybody has become more worried about this virus which belongs in the same family as both the common cold, and also MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which each claimed hundreds of lives.
In response, China has put over 16 cities in quarantine, including Wuhan and its neighbors. The lockdown is estimated to have affected over 46 million people. The disease came at an inopportune time, as many families are traveling both to and from China to celebrate the Chinese New Year. To combat the spread of the disease, China canceled many celebratory events to discourage large gatherings.
Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can actually be quite common in the population. Coronavirus types 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1, are mild respiratory-tract illnesses that cause the common cold. Coronaviruses infect animals, and in a few cases, may evolve and spread to humans. Almost all known coronaviruses that can infect humans originated from infected bats or birds. This was the case with SARS and MERS, and it seems that the 2019 Novel Coronavirus is joining the list. These diseases can have extreme symptoms like fever, cough, and shortness of breath that usually progress to pneumonia. Unfortunately, because the coronavirus results in viral pneumonia, no antibiotics can be used to fight it. People suffering from the current coronavirus have symptoms ranging from little to none to being extremely sick and dying. At this time, the CDC believes that symptoms will appear between 2 and 14 days of exposure, based on the incubation period of MERS.
Currently, there are a little over six thousand people infected. Out of those people, over eight hundred have died. That’s about one in eight. However, it is also important to note that due to the time between infection and showing symptoms, there may be many more infected people than predicted. In the United States, there are five cases of 2019-nCoV. One each in Washington, Illinois, and Arizona, and two in California.
And yet, the coronavirus has not been labeled a global public health emergency. Why? The World Health Organization (WHO), must take into careful account the situation. The WHO first declared a global public health emergency during the SARS coronavirus outbreak in 2003. However, in this situation, the disease had already been spreading for many months in China before Chinese authorities brought the issue to light. This meant that there had already been 8,000 cases and 700 deaths. In this case, the WHO declared a state of emergency to try to manage the already-damaged situation. When the WHO declares a state of emergency, it implies that a country is unable to control the disease and stop it from crossing its borders, and it may affect trade and tourism negatively. However, in the recent coronavirus outbreak, China has taken care to quarantine about 40 million people in cities around Wuhan, and share information about the outbreak, expressing more control in the situation. Chinese authorities have even published the genetic makeup of the virus, helping other doctors around the world develop more accurate diagnoses.
At this time, there is no vaccine for coronavirus, so rather than focusing on a cure, we thought we’d share some prevention methods. Like all respiratory illnesses, it’s a good idea to wash your hands often with soap. Stay away from people who are sick, and stay home if you are sick. Avoid touching your face with unwashed hands, and disinfect frequently-touched objects or surfaces. If you’re heading into a crowded area where the virus may have been spread, buy a face mask (online, if you can’t find one) and wear it. Check to ensure the face mask can filter out the necessary particles or it won’t protect you against the disease!
So how worried should you actually be? It’s good to remember that for the SARS coronavirus, there was a fatality rate of 10%, while for the current coronavirus, only 2.8% of invalids have died. Additionally, experts were more worried about the disease being transmitted during the lunar new year holidays, however, many of the festivities have been canceled and cities surrounding Wuhan remained in quarantine. Unless you have been in contact with someone with the virus or have recently traveled to China, the National Health Service reassures that you can treat your cough or other cold-like symptoms as normal.
All in all, the best thing you can do is to stop panicking and take the measures for cold prevention that you would make in any other flu season. And don’t panic if you go outside and start to cough. That’s normal for our lovely Seattle weather.
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html
Picture:
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200124/coronavirus-2020-outbreak-latest-updates
