by Courtney Conrad

Over the last two weeks the media has been focused on updating the public about the newly discovered Coronavirus. People are wondering where it started, where it has spread, and what it is, so here is everything you need to know about this disease. 

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses whose effects range from causing the common cold to triggering much more serious diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. Officials say that the deadly disease could have possibly leaked from a research facility; however, others say that the disease has come from bats or other animals that are present in Chinese markets. Both of these are not confirmed to have had been the definite origin of the disease. In the beginning, there were only 9 people diagnosed and 1 fatality, but now it has grown to almost 6,000 confirmed cases and there are over 130 fatalities. The disease originally started in the province of Hubei that include cities like Wuhan, who have come into the press multiple times over the past week. 

The Chinese government is working hard to keep this disease contained and work to reduce the number of infected patients. The government is allocating almost $9 Billion to fight the disease, and they have quarantined entire cities, like Wuhan, with a total population of over 60 million people on lockdown. 

The United States just evacuated around 240 Americans from China who were stranded due to the fear of the disease spreading. On Tuesday, January 28, they landed in Alaska and they went through screening to determine if anyone was affected or not. They are being extremely cautious and holding anyone for further medical examination if they appear to express any symptoms of the disease. As of Wednesday, there is no further word about any infected patients. 

The last place that people has received attention to is Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. There are two students who are being tested for coronavirus, who recently traveled to China. The Ohio Department of Health has indicated that there are no confirmed cases in the State of Ohio at this time, but they will continue to update both the students, family, and the public about any further speculations and precautions that they plan to take at this time. 

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/coronavirus-china-live-updates/2020/01/28/da7664f2-414d-11ea-b503-2b077c436617_story.html

https://miamioh.edu/student-life/student-health-service/infectious-disease-information/coronavirus/index.html