Coronavirus: Are You Going to Die? 

Corona-virus is now in the USA and it is spreading and mutating. Is this going to be the end or what?

How bad is it?  Nobody really knows because the center of the outbreak is in Wuhan, China and the Chinese aren’t letting foreigners in. We have to take the word of the communist Chinese government. For the few cases that have spread outside of China, only two people have died so far. The threat seems to be that the virus spreads like crazy — you don’t even have to sneeze to catch it.  If it mutates into a more deadly form, then we’ll all be in a lot of trouble. 

Students here think that it’s a little scary.  Sophomore Zainab Mulla said, “this isn’t going to really hit home until someone we know dies from it.”  However, Ashlyn says,“I’m terrified now that it’s basically hit U.S territory.”

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. In humans, the viruses cause respiratory infections which are typically mild, including the common cold. 

Thirty students and three teachers from a Florida school are confined to their homes as they await word on whether they were exposed to coronavirus while they attended a four-day conference at Yale University last weekend.

How did it make it into the U.S?

It is thought to have spread from bats that infected civets. The new coronavirus was likely transmitted from touching or eating an infected animal in Wuhan, China. China has reported 170 deaths from the virus and at least 7,700 infections.

Symptoms: 

Signs of infection include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, it can lead to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.