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Should I, Uh, Be Worried About the Coronavirus Outbreak?

In just over a week, a coronavirus outbreak has spread from one Chinese city to more than a dozen countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. The U.S. has issued travel advisory warnings—and is expanding screenings at international airports—and the World Health Organization has upgraded its risk assessment of the outbreak from "moderate" to "high." Some countries, including France, South Korea, and the U.S., are even reportedly making plans to evacuate citizens from the epicenter, Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in central China.

Taken all together, these headlines can be pretty panic- and sweaty palms-inducing. So with that in mind, it's important to keep fact and fiction straight. Here's what we know so far.

What exactly is a coronavirus?

"Coronavirus"—its name is from the crown-like spikes on its surface—actually covers a lot of pretty common viruses. Most people will contract a form of coronavirus at some point in their lives. It can cause mild respiratory illness, like the common cold, or something more severe, such as pneumonia. A coronavirus caused the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002 which also led to a global panic. SARS killed about 10 percent of the people infected by it, and while not much is known about this newest coronavirus (the Centers for Disease Control is calling it "novel coronavirus 2019"), so far it isn't quite as deadly: As of Tuesday, there have been about 106 deaths out of more than 4,500 infections in China.

How widespread is it now?

Beyond China, the virus has been spotted in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Germany, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Canada, France, and Australia. There are also five cases in the U.S., in Washington state, California, Arizona, and Illinois, and in all five cases, the infected people recently visited Wuhan. So far though, no countries besides China and Thailand have reported more than single digit number of infections.

How did this outbreak start?

According to the Wall Street Journal, some experts think this particular strain originated in bats (coronaviruses tend to infect small mammals and sometimes transition to humans) and somehow made the jump to human hosts at a massive open-air food market in Wuhan. Now, cities across China are advising people to stay home from work if they can, and many airlines and bus routes are restricting travel, and Hong Kong has put pretty heavy restrictions on travel to and from mainland China, closing railways and ferries. One Japanese tourism company that specializes in setting up tours for Chinese citizens has reportedly received 20,000 cancellations in just the last three days. Starbucks has also closed 2,000 Chinese locations in response to the outbreak.

What can I do to avoid catching it?

Well, for one thing, don't go to China right now. Despite causing cold-like symptoms, the disease isn't airborne. It spreads primarily by human contact, so hand hygiene is a much more effective deterrent than thin paper masks.

Otherwise, if you're reading this in the U.S., there's not really any reason to worry. The flu, for what it's worth, should be a much bigger concern: the CDC found that 30,453 Americans were hospitalized by the flu in 2017-2018 season, and the expected number of flu-related deaths for 2019-2020 is somewhere between 8,200 and 20,000. So, get vaccinated.

What about miracle cures?

Yes, hucksters are already trying to cash in on the scare. Promoters of the QAnon conspiracy theory—the bonkers internet fringe that thinks Trump is secretly breaking up global pedophile rings—are hawking "Miracle Mineral Solution," claiming that it's a treatment for things like autism and AIDS. It's literally bleach.


Michael Paterniti travels to the forefront of climate change and gets a taste of the complex future of a planet in flux. As Greenland's massive ice sheet melts at an alarming rate due to global warming, its citizens—and especially its chefs—are enjoying some unanticipated benefits.

Originally Appeared on GQ

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