Covid-19 began its journey in a seafood and poultry market in Wuhan, China and quickly became an epidemic, and it won’t be long before it grows into a pandemic. According to the New York Times, the disease has been detected in at least 76 countries and that number is likely to grow. In the United States, there have been 118 cases as of Tuesday evening, and 9 of those cases resulted in death, despite having no known connection to previous cases. This suggests the virus can be spread locally by person to person contact or through fomites. Also, an update is that the recent incidence of disease outside of China has surpassed that of the incidence within China; although China still remains the winning country with the highest prevalence of Covid-19. The disease has sickened about 93,100 people according to official counts. That’s slightly more than the total populations of Chapel Hill and Carrboro combined.
If you’re still considering traveling for spring break, I’d like you to take 10 seconds right now to reconsider that decision…. mhm…. keep thinking. Aaaaaaaaaand what did you come up with? Still think that trip to Europe is a good idea? Still think that passing through an airport where people from all over the world come through is a good idea? Well, I think not. I think we may have a real serious problem with Covid-19 in our local cities and towns after spring break. We might kinda all be screwed. People may come back from their vacation and unknowingly have coronavirus, as the incubation period can be two weeks long. They may feel perfectly fine, but what they just did is contaminate everything or anyone they touched, who may then get on another flight and take the disease back home. It’ll be exactly like that game “Plague Inc.”, which I would highly recommend playing while waiting for your layover at the airport. Here’s a picture for reference.
All of the lines represent cross country flights that carry a virus to a new location. Lovely.
Current information from reliable sources, like the Australian Government Department of Health, have concluded there is no real benefit to wearing a surgical mask if you are well. They’re only helpful in preventing the spread of disease from those who are already infected. So, if “the rona” comes to your area, don’t freak out and raid all the drug stores looking for a mask, because it won’t help you. Leave them for the people who are actually sick so we can prevent the spread of the disease. The most effective and proactive thing you can do to prevent yourself from infection with Covid-19 is to WASH YOUR HANDS AND NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE. And I don’t mean the quick hand wash you do after you’ve peed for the fourth time in an hour ’cause you drank a whole medium coffee like it was water. Honestly, I get tired of peeing and having to washing my hands so much. BUT, in the shadow of coronavirus, I stand there for 20 seconds and sing happy birthday twice to make sure I got all the germs off my hands that stuck themselves there in the 10 minutes since I last used the restroom. You can do it too!
microBIOLOGY 