The COVID-19 epidemic is causing mass panic across the globe. The New York Times discusses how the virus has impacted the United States in the past few weeks. As of March 7th, over 300 cases have been confirmed in the US, but no new infections have been reported outside of Wuhan, China. As of Friday, 17 deaths have occurred in America with two deaths in Florida being the first on the East Coast. Those who died in Florida traveled internationally before they became sick. Additionally, there is a cruise ship off of California with 21 people infected with COVID-19. Washington state has had the majority of cases with over 80 people infected, and 14 have already died. Most of these cases resulted after a COVID-19 outbreak in a nursing home. Additionally, the University of Washington has canceled in-person classes from Monday the 2nd through the 20th. The virus has also erupted in NYC were more than 2,700 people are in quarantine, and a state of emergency was declared in the NY.
BBC News discusses how cases have grown in Iran and Italy. The number of cases has surpassed 100,000, and Iran has 600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 145 deaths. Italy has also been hit hard with an important politician Nicola Zingaretti having tested positive. There have been 230 deaths in Italy, and more than 50 deaths occurred in one day. Italy now has approximately 5,883 confirmed cases as of March 7th. Many colleges and universities in the US have cancelled study abroad programs in Italy, moving students back to America. Additionally, Italy announced it will hire retired doctors to help fight off COVID-19. Pope Francis even decided to deliver his Sunday prayers via livestream to keep crowds down. Globally, there have been 3,500 deaths from the novel coronavirus, with most deaths occurring in China in December of 2019.
Although we should worry about COVID-19 and do everything we can to prevent it, the absolute pandemonium and chaos seems a little unnecessary. People should listen to the CDC and other trusted sources for updates and advice. Additionally, we need to take the advice of the CDC and health care providers seriously by washing our hands, doing our best to not touch our face, not traveling to highly infected countries, and staying home when we are sick. Although the virus is frightening, it is not the apocalypse like the media is making it out to be. The more chaos we cause the more unsafe we will be. It is unrealistic to stay home all the time to prevent getting COVID-19, so we must be as careful as possible without having hysterical breakdowns. More people have died from the flu this season than from COVID-19. Thus, everyone should remember to wash their hands, not touch their face, and remain as calm as possible.
Micro Madness 