Coronavirus concern spreading

It’s a strange new world when your cellphone delivers a 237-character tweet warning you to be ready for a possible global pandemic.

The tweet went out Tuesday from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), offering a link to what it promised would be a regularly updated site explaining the risks from the coronavirus.

Canada’s chief public health officer, Theresa Tam, took to Twitter as well: “For now, the risk within Canada remains low, but the risk is evolving . ... Concerning developments in recent days tell us the window of opportunity may be closing, but there is still much that Canada can do to delay spread and become more prepared.”

Here’s the CDC website take on what may happen: “More cases are likely to be identified in the coming days, including more cases in the United States. It’s also likely that person-to-person spread will continue to occur, including in the United States. Widespread transmission of COVID-19 in the United States would translate into large numbers of people needing medical care at the same time. Schools, childcare centers, workplaces, and other places for mass gatherings may experience more absenteeism. Public health and healthcare systems may become overloaded, with elevated rates of hospitalizations and deaths. Other critical infrastructure, such as law enforcement, emergency medical services, and the transportation industry may also be affected. Health care providers and hospitals may be overwhelmed.”

CDC staff were even more frank in person. “We expect we will see community spread in this country,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told U.S. media. “It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness.”

Alarming, to say the least.

More alarming, perhaps, was Wednesday’s news out of other countries, like Bahrain’s closure of all schools and universities for two weeks to prevent the disease from spreading, and the New York Times reports that Japan is closing its schools for a month for the same reason. Or the news from Iran, where there are unexpectedly high death rates from the disease — Iran says it has 95 confirmed cases and 15 deaths. However, Canadian researchers say that their analysis of Iranian fatality rates suggests the true number of cases there is most likely in the range of 18,300.

And here’s another tweet from Tam: “The (coronavirus) global risk situation is changing, with several countries now reporting sustained community spread.”

Think of it as plainspoken caution.

What can the general public do?

Watch, wait and use good public health practices: wash hands frequently, cover coughs and sneezes, and stay home if you’re sick.

Get the best information you can, and maybe start following public health officials on social media.

You might as well be among the first to know.