SPECIAL SECTION ON THE CORONAVIRUS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE WORLD,
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
With novel coronavirus in the news, there are many questions on many minds. This compilation of frequently asked questions attempts to provide some answers to the most common queries:
Q: Why do they call it coronavirus?
A: These viruses are spherical with a halo of protein spikes on their surface that are crown
like in appearance.
Q: Should everyone be wearing masks?
A: Definitely not. At least not in America, where the government has had time to identify and start monitoring everyone returning from China for symptoms of coronavirus. Those who are at risk of infection are told to stay home until the possible incubation period of the virus passes, and those with the highest risk have been held in quarantine facilities on military bases until the quarantine period passes. This makes it very unlikely that anyone would encounter someone with coronavirus in public.
If everyone goes out and buys a mask or two or three it will put further strain on supplies needed by health care workers who really do need these resources to avoid getting sick doing their jobs. Also, since coronavirus spreads inside large water droplets that land in your eyes, nose or mouth, or when one person touches another, wearing a mask alone wouldn’t necessarily prevent you from becoming infected if someone who was sick coughed or sneezed on you. Masks are actually found to be most effective when worn
by those who are sick, because they can catch those droplets and prevent them from moving through the air.
Q: How does coronavirus kill?
A: It’s like any other respiratory virus such as influenza. Inhaled water droplets with virus particles inside get into the lungs, and your immune system immediately tries to get them out, either my flooding them with mucous that you can cough out or by causing inflammation of the tiny air sacs inside your lungs that are critical for moving oxygen from the air you breathe into your bloodstream.
These immune system reactions can be so forceful that they cause a patient to essentially suffocate. But, if you get to the hospital soon enough, there are many modern techniques to reduce inflammation and support your breathing until your immune system naturally fights off the infection.
Q: Why is coronavirus so deadly?
A: It’s really not. The mortality rate for coronavirus currently stands at about 2 percent, though epidemiologists think that rate will decrease further once they have time to account for all of the infected people who never sought medical care. This is not ebola, which has a mortality rate of around 90 percent.
Q: Well, if it’s not that deadly, then why have more than 1,400 people died from coronavirus infection?
A: There are a lot of people in China. Wuhan City alone has a population of more than 11 million with an estimated 58 million living in Hubei province where the outbreak is fiercest. There is evidence that the Chinese government suppressed early reports of a novel virus starting to spread in the community, and, with no isolation and quarantine procedures being used in the early days, the virus got a foothold that it might not have otherwise. Severe respiratory illness sometimes requires intensive care level treatment to survive, but hospitals were quickly inundated, meaning some who died would have survived had there been a hospital bed available for them.
Q: So people are surviving coronavirus? Why don’t we ever hear about them?
A: According to the latest report from the World Health Organization, the vast majority of people who have been infected have survived. By that organization’s count, there have been nearly 47,000 confirmed cases so far with just under 1,400 deaths, though that estimate was made on Feb. 13, and is now likely higher. Now it is the case that some of the people who are currently sick might still die, but this ratio of deaths to confirmed cases has held for weeks, suggesting that most people who get infected survive.
Q: Why bring quarantined evacuees to Marine Corps Air Base Miramar near San Diego?
A: A CDC official said that military bases are ideal because they offer expansive properties separated from the general population that are already secured with men and women carrying guns and trained to use them.
Q: What can I do to avoid getting infected?
A: The main thing is to stay at least 6 feet away from anyone who has coughing or sneezing symptoms, though, if they do, they’ve probably got a common cold rather than novel coronavirus. Regular hand washing also helps a lot for preventing all types of respiratory infections.
Q: Why are they calling coronavirus COVID-19? Why not name it after Wuhan in China where it started?
A: It’s sort of a medical acronym. CO stands for corona, VI for virus, D for disease and 19 for the year when the current outbreak started. The World Health Organization followed international naming protocols designed to avoid stigmatizing any certain place, people or animal. Remember when “swine flu” in 2009 angered pig farmers who said their product was being unfairly cast in an unfavorable light?
These answers were reviewed for accuracy by Dr. Mark Sawyer, an infectious disease specialist at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.