The Centres for Disease Control (CDC) warns of a coronavirus spread in the US.
According to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), Americans may need to prepare for internet-based teaching. They also warn that it’s no longer ‘a question of if…but when’ the coronavirus will spread in the US.
This announcement came on Twitter after the confirmation of 57 cases so far. Fourteen in the country, 40 from repatriated citizens from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan and 3 evacuated from China.
The CDC warns that it’s no longer ‘a question of if…but when’ the coronavirus will spread in the US
Dr Nancy Messonnier. Image: Liberty Bell
According to the Daily Mail, Dr Nancy Messonier, CDC’s director of the Center for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that the public needs to be ready if the virus becomes a pandemic.
“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country any more but a question of when this will happen,” she told reporters Tuesday. “We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad.”
Image: CNN
Speaking further, she suggested that parents should call their children’s schools to ask if they plan to tele-school. This way when children can no longer go to school they can continue to learn at home. Dr Messonier even admitted that she had called her children’s school to ask how they plan to handle it should there be a coronavirus outbreak.
However, Dr Messonier maintains that the threat of coronavirus in the US is currently slim. But as the infection spreads internationally it will be more difficult to contain it at the border.
On this note, she made recommendations to the public in case of a pandemic level outbreak. She suggested that face-to-face contacts should be reduced in schools and in-person meetings should be replaced with teleconferencing.
What other health experts say
Other health experts have advised parents not to be too quick in pulling their children out of school.
To inspire some confidence, they pointed to the low number of infections among children. In addition, when infected, children’s symptoms are often mild.
Dr Terri Lynn Stillwell, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Mott Children’s Hospital, told NPR that the literature is only reporting about 100 or so pediatric cases. More than 80,000 people have been infected with coronavirus and more than 2,700 people have died worldwide. However, they are mostly older patients with pre-existing conditions.
Also read: This Is How Coronavirus Affects The Human Body After Infection
Source: Daily Mail
