Not often do you get a topic that everyone seems to be talking about. But over the past few weeks, the Coronavirus has certainly been that topic.<\/p>\n
What started as a sickness in China has caused now widespread concern over the escalation of its impact. According to the Center fr Disease Control, it’s an “upper-respiratory tract illnesses, like the common cold.” Also, “Two other human coronaviruses,\u00a0MERS-CoV<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0SARS-CoV<\/a> have been known to frequently cause severe symptoms. MERS symptoms usually include fever, cough, and shortness of breath which often progress to pneumonia. About 3 or 4 out of every 10 patients reported with MERS have died.”<\/p>\n The virus began in the Chinese city of Wuhan and as of last week, had 830 confirmed cases and caused 26 deaths, according to Reuters<\/a>. Panic has spread this week, however, as the virus has spread. According to CNN<\/a>, there are now more than 6,000 confirmed cases in mainland China and 132 deaths.<\/p>\n There have also been five confirmed cases in the United States, though no deaths outside of China. Much of the spread has been due to travels of Chinese during the Chines New Year. Two of the cases have been in California, while one is in Arizona, one in Washington and one in Illinois.<\/p>\n While panic has not reached the US, necessarily, it has caused some precautions to be made. Miami University in Ohio cancelled its men’s and women’s basketball games last night as two students have been suspected as having contracted the virus.<\/p>\n A Miami student with very mild symptoms has met the criteria to testing for possible infection with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. More information can be found here: https:\/\/t.co\/geteyFz2LS<\/a><\/p>\n — Miami University (@miamiuniversity) January 28, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n