By Anna Hsu, Staff Editor, and Vanessa Shehu, Staff Writer
In the Hubei Province of China, the city of Wuhan is in a state of turmoil. The hospitals are overwhelmed with veritable floods of patients. Doctors and nurses are pushed to their limits, working themselves to the brink of exhaustion. Even medical workers are at risk of contracting illness from their patients, due to the shortage of supplies and protective gear. Residents of Wuhan are quarantined within their homes, and throughout the city temperature checks are conducted. The streets are eerily barren, and regular broadcasts in stores and public facilities systematically blare out procedures for preventing disease transmission.
The first case of the coronavirus, initially dubbed 2019-nCoV and now officially named COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019), was reported in Wuhan in late December. Since then, it has spread rapidly throughout the city and neighboring provinces. On January 30, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a global public health emergency, officially placing COVID-19 among the ranks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), polio, Ebola, and Zika. As of February 29, the disease has been reported in 62 countries and has resulted in over 2900 deaths. In addition, the first confirmed death from COVID-19 in the U.S. just occurred on February 29. To many, it seems like a game of Plague Inc. come to life.
Just what is COVID-19? It’s a “novel” type of coronavirus, which shares its family with viruses such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Both diseases are transmitted through direct contact with a person’s infected saliva, mucus, and other bodily fluids. COVID-19 has an incubation period of up to 14 days, meaning an infected person may feel perfectly fine for two weeks post-exposure and even transmit the disease to other people while they are asymptomatic. When symptoms do occur, they mostly overlap with other common disease symptoms, such as mild to severe respiratory illness with fever, cough, and difficulty breathing.
There are concerns about quarantines being overly restrictive and dangerous to citizens living in Wuhan. A video posted to Reddit revealed government officials barricading people inside their homes, leaving them no means of escape even in life-threatening situations such as gas leaks and fires. The Chinese government has also been criticized for trying to mask the outbreak in its early stages during the Lunar New Year. Notably, a doctor known as Li Wenliang died after contracting the disease, prompting a wave of outrage on Weibo (a Chinese social media platform). Wenliang was one of the first whistleblowers to warn the public of the dangers of this new disease, but was punished by the government for “spreading disinformation.” Posts mourning his death and criticizing the Chinese government were quickly censored.
But the sociopolitical impact of COVID-19 has spread far beyond just China. On social media, before COVID-19 was officially named, the disease was simply called the “Wuhan virus.” Unfortunately, the use of this colloquial term (in addition to the virus’s origin in China) has resulted in xenophobic and racist sentiments against Asians, both in Southeast Asia and across the world. College campuses, including Seven Sister colleges such as Barnard and Wellesley, have imposed questionable quarantines on Chinese students. Notably, UC Berkeley’s Instagram account even listed “fears about interacting with those who might be from Asia” on a post detailing “common reactions” to the spread of COVID-19.
Even though the situation in Wuhan is dire, it’s unlikely anyone in the Bi-Co is at any severe risk—even international students. February is a peak month for flu and respiratory diseases. It’s important to always practice good respiratory hygiene, which prevents spreading most respiratory illnesses (including influenza, which is far more contagious than the Wuhan coronavirus). Here are some general tips, adapted from the WHO and CDC websites:
- Sneeze into a tissue or your elbow, not directly into your hands.
- Discard used tissues immediately into a closed wastebasket.
- Wash your hands regularly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
- If you’re ill, stay home and avoid direct contact with public spaces (e.g. crowded stations, terminals, malls, live performance centers).
- Avoid touching your face, nose, and mouth.
- Wear facemasks only if you are experiencing symptoms (i.e. you are coughing, sneezing, and have a fever). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend that healthy individuals wear facemasks—they are primarily used by people who have been “exposed to COVID-19” and are “showing symptoms”. The mask is worn to help keep disease contained within ill or exposed individuals, and provides virtually no benefit in preventing diseases from being breathed in. It helps ill individuals from touching their nose and mouth, thus reducing the risk of spreading infectious droplets to other people.
- Avoid nonessential international travel. The U.S. is quarantining individuals who have traveled from China’s Hubei Province for at least 14 days to monitor for any symptoms.
- Although late into the season, the CDC still recommends individuals get flu vaccinations. Influenza activity peaks between December and February. The people who are most at risk are immunocompromised people, children, and the elderly. Flu vaccinations are not solely for your own benefit, but help protect the people around you.
So how dangerous is COVID-19 to us, really? For people with access to good medical facilities, it’s not something for Bi-Co students to be worried about. However, it’s important to remain respectful of students who may be indirectly impacted by the disease.
Image credit: Wikipedia
