Sunday, March 29, 2020



COVID-19 – Origin and Spread

Zach Zachariah, Ph. D.
March 29, 2020
What is Covid-19 and its symptoms?  The most recently discovered coronavirus that originated in China causes coronavirus disease COVID-19.[1]  Common cold, influenza, and the new Coronavirus share similar symptoms with some significant differences.   
How did humans contract the virus?  The first report of the outbreak of this pandemic was confirmed on December 31, 2019 in Wuhan, in the Hubei Province of China and one person was confirmed dead on January 11, 2020.  Bats are the natural reservoir of coronaviruses.  These viruses cannot directly get into humans; there must be an intermediate host (animal or bird). The suspected animal is pangolin, which the Chinese eat.[2]  There have been rumors that it was a virus the Chinese or the Americans created in the labs and used as a biological weapon to infect people.  According to the new findings, the virus’s genetic makeup reveals that it is not a mishmash of known viruses[3], which disproves the rumors and certain politically motivated propaganda[4].
Spread of the Virus:  The first confirmed case in the US was in Washington State on January 20, 2020.  The patient was a 35-year old man who returned from Wuhan, China. In a little over two months, there are now 125,000 confirmed cases in the US and 2250 persons have died.  Almost half of the cases are in the New York State. As of yesterday, there are 1,406 confirmed cases in Ohio. Of the total, 370 (approximately 82% are above the age of 50) are in the Cuyahoga County of which Cleveland is the County seat[5].  The Chinese government completely shut down the whole Hubei province, which helped to contain the spread of the disease, yet killing 3,300 persons out of the 81,439 infected.  It prevented to some extent the disease from spreading to other parts of China. It is impossible to shut down the whole New York City or the state and quarantine all inhabitants.  Several states and a number of major cities have ordered people to stay-at-home, and non-essential businesses to close. We can only help to minimize the spread of Covid-19 by staying at home and maintaining a safe distance.  Let us all pray that the healthcare professionals stay safe and healthy. 

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