Dozens more people have died in the city at the centre of China’s coronavirus outbreak, where hospitals are severely undersupplied and understaffed and residents have described increasingly desperate conditions.
Chinese state media reported 57 new deaths on Monday, all but one in Wuhan, the capital of the central province of Hubei which has been under lockdown for almost two weeks as authorities try to contain the outbreak.
The foreign ministry issued an urgent appeal for protective medical equipment as the total number of casualties reached 361, surpassing deaths in mainland China caused by the 2002-03 Sars virus. The number of infections also jumped, passing 17,200.
“What China urgently needs at present are medical masks, protective suits and safety goggles,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press briefing.
Authorities in provinces that are home to more than 300 million people – including Guangdong, the country’s most populous – have ordered everyone to wear masks in public in an effort to contain the virus. But factories capable of producing about 20 million masks a day are only operating at between 60 and 70% of capacity, according to the ministry of industry.
Hua also criticised the US, where a ban on people travelling from China went into effect on Sunday. The US and other countries had “overreacted” to the outbreak and Washington had not given China any substantive help, instead only creating and spreading panic, Hua said.
Pakistan, one of China’s allies, said on Monday it was resuming air travel after a three-day suspension.
World Health Org. director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus said travel bans were unnecessary.
“There is no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade,” he said. “We call on all countries to implement decisions that are evidence-based and consistent.”
A video apparently filmed in No 5 Wuhan hospital went viral, showing body bags in a bus, and a man weeping next to his dead father. In the video, the person filming says: “So many people just died. There are so many dead bodies … They are still moving bodies.”
On Monday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a meeting for top officials on the issue and called the outbreak a “major test” of China’s governance system and capabilities. Xi said that officials who failed to perform their duties “would be punished”. The meeting called for the country to “confront” weaknesses exposed by the epidemic and improve its emergency response capabilities and public health system.
The state news agency Xinhua said 68 medical teams of 8,300 staff from across China had been sent to Hubei. One of two new emergency hospitals built in the last 10 days to house patients infected by the virus was due to open on Monday. State media said 1,400 military medics would be sent to run the facility.
The virus has now spread to more than 24 countries. Several, including allies of Beijing, have begun to close their borders to Chinese nationals and travelers from the country.
So, what is the coronavirus and should we be worried?
It is a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals, or possibly seafood. New and troubling viruses usually originate in animal hosts. Ebola and flu are examples.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers) are both caused by coronaviruses that came from animals.
The virus causes pneumonia. Those who have fallen ill are reported to suffer coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases there can be organ failure. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work.
If people are admitted to a hospital, they may get support for their lungs and other organs as well as fluids. Recovery will depend on the strength of their immune system. Many of those who have died are known to have been already in poor health.
Human to human transmission has been confirmed by China’s national health commission. As of February 3rd, 361 people have died in China, and one in the Philippines. Confirmed infections in China are 17,238, and the official Chinese figures include Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Outside of China, infections stand at more than 150.
Two members of one family have been confirmed to have the virus in the UK, after more than 160 were tested and found negative. The actual number to have contracted the virus could be far higher as people with mild symptoms may not have been detected.
So, should we panic?
No. The spread of the virus outside China is worrying but not an unexpected development. The key concerns are how transmissible this new coronavirus is between people and what proportion become severely ill and end up in the hospital.
Human coronavirus was first discovered in 1965 and accounts for many cases of the common cold. The virus gets its name from its crown-like shape.
Coronaviruses are zoonotic, which means they’re transmitted between animals and people. SARS was transmitted from cats to humans and researchers suspect MERS is transmitted from camels to humans.
Coronaviruses affect all age groups and most are not dangerous. They often only cause mild symptoms like a stuffy nose, cough and sore throat that can be treated with rest and over-the-counter medications. Most coronaviruses spread like any other cold viruses spread, including:
through the air by coughing and sneezing
close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands with someone who’s sick
touching an object with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose or eyes
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says people in the United States who get a coronavirus will usually get infected in the fall and winter, though it can happen any time of the year.
Most people will get infected with one or more of the common human coronaviruses during their lifetime.
Severe cases can lead to pneumonia, acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.
The new coronavirus’s incubation period is still unknown. However, health officials at the WHO assume it is about 14 days; they are not aware if people are contagious during the incubation period.
Could the coronavirus trigger a pandemic here in the US? If so, what can be done?
To answer that question, let’s look to our history.
Throughout history, influenza viruses have mutated and caused pandemics or global epidemics. In 1918, an especially virulent influenza pandemic struck here in the United States, killing many Americans.
Illness from the 1918 flu pandemic, also known as the Spanish flu, came on quickly. Some people felt fine in the morning but died by nightfall. People who caught the Spanish Flu but did not die from it often died from complications caused by bacteria, such as pneumonia.
During the 1918 pandemic:
• Approximately 20% to 40% of the worldwide population became ill
• An estimated 50 million people died
• Nearly 675,000 people died in the United States
Unlike earlier pandemics and seasonal flu outbreaks, the 1918 pandemic flu saw high mortality rates among healthy adults. In fact, the illness and mortality rates were highest among adults 20 to 50 years old. The reasons for this remain unknown.
So where did the 1918 influenza come from? And why was it so lethal?
In 1918, the Public Health Service had just begun to require state and local health departments to provide them with reports about diseases in their communities. The problem? Influenza wasn’t a reportable disease.
The disease was first observed in Haskell County, Kansas, in January 1918, prompting local doctor Loring Miner to warn the U.S. Public Health Service’s academic journal.
On March 4th, 1918, company cook Albert Gitchell reported sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. By noon on March 11th 1918, over 100 soldiers were in the hospital. Within days, 522 men at the camp had reported sick. By March11th, 1918 the virus had already reached Queens, New York.
By May, reports of severe influenza trickled in from Europe. Young soldiers, men in the prime of life, were becoming ill in large numbers. Most of these men recovered quickly but some developed a secondary pneumonia of “a most virulent and deadly type.”
Within two months, influenza had spread from the military to the civilian population in Europe. From there, the disease spread outward—to Asia, Africa, South America and, back again, to North America.
In Boston, dockworkers at Commonwealth Pier called in sick in massive numbers during the last week in August. Suffering from fevers as high as 105 degrees, these workers had severe muscle and joint pains. For most of these men, recovery quickly followed. But 5 to 10% of these patients developed severe and massive pneumonia. Death often followed.
Within days, the disease had spread outward to the city of Boston itself. By mid-September, the epidemic had spread even further with states as far away as California, North Dakota, Florida and Texas reporting severe epidemics.
In its wake, the pandemic would leave about twenty million dead across the world. In America alone, about 675,000 people in a population of 105 million would die from the disease.
Entire families became ill. In Philadelphia, a city especially hard hit, so many children were orphaned that the Bureau of Child Hygiene found itself overwhelmed and unable to care for them.
As the disease spread, schools and businesses emptied. Telegraph and telephone services collapsed as operators took to their beds. Garbage went uncollected as garbage men reported sick. The mail piled up as postal carriers failed to come to work.
State and local departments of health also suffered from high absentee rates. No one was left to record the pandemic’s spread and the Public Health Service’s requests for information went unanswered.
As the bodies accumulated, funeral parlors ran out of caskets and bodies went uncollected in morgues.
In the absence of a sure cure, fighting influenza seemed an impossible task.
In many communities, quarantines were imposed to prevent the spread of the disease. Schools, theaters, saloons, pool halls and even churches were all closed. As the bodies mounted, even funerals were held outdoors to protect mourners against the spread of the disease.
Public officials, who were unaware that influenza was a virus and that masks provided no real protection against viruses, often demanded that people wear gauze masks. Some cities even passed laws requiring people to wear masks. Enforcing these laws proved to be very difficult as many people resisted wearing masks.
Advertisements recommending drugs which could cure influenza filled newspapers. Some doctors suggested that drinking alcohol might prevent infection, causing a run on alcohol supplies.
States passed laws forbidding spitting, fearing that this common practice spread influenza.
None of these suggestions proved effective in limiting the spread of the pandemic.
Public health officials sought to stem the rising panic by censoring newspapers and issuing simple directives. Posters and cartoons were also printed, warning people of the dangers of influenza.
As I stated earlier, by the time the pandemic had ended, in the summer of 1919, nearly 675,000 Americans were dead from influenza. Hundreds of thousands more were orphaned and widowed.
You say it can’t happen here? Well folks, state officials first reported on the presence of influenza in Missouri on October 11, 1918. However, influenza had appeared in the state long before that date. By the third week of October, 3,765 influenza cases and 90 deaths had been reported from St. Louis, with 558 cases and 13 deaths being reported for October 16th alone.
On October 25th, state officials maintained that “conditions are either stationary or improving” in the state. But on October 24th, the situation took a turn for the worse. Influenza began spreading into rural districts. Between October 26th and 28th, the situation continued to be dire, with rural and urban areas across the state reporting high numbers of cases and deaths.
On October 17th, The Kansas City Star announced that “A DRASTIC BAN IS ON.” All theaters, schools, and churches were closed. Public gatherings of twenty or more persons, including dances, parties, weddings, and funerals were banned. Entertainment in hotels, bars, and restaurants were banned as well.
Only twenty-five people were to be allowed in a store at any one time. Street cars were forbidden to carry more than twenty standing passengers. City officials also insisted that all elevators and streetcars be sterilized daily; telephone booths were to be sterilized twice a day. In an attempt to keep city streets clean, streets were flooded with water.
Officials were optimistic that these tactics would help contain the pandemic. But despite these efforts, Kansas City was struck especially hard by the pandemic, becoming one of the worst hit areas in the country. The situation was especially bad during the fall. Students at the American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville, Missouri graduated early so that they could join the fight against influenza.
In St. Louis, the mayor, Henry Keil, announced on October 7th that “Spanish influenza is now present” in the city. It will, he continued, “become epidemic.” Following this announcement, he ordered all theaters, schools, pool halls, cabarets, lodges, and dance halls to be closed and discontinued until further notice. Public funerals, Sunday schools, and conventions were also banned.
In late September, Missouri University students were asked to refrain from leaving Columbia on visits, and the public was asked to avoid crowded areas. A local physician announced that “everyone with a cold should be regarded and should regard himself with suspicion.”
Between September 26th and December 6th, over a thousand students at the university contracted influenza. Looking back on the pandemic and its impact on the university, a local doctor said “I saw one patient die within 18 hours of this disease and 12 hours after being put to bed. I have seen a number of others menaced with death during the first 48 hours of the disease.” He concluded that “the statement that influenza is uncomplicated is, I believe, erroneous.”
On October 7, 1918: Mayor James Boggs prohibited Columbians from meeting in places of amusement, schools, churches. The city and the university were quarantined. Only members of the Students’ Army Training Corps were allowed access to the campus for military training purposes. Influenza was widespread among the students and two new hospitals were opened to care for influenza patients; nurses came from St. Louis and Centralia to ease the load.
The disease peaked in the fall of 1918. It continued to be prevalent throughout the state during the winter and spring. It gradually disappeared during the summer.
So there you have it folks. What do you think?
Should we shut down our borders till we get a handle on this?
Are health official over-reacting or should there be more steps taken to protect US citizens?
Finally, the big question, “Are we being told the truth about the coronavirus?”