The CDC has been monitoring the coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China since August of 2019. The virus did not make the news until December of 2019.
The virus causes respiratory illness. Virus can only live outside of the body anywhere from seconds to 48 hours.
The Mayo Clinic describes on how long a virus can live outside the body.
Cold and flu virus-laden droplets may remain infectious for several hours, depending on where they fall. Viruses generally remain active longer on stainless steel, plastic and similar hard surfaces than on fabric and other soft surfaces. Other factors, such as the amount of virus deposited on a surface and the temperature and humidity of the environment, also determine how long cold and flu viruses stay active outside the body.
It's possible to catch the flu or a cold after handling an object an infected person sneezed or coughed on a few moments ago. But personal contact with an infected person — such as a handshake or breathing in droplets from a cough or sneeze — is the most common way these viruses spread.
The best way to avoid becoming infected with a cold or flu virus is to wash your hands frequently with soap and water or with an alcohol-based sanitizer. Also avoid touching your nose, mouth and eyes or biting your nails. Most importantly — get a flu vaccine every year.
So why are Chinese spraying their cities with some currently unknown chemical, though it is suspected to be bleach. Check out the videos, I see no smooth surfaces anywhere, so what is the point?
Thoughts?
YouTube VideoPPL in #Wuhan shouting last night. Some say they shouted to pay tribute to Li Wenliang, who first exposed #CoronaVirus Outbreak, and who died yesterday. What they are saying, is "Wuhan, Add oil", meaning keep fighting, #coronavirus#CoronaOutbreakpic.twitter.com/JIdIVATVfq
— Tommaso Scelzo (@TScelzo) February 8, 2020
It�s Wuhan and the spray machines are back,again . #coronaviruspic.twitter.com/0Ra4BHWvb7
— RKS (@rksingh2021) February 8, 2020
#china trying to spray the #coronavirus to death at night .... I hope they know this helps and it is not only for the show #wuhanhttps://t.co/jgfd0sMfs6
— cyberdisruptor of social injustice and repression (@cyberdisruptor) February 4, 2020
Apparently China is sending trucks to spray bleach on entire cities as the country struggles to contain the Wuhan coronavirus, Like this is going to help https://t.co/xnPftdzSSe
— rodriQuez (@rodriQuez) February 8, 2020
Shanghai-based TMiRob dispatched over 40 robots to Wuhan to help medical personnel minimize the chances of exposure to infection in vulnerable environments. Robots can do UV sanitization and spray disinfects, quickly and efficiently. #coronaviruspic.twitter.com/G2ufpkIIqs
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 6, 2020
Seeing lines of disinfecting spray trucks cruising the streets during an outbreak, or wearing a mask as a purely preventative measure (when you're not ill, and not in direct contact with sick people) may help give a false sense of security during an outbreak. But public health experts stress that those moves, which are minimally effective at best, can also direct money, supplies, and attention away from where it's needed most.
"The truth is that coronaviruses have really poor survivability on surfaces," Saskia Popescu, a senior infection prevention epidemiologist who works at a Phoenix-based healthcare system, told Insider. "This is an organism that is generally spread through respiratory droplets. So that cough, that sneeze, and yes, your hands can get contaminated and then you touch your eyes, your mouth, and things like that."
She said the widespread use of disinfectants like bleach — which is what was being used in truck sprayers in at least one Chinese city, Yichang, according to a local report— is "a little over the top."
Wuhan coronavirus spray all of the world Included East Turkestan. The more than 3 million Uyghur adults and half million children are still in China�s concentration camps. Urgent call to International Human Rights Organization and World Health Organization taking actions !!! https://t.co/dd6xvCR8th
— #FreeUyghur#GoogleUyghur (@ChinaFreeUyghur) January 29, 2020
Chinese authorities are building disinfection lanes at entrances to the residential buildings in an effort to combat #coronavirus outbreak. pic.twitter.com/7aR82tE93c
— Wuhan Corona Virus News (@famous9_vlogs) February 8, 2020
A #coronavirus-infected woman gives birth to a boy whose first nucleic acid test associated with the novel coronavirus was negative on Feb 8 in E China's Zhejiang. The infant is under intensive care and will be tested again later. Best wishes to the newborn! pic.twitter.com/HGNjGcSuKX
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 8, 2020
A woman is getting arrested by Chinese police for not wearing the face mask. #coronaviruspic.twitter.com/tyxN515966
— Max HowrouteâÂ�«ï¸Â� (@howroute) February 8, 2020
LEAKED VIDEO SHOWS A HOME ISOLATION IN CHINA DUE TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE CORONAVIRUS pic.twitter.com/t3627OnYWR
— freezerohedge (@freezerohedge1) February 8, 2020
Wuhan woman desperately asking for help on the balcony: Help! My husband is dying. Someone please help me! I can�t do anything! #coronavirus#Wuhanpic.twitter.com/BgW8myDI19
— Quresh Moin (@Quresh_Moin) February 8, 2020
Where is the novel coronavirus going next?
Only time will tell. The next few days and weeks will determine: If sustained transmission begins in other countries, which unfortunately seems likely. If it does, whether it can be contained, which unfortunately seems unlikely. How severe the illness is among those who are infected, which we still don't know. Until we know this critical information, we won't be able to assess how bad this novel coronavirus is going to get and which control measures have the best chance of slowing spread.
Sunday, Feb 9, 2020 · 1:21:40 AM +00:00 · PakaloloThis is worth a read, for any healthcare providers trying to anticipate what weâÂ�Â�re up against. #TimorLeste is making preparations for #coronavirus but our capacity to handle severe cases here is questionable. Thanks @JAMA_currenthttps://t.co/UajEeYQncR
— Jeremy Beckett (@JBeckett1978) February 8, 2020
Good Read from the Atlantic:
Coronavirus Is Coming—And Trump Isn’t Ready
We all knew the moment would come. It could have been over Iran or North Korea, a hurricane or an earthquake. But it may be the new coronavirus out of China that tests whether President Donald Trump can govern in a crisis—and there is ample reason to be uneasily skeptical.
The U.S. government has the tools, talent, and team to help fight the coronavirus abroad and minimize its impact at home. But the combination of Trump’s paranoia toward experienced government officials (who lack “loyalty” to him), inattention to detail, opinionated rejection of science and evidence, and isolationist instincts may prove toxic when it comes to managing a global-health security challenge. To succeed, Trump will have to trust the kind of government experts he has disdained to date, set aside his own terrible instincts, lead from the White House, and work closely with foreign leaders and global institutions—all things he has failed to do in his first 1,200 days in office.
snip
What will Trump do about it? His track record offers us two data points, one horrible and one merely disappointing.
Trump briefly withdrew from politics after his “birther” campaign against President Barack Obama was discredited, but his next big public splash was a virulent, xenophobic, fearmongering outburst over the West African Ebola epidemic of 2014. Trump’s numerous tweets—calling Obama a “dope” and “incompetent” for his handling of the epidemic—were both wrongheaded and consequential: One study found that Trump’s tweets were the single largest factor in panicking the American people in the fall of 2014. How paranoid and cruel was Trump? He blasted Obama for evacuating an American missionary back to the United States when that doctor contracted Ebola while fighting the disease in Africa. Fortunately, Obama ignored Trump’s protests, and Kent Brantley was successfully treated in the U.S.; he continues doing good works today.