It's Corona Time

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I found it to be extremely fitting that the essay that we had to analyze last Monday was about scientists and the research that they conduct, considering we have a real life example to compare it to: the Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). For a bit of background information, the 2019-nCoV originated from Wuhan, China, and as the name suggests, from 2019 - December of 2019 to be more precise. nCoV type viruses have actually been around for a long time infecting animals. The two most well known cases of other nCoV viruses are MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which originated from camels and cats respectively. This strain of the Coronavirus is thought to have originated from snakes, and this virus is most closely related the SARS.

The jobs of scientists during this time is extremely critical as the 2019-nCoV virus is relatively contagious. "Some viruses are highly contagious (like measles), while other viruses are less so. At this time, it’s unclear how easily or sustainably this virus is spreading between people." (The CDC). There have been over 37000 laboratory confirmed cases of this virus with over 800 deaths. Scientists are hard at work trying to figure out a possible cure for the disease, as well as the most effective ways to prevent the spread of this disease.  This virus probably originally emerged from snakes but now seems to be spreading from person-to-person.

An interesting situation I found about this virus is the cruise ship that has been quarantined. Here people are being held in docked cruise ships for weeks due to the scare of the virus




Comments

  1. Sai RavulaFebruary 9, 2020 at 6:17 PM

    I like how you analyzed the piece and how it relates to today, especially because it was about a large plague that happened 100 years ago. Now that there is a new virus with no known cure, it is up to scientists to find out a solution and to further help humanity progress.

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