r/IAmA • u/APnews • Mar 16 '20
We are the chief medical writer for The Associated Press and a vice dean at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Ask us anything you want to know about the coronavirus pandemic and how the world is reacting to it. Science
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who asked questions.
Please follow https://APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for up-to-the-minute coverage of the pandemic or subscribe to the AP Morning Wire newsletter: https://bit.ly/2Wn4EwH
Johns Hopkins also has a daily podcast on the coronavirus at http://johnshopkinssph.libsyn.com/ and more general information including a daily situation report is available from Johns Hopkins at http://coronavirus.jhu.edu
The new coronavirus has infected more than 127,000 people around the world and the pandemic has caused a lot of worry and alarm.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
There is concern that if too many patients fall ill with pneumonia from the new coronavirus at once, the result could stress our health care system to the breaking point -- and beyond.
Answering your questions Monday about the virus and the public reaction to it were:
- Marilynn Marchione, chief medical writer for The Associated Press
- Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and author of The Public Health Crisis Survival Guide: Leadership and Management in Trying Times
Find more explainers on coronavirus and COVID-19: https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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u/CynicalSamaritan Mar 16 '20
Iran is massively under-reporting its cases and the lack of a free press is preventing us from knowing what's truly going on. China, Korea, and Japan have instituted measures that places like the US would have difficulty implementing. And we have seen what those countries are doing, but we've a lack of leadership in the US and and an administration which doesn't take this seriously. We can't even test the cases we suspect we have now because there isn't enough test kits or testing capacity. For example, there are Fever Clinics in China where medical workers diagnose cases, and anyone suspected of COVID19 (you can't even enter your apartment building without getting temperature tested) is sent immediately, where you are quarantined with mild and potential cases until you no longer show signs or test negative. And we're still recommending that people stay at home and self-quarantine where they can go on to infect everyone they live with. And people are still going out to bars and stuff.
Italy, Spain, and France are a sign of where the US is headed because the measures they've implementing now are what the US is beginning to do and they're a good example of when the government acts too late and doesn't take the threat seriously.