Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Bomb Here. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: scary news out there right now about coronavirus, so let's
Speaker 1: talk about it. Human coronaviruses are a large family of
Speaker 1: viruses that can cause a variety of illnesses, ranging from
Speaker 1: the common cold to severe diseases like Middle East Respiratory
Speaker 1: syndrome a k A MERS and Severe Acute respiratory syndrome
Speaker 1: a k A SARS. The World Health Organization says what's
Speaker 1: being called novel coronavirus is a new strain that had
Speaker 1: not been previously identified in humans until late nineteen. It's
Speaker 1: sometimes called COVID nineteen for that reason. Human coronavirus was
Speaker 1: first discovered in nine and accounts for many cases of
Speaker 1: the common cold. The virus gets its name from its
Speaker 1: crown like shape corona, meaning crown. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, which
Speaker 1: means they're transmitted between non in animals and humans. CZARS
Speaker 1: was transmitted from civic cats to humans, and researchers suspect
Speaker 1: MERS is transmitted from dromedary camels to humans. But let's
Speaker 1: be clear, coronaviruses affect all age groups of all people
Speaker 1: around the world, and most are not dangerous. They often
Speaker 1: only cause mild symptoms that can be treated with rest
Speaker 1: and over the counter medications, and most of them spread
Speaker 1: like any other. Cold viruses spread, including through the air
Speaker 1: by coughing and sneezing, by close personal contact such as
Speaker 1: touching or shaking hands with someone who's sick, or by
Speaker 1: touching an object with the virus on it and then
Speaker 1: touching your mouth, nose, or eyes. The U S Centers
Speaker 1: for Disease Control or c d C says that people
Speaker 1: in the US who get a coronavirus will usually get
Speaker 1: infected in the fall and winter, though it can happen
Speaker 1: any type of year, and most people will get infected
Speaker 1: with one or more of the four common human coronaviruses
Speaker 1: during their lifetime. Signs of infection with these common coronaviruses
Speaker 1: include headache, running, nose fee cough, shortness of breath, and
Speaker 1: sore throat, though severe cases can lead to pneumonia, acute
Speaker 1: respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death. But while these
Speaker 1: four common strains are not typically severe, three others have
Speaker 1: proven deadly. An outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a
Speaker 1: new coronavirus. The aforementioned novel coronavirus was first reported in
Speaker 1: Wuhan City, China, in early January. Chinese health officials have
Speaker 1: noted thousands of infections with novel coronavirus in China, and
Speaker 1: infections were reported in several international locations, including the US.
Speaker 1: Like other coronaviruses, the symptoms of novel coronavirus include fever,
Speaker 1: difficulty breathing, and pneumonia, and the virus spreads via person
Speaker 1: to person contact. At the time of this episode's release,
Speaker 1: at least three thousand people have died and more than
Speaker 1: eighty eight thousand, eight hundred people have been infected worldwide
Speaker 1: with novel coronavirus. China was home to over eighty thousand
Speaker 1: of these cases. The Chinese government took precedented steps to
Speaker 1: curb the virus by placing almost sixty million people on
Speaker 1: lockdown and banning travel to and from fifteen cities. The
Speaker 1: United States has also implemented travel restrictions that went into
Speaker 1: effect February third. The restrictions temporarily require any US citizen
Speaker 1: returning to the States from China to a mandatory fourteen
Speaker 1: day quarantine. While it's been reported that the virus might
Speaker 1: have originated in a food market in Wuhan, the World
Speaker 1: Health Organization says that not enough is known about this
Speaker 1: strain to fully understand its features, how it's transmitted, or
Speaker 1: its origins. For example, novel coronaviruses incubation period is still unknown.
Speaker 1: Incubation meaning how long it takes between being infected with
Speaker 1: the virus and coming down with symptoms. Health officials are
Speaker 1: assuming it's about fourteen days, hence the travel quarantine. They're
Speaker 1: not sure whether people are contagious during the incubation period.
Speaker 1: People in areas where there are known cases of novel
Speaker 1: coronavirus and take steps to protect themselves, though most of
Speaker 1: these are good hygiene practices in general. For avoiding colds
Speaker 1: and flues, you should avoid contact with sick people, coffin,
Speaker 1: sneeze into a tissue, and immediately throw used tissues into
Speaker 1: aligned trash. Can wash your hands often with soap and
Speaker 1: water for at least twenty seconds, or use an alcohol
Speaker 1: based hand sanitizer if soap and water aren't available. Avoid
Speaker 1: touching your face and especially your eyes, nose, and mouth
Speaker 1: with unwashed hands. If someone in your household is sick,
Speaker 1: don't share cups, forks, towels, or betting with them, and
Speaker 1: disinfect frequently touched common surfaces like door knobs. In areas
Speaker 1: with novel coronavirus outbreaks, you're also advised to avoid wild animals,
Speaker 1: alive or dead, animal markets, and products that come from
Speaker 1: animals like uncooked meat. And again, in areas with outbreaks,
Speaker 1: you can wear specialized, tight fitting, thick face masks like
Speaker 1: the N nine respirator to prevent getting infected. On the
Speaker 1: other hand, if you fact that you are already infected,
Speaker 1: you can wear any kind of face mask to help
Speaker 1: prevent transmission, or you can always just stay home. But
Speaker 1: do note that if the virus has not been reported
Speaker 1: in your area, face masks are unnecessary, and the CDC
Speaker 1: is recommending against members of the general public using them
Speaker 1: or even buying them. At this point. They're expensive, the
Speaker 1: specialized ones are uncomfortable to wear, Stockpiling them may lead
Speaker 1: to shortages within the medical community should there be an outbreak,
Speaker 1: and again they're just not needed. Most of all, don't
Speaker 1: panic and educate yourself before spending money or time or worry.
Speaker 1: If there have been no reported infections in your area.
Speaker 1: You're not going to get novel coronavirus from eating food
Speaker 1: from local restaurants, whether they serve Chinese cuisine or not.
Speaker 1: Even though coronaviruses can transmit between humans and other animals,
Speaker 1: if you don't need a face mask, neither does your dog,
Speaker 1: and the virus has nothing to do with Corona beer
Speaker 1: other than the thing where someone at the beer company
Speaker 1: also found the word corona to be symbolic m Today's
Speaker 1: episode was written by Sarah Glime and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other topics, visit
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