Ethan Maglione
Staff Writer
As of Monday, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the coronavirus has an estimated total of 17,000 cases and 362 deaths since Dec. last year.
The most recent tally has been compared to the previous pandemic that occurred out of China, which was known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome-related (SARS) coronavirus, which had a total of 8,000 cases and had a total of 774 deaths, the incident lasting about a year.
The virus lowered the average household income of China to such an extent that the average salary was lowered to only $175 a year.
The problem with the coronavirus is it has a significantly higher infection rate than SARS; it has almost doubled the number of infected in about a month.
Due to the high infectivity rate of the coronavirus and the popularity of international flight, the virus has spread to multiple different countries outside of China, including the United States, which has a total of 11 confirmed cases, six in California, two in Illinois and one in Massachusetts, Washington and Arizona.
Given that there are multiple confirmed cases of the coronavirus, only one state away from Wyoming, what is the possibility that the virus will find its way here, and if so, what are the steps the university is taking to assure that the situation is under control? In truth, the Wyoming Department of Health has gone to great lengths to ensure that the UW campus is safe.
The UW’s Student Health has $20 flu shots which does not require an appointment, and they are giving out clinical masks for extra prevention. On a different note, there is a meager chance of the virus itself finding its way to the university’s campus as the closest reported cases are all in California, Nevada and Washington. These cases have been contained, however, meaning there is little to no chance the virus can spread from there.
“The risk for an ongoing outbreak is low,” said Kim Deti from the Wyoming Department of Health. “We don’t have any confirmed cases, nor do we have any suspected cases”.
Between the procedures put into place by Student Health and the very low chance the disease has to make it to Wyoming, it is clear that the virus has minimal potential to have any real effect on Wyoming or our campus.
