 In the new year, there has been quite a scare about the Corona Virus (now named COVID-19, and for the remainder of the article we will refer to it as the COVID Virus). But the questions lots of people are asking is how does it compare to the Influenza (which for the sake of my fingers we will call the flue.) First, let’s start with the flu. For the flu, we will use the 2018-2019 numbers. In 2018 an estimated 16.5 million illnesses alone, shocking 33,000 deaths so far. This is all according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Once again according to the CDC flu symptoms can include a fever, a cough, a sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, muscle/body aches, headaches and fatigue (extreme tiredness). Now let’s talk about how the flu spreads, people with the flu can spread it to others up to 6 feet away. Experts believe the flu is spread by tiny droplets made when people cough, sneeze or talk while they have the flu. These droplets can land on the skin or in the noses or mouths of people who are nearby, they could possibly also be inhaled into the lungs. Less often, someone might get the flu by touching a surface where the flu virus has been on. People who have the flu are in their most contagious state during their first few days having the virus. Children or people with weaker immune systems can be contagious for longer periods of time. The flu can be contagious before symptoms kick in, symptoms on average begin around 2 days after the virus enters the body. The virus is still contagious in that ‘no symptoms’ stage.
Now let’s talk about the ever-so-feared COVID virus. The symptoms of the COVID virus range from mild fevers to severe illness and hospitalization. The main few symptoms are fever, coughing, and lack of breath. According to Gisan data’s live map, there have been 82,550 confirmed cases of the COVID virus. There have been 2,810 deaths. But one factor that is commonly overlooked is that 33,252 of the cases have recovered. This means that around ~40% of the confirmed cases have recovered, but also only ~3% of the people who have got it have died. If we compare the ~3% death rate of the COVID virus to the ~.4% death rate of the flu. However, these numbers do have a very big difference in the number of recorded cases. This means that the COVID virus is technically more lethal. But considering fewer people overall have got it. Now into how the COVID virus spreads, the virus spreads in largely the same way of the flu. It spreads by little droplets created when the person sneezes or coughs. So now I’m here to answer the question: should you really be afraid of the COVID virus? The answer: yes and no. See, the thing is scientists don't know how hugely widespread the virus will go. Also considering that the virus is new, we don't know what kind of mutations could come off of it. But going back to the number only around 3% of the people with the COVID virus die. The COVID virus and the flu are two similar yet different sicknesses. They both spread the same way and have similar symptoms. But really from what we have seen the flu is worse. It has many more cases of it being fatal. But the COVID virus shouldn’t be overlooked. The virus is new so we don't know what will come from it weather it will mutate or just die down in a few months, only time will tell. Story by Aidan McCloud  Officers in Hong Kong stop a middle-aged woman because of the strange way she was walking around. When they searched her they found vials of blood stashed in her bra, each vial was labeled with a pregnant woman’s name. Lots of other people trying to cross the border with blood samples on their person have been caught, including children. More recently, in February 2019, a 12-year-old girl was stopped at Luohu port, another entry point into Hong Kong, with 142 blood samples hidden in her backpack. China's Population and Family Planning Law banned gender testing in 2002, to prevent a widening of the country's gender imbalance. In this country of 1.4 billion people, men outnumbered women by 32.7 million at the end of 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Under China's one-child policy, which limited parents to one child sex-selective abortions became widespread in the hope of securing a son. (Many families still attach importance to the idea of having a son to carry the family’s name.) Online agents also posted articles highlighting the benefits of having sons, for example, mentioning that a woman was given 100,000 yuan from her father-in-law after tests confirmed her baby was a boy.
From 1970 to 2017, this prevented 12 million girls from being born, according to a study published in May by National University of Singapore researchers. The policy against having multiple children was partially scrapped in 2015, but many parents still forgo having more than one child because of the cost involved. To get around the local ban on sex testing, some couples started sending blood samples across the border, into Hong Kong. This is illegal, with China's National Health and Family Planning Commission issuing a notice in 2017 banning the export of human blood. Some Chinese women are desperate to find out whether their child will be a boy or a girl so they turn to the intermediates who offer to transport the samples across the border into Hong Kong. Even though the law prevents sex testing, women, and men, will go out of their way, even if it means breaking the law. Hong Kong only requires an import permit for blood samples suspected to contain an infectious agent. The Post identified 111 accounts on China’s Twitter-like microblogging platform Weibo set up since 2015 to offer Y chromosome DNA testing services in Hong Kong. Males typically have X and Y sex chromosomes, while females have two X chromosomes. An ultrasound test can only identify the sex of a fetus about five months into gestation. Among the agent accounts found online, 52 were set up in 2016, increasing from 29 in 2017. According to some of the online advertisements, the tests, priced from 3,000 yuan ($445) to 4,000 yuan ($520), have a high accuracy rate ranging from 99.4% to 99.99% for women five to seven weeks into their pregnancy. Even though the export of human blood in China is illigal, Hong Kong allows the importation of blood samples, provided they are not suspected of containing infectious agents and as long as a permit is secured, a spokeswoman from the city's Department of Health told CNN via email. Since 2015, the department has referred three cases involving laboratories conducting prenatal blood testing to the board for investigation, but all were dismissed due to insufficient evidence. Story by Lily Severance  I know you’ve all seen the widespread disease that is sweeping the world. The coronavirus. It started in China and has quite quickly moved onto cruise ships and planes and crossed over into the United States territory, but this virus is affecting so many other places too. So far America, China, Europe, Italy, Iran, and South Korea have had cases of the disease and others too. Many states in the U.S. have taken early precautions for safety. For example the governor of New York City has taken and set aside $40 million to prepare for the possible infections. A long with two european hotels that have been put on lockdown after some of the guests tested positive for the virus. A third hotel was also on lockdown for several hours but then was lifted.
An Australian ski resort was also put on lockdown when an Italian employee tested positive for the virus. Other places also had guests from Italy who tested positive as well. It is also said that the infected Italians had recently visited near the Lombardy area of the country. Many doctors and researchers have stated that ways to prevent getting the virus include, avoiding close contact with people that are sick, avoiding touching the eyes, mouth, and nose, coughing into a tissue or your elbow, and wearing a facemask if needed. One of the biggest things to do to help prevent catching it is washing your hands and disinfecting places that are commonly touched by multiple people. It is also said that there is no specific cure for the virus yet. Researchers have found that the way it spreads is from person to person and spreads also by contact with surfaces. Some symptoms for this virus are having a fever, a cough, and having shortness of breath. The CDC says that these symptoms may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after exposure. Also the scientific name that it’s been given is COVID-19. According to the CDC this wording means “‘CO’ stands for ‘corona,’ ‘VI’ for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as “2019 novel coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV.” Trump has also currently but Vice President Mike Pence in charge of telling the public the updates and responses to the virus. Along with this so far there have been over 60 cases of the virus but none of them fatal yet. Story by Hadley Wallace  The COVID-19, commonly known as the Coronavirus is a deadly disease. It started in Wuhan, China. It has reached almost all over the world. According to the CDC COVID-19 is a pandemic and is spreading fast. The coronavirus has spread to the NBA according to CNN 3 people have gotten the coronavirus in the NBA. The NBA has suspended the league until further notice. Alongside the NBA the women's soccer was played with no crowd. The World Health Organization says to always wash your hands after every meal, bathroom break, and after touching people. Just in case you should always wash your hands thoroughly for 20 seconds. According to the CDC the symptoms for coronavirus are fever, cough,shortness of breath and runny nose. There are more than 90,000 cases of the coronavirus and more than 3,000 deaths. Luckily there are more recoveries than deaths at 64,000 recoveries. There are more than 80,000 cases of the COVID-19 in mainland China. And the 2nd most infected is Europe, with over 4,000 cases. But here in the US there are 1,701 cases with 40 deaths and 12 recoveries. CNN says that scientists use a formula for figure out if the virus spreads quickly or not. The formula is called R0 or R not. R0 is the determination in which one person can give the virus or bacteria to someone else. The average R0 for the flu is 1.2, for the SARS virus is astonishing 12 R0. But the coronavirus is 2.5 which means that the coronavirus can spread decently fast. Story by Logan Gallas |
