This image provided by The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (orange)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (green) cultured in the lab.
Image Credit: (NIAID-RML via AP)
March 12, 2020 - 4:30 PM
The COVID-19 pandemic got real this week as across North America, major sports leagues have been cancelled, education officials are considering closing schools and cancelling student trips, the stock market has crashed, the Americans are closing borders and of course there's the toilet-paper crisis. Even Disney theme parks have closed.
You can catch up on that news here, but it's breaking fast.
Only some of this is due to actual health concerns from the virus, which has the most risk for the elderly or people with underlying health conditions. Limiting 'social distance', which is why so many public events are being cancelled, is more about ensuring our health care systems don't collapse under the weight.
There's no reason to panic, but there's great reason to follow a few simple rules to help everyone get through this.
We're wondering about your thoughts. Do you think health officials over-reacting or are they being prudent? If you want to expand on your answer, please use the comments section below.
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