A viral outbreak has infected more than 2,700 people in China and killed at least 80 so far. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the second case of the new coronavirus on American soil. By Monday, the number of confirmed cases was up to 5. The top media outlets in the nation have been quick to comment on the spread of the virus and what it means for citizens of the United States.
An op-ed on CNN.com implored the World Health Organization to sound the alarm:
“As the Wuhan coronavirus continues to spread around the world, the World Health Organization’s decision to hold off on declaring the outbreak ‘a public health emergency of international concern’ is baffling.” — Michael Bociurkiw, global affairs analyst.
An opinion piece in The New York Times questioned what good the imposed quarantine in China will do, positing that it may make the situation worse:
“An integral failing of most quarantines is that some people, seeing the restrictions as overly strict and an imposition on their rights, will invariably try to bypass them. Their evasion, in turn, can endanger public health. So, do quarantines contain a disease or might they actually contribute to spreading it?” — Howard Markel, professor of history of medicine.
An estimated 56 million people were put on lockdown in China.
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida tweeted his concerns and linked to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece:
The Wall Street Journal op-ed argues that U.S. hospitals aren’t well prepared to prevent the spread of the virus:
“American hospitals aren’t ready for the deadly virus or a future global contagion ... Canada learned it the hard way in 2003, as deaths from SARS soared in the province of Ontario. Seventy-seven percent of people infected with SARS there contracted it in the hospital.” — Betsy McCaughey, author of New York Times bestseller “Beating Obamacare.”
President Donald Trump Tweeted:
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden opined in USA Today that President Trump is not prepared to deal with coronavirus outbreak:
“To be blunt,” he wrote, “I am concerned that the Trump administration’s shortsighted policies have left us unprepared for a dangerous epidemic which will come sooner or later ... diseases do not stop at borders. They cannot be thwarted by building a wall.”
The Los Angeles Times published an op-ed stating Americans should have seen this outbreak coming:
“The emergence of this new virus was predictable, even inevitable.” — Wendy Orent, freelance science writer.