-Can we talk about the coronavirus?
-Yeah. Are you stressed out about it?
How are you feeling about it? -I'm a little stressed.
I'm trying not to be stressed out, but I keep --
everything I read and see is scaring me.
-Yeah. -So I'm trying to be like,
"Wait. I want to take it seriously,
but I want to know what --" What is going on?
Because I feel like I'm getting mixed messages from
the Trump administration and what I'm seeing online
and in newspapers. -Yeah.
I mean, it's a real thing. It is worth taking seriously.
And we're starting to see it around the country now.
It's in multiple states. We've had multiple deaths.
New York City has its first confirmed case, which, you know,
matters to those of us here in New York in particular.
But this is something that -- I mean, it is going to --
it's spread in dozens of countries around the world.
It's likely to spread around the entire world.
A lot of people are going to get it,
potentially most of the world's population are going to get it,
which sounds terrible, but most of the people
who get coronavirus will not die from it.
-Okay. -It's got about
a 2% fatality rate. And the way that we all
need to deal with it, although it is a new threat --
we've never seen this virus before --
it's actually very old-fashioned ways of protecting ourselves.
You do all the things that you do to protect yourself
from getting a cold or from getting the flu.
We don't have to do anything outrageous.
We don't need to change our lives drastically
at an individual level. You just need to be
more vigilant about washing your hands,
make sure you don't develop patterns
where you don't touch your face.
That's the way we tend to give ourselves colds and the flu.
So at an individual level, there's no reason to panic,
but it's a serious thing. -I saw somewhere that said,
"Don't sneeze or cough on people."
I go, "Were we doing that?" [ Laughter ]
"Were people doing that?" -New Year's resolution.
-It's like, "I gotta stop coughing on people."
People not getting invited back to parties.
I've seen a lot of the masks around the city.
Is that a -- -That's probably not a thing.
I mean, you're seeing it, but it's probably not that smart.
The Surgeon General actually put out a statement which was like,
"You guys, stop buying masks!" -Yeah, I saw that.
-If you are sick, if you have respiratory symptoms, that's --
people are wearing a mask in that circumstance
because you're trying to avoid giving it to other people.
But in terms of being a healthy person and trying to avoid
getting infected, that's probably not that rational.
-And is Purell still -- -Sure.
If you can't wash -- If you can't --
First of all, get good at washing your hands.
-I'm fantastic at it. -Me too.
I've always been kind of a hand hygiene person.
-Me too. I love it. -This is why we get along!
-I know, exactly. [ Laughter ]
I always knew you were. -20 seconds in between
the hands, under the nails, backs of the hands. Right?
But you if can't do that, if you can't get access
to wash your hands, then using a hand sanitizer
that's got an adequate level of alcohol in it is a good move.
-Thank you, bud.
I gotta say congratulations again on the book.
-Thank you very much. -"Blowout."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Number one "New York Times" best-seller.
Not too shabby. -Not too shabby.
Thank you very much.
-Now it's going international these days, right?
-It is. It's being published
in a few other countries, which is cool.
I get to see it, like, in other languages.
-Isn't that the best? -Yeah, the British version of it
is, like, thicker. It makes it look longer
because they put it on fatter paper.
-Wow. -I was like, "Thanks!
You made me look like I did more work!"
[ Laughter ] Just saying.
-We always love you. Thank you so much for coming on.
-Nice to see you, my friend. -You're the best.
Rachel Maddow. [ Cheers and applause ]
Check out her best-selling book, "Blowout,"
and "The Rachel Maddow Show" at 9:00 p.m. on MSNBC.