hi everybody I am dr. simi Osman I'm an
expert in epidemics a spread of disease
and the spread of misinformation about
disease over the next few weeks I'll be
responding directly to your questions as
you send them to me but right now what I
want to do is go through the 50 most
googled questions about coronavirus
asked this week starting from 50 and
working down to one question 50 will
coronavirus mutate so right off the bat
we're talking about the new corona virus
it's real name is Tsarskoe v2 and it's
part of this family of viruses called
corona viruses and yes like every virus
this novel coronavirus does mutate even
though it has mutated it doesn't seem to
have mutated in a way that makes any
meaningful difference to the way it
spreads or causes disease in humans are
symptoms sudden so they could be sudden
onset but we see that more with the
influenza virus it looks like with kovat
19 symptoms can be more gradual does
corona virus affect animals so yes it
can and it looks like this corona virus
may have originated in a bat gone to
another animal and then arrived in
humans does corona virus kill healthy
people yes it can and that's why we're
making this point about social
distancing the higher death rates are in
older people and in people with
pre-existing conditions and a suppressed
immune system can I get infected with
the new corona virus if I'm wearing a
mask yes but it does greatly reduce your
chance of getting infected the point
here though is that because we have this
massive shortage of masks we're
encouraging people not to wear them
unless they really need them meaning
they have symptoms or they're near
somebody who has symptoms because we
want to conserve as many masks as
possible for our first responders and
health care workers when will a vaccine
come right now we're seeing the
beginnings of phase 1 clinical trials
and the phase 1 is where you're testing
it only in healthy volunteers and a very
small group of them from that point it's
then at least 18 months if not many
years before you have a vaccine that
both works and can be scaled up do
coronavirus symptoms come and go from
the time somebody gets infected it takes
on average about five days for them to
show symptoms but it could be as early
as two days or as long as 40
ten days once somebody is sick it can be
anywhere from around two to six weeks
that they continue to have these
symptoms why is it named coronavirus
when you look at it under an electron
microscope you see this the virus is
studded with these spike proteins and
they give it the appearance of having a
halo or a crown and Corona happens to be
the Latin word for crown did coronavirus
slow down in China yes the virus seems
to have reached a peak on the epidemic
curve and in cases started to decline
when was corona virus discovered so it
was back in December around December
26th at a Chinese physician noticed an
unusual pneumonia and then it was on
January 7th that the new virus was
identified will coronavirus go away in
the summer it's unlikely and especially
here in the states will corona virus
affect the stock market yes we've
already seen that happen
why is corona virus called novel novel
just means new has corona virus been
around before that family of corona
viruses has been around for a very long
time four of them are what caused the
common cold in US but this particular
one Tsarskoe v2 is brand new does corona
virus need isolation when somebody has
symptoms we know they're contagious we
want to keep them away from others to
prevent the spread of disease what are
corona virus symptoms it causes fever
cough shortness of breath and it can
cause very severe pneumonias and
potentially even death what corona virus
go away probably not totally look at
what happened with h1n1 flu in 2009 it
caused a pandemic that year and now it's
a commonly circulating flu it's likely
we'll see the same thing with this novel
coronavirus
did corona virus come from snakes highly
unlikely why did the corona virus start
in China China's a country of more than
1.3 billion people the chances of
something starting there are just higher
than starting in a smaller country and
increasingly all of us humans are living
in closer proximity to animals so this
happened in China but it could have
happened in many places can corona virus
spread through water so no there's no
evidence right now that the virus can
spread through water we'll coronavirus
and the world know let's all take a
collective deep breath I know you have
like the end of
world but it isn't-- is coronavirus in
Mexico yes it has spread there can
coronavirus spread through close yes it
looks like the virus can survive on
fabrics which coronavirus is in china I
think this question is asking about the
new corona virus called Tsarskoe v2 can
the corona virus be stopped yes it can
eventually with isolating people who are
sick practicing social distancing while
the pandemic is at its peak and also
developing antiviral treatments and
vaccines can the corona virus to live on
surfaces yes we think it can survive on
surfaces anywhere from a few hours to a
few days but it depends on the exact
type of surface and on the environmental
conditions was corona virus engineered
no it wasn't where is the corona virus
in the u.s. it's been detected in all 50
states can corona virus spread through
food so right now there's only evidence
of this in virus spreading from one
person to another there isn't evidence
of people contracting the infection from
touching a contaminated surface but
that's theoretically possible and that
could include food as well can corona
virus spread through mail now that we
know it can potentially survive from a
few hours to a few days on a variety of
surfaces it is a possibility that mail
could be contaminated
why is corona virus deadly it's deadly
because it attaches to receptors on the
surface of our cells in our lungs and
our respiratory tract and it can cause a
very severe pneumonia that then causes a
lung failure and then we can also see
multi organ dysfunction as well did the
new corona virus come from bats what we
think at the moment is that this new
virus came to us from bats who infected
an intermediate animal and then that
animal may have infected humans why is
the new corona virus dangerous it's
dangerous because it causes a
respiratory tract infection it's also
dangerous because this is the first time
humans have been exposed to this virus
and it means we have no pre-existing
immunity to it how did the new corona
virus spread in China so as I mentioned
we think that this new virus originated
in bats this corona virus worse than the
flu I'm getting asked as questions so
much I think people are wondering well
flu kills tens of thousands of Americans
every year why are we so worried about
this new virus here's why
worried it looks like the death rate
from the new coronavirus is at least ten
times higher than the death rate from
seasonal flu does coronavirus go away so
I already answered that house cried a
virus reached India yes sadly it has
I've been seeing cases there reported
since the end of January is coronavirus
a pandemic yes this coronavirus new yes
can corona virus in dogs spread to
humans there's one case of a dog
infected with this new corona virus it
didn't show any signs of disease and
there's no evidence of transmission from
a dog to a human
how does corona virus work the virus
enters the respiratory tract through the
nose the eyes or the mouth and then it
takes over our cells own machinery to
its own ends to make more copies of the
virus is on god it's corona virus
man-made no it is not
is corona virus in the u.s. yes it is
definitely here can corona virus be
treated sadly there's no specific
antiviral treatment just for this corona
virus but what we do as doctors is treat
the symptoms is coronavirus fatal yes
sadly this new corona virus can cause
death particularly in people who are
older have a compromised immune system
or have a pre-existing health condition
such as diabetes high blood pressure
heart disease things like that is corona
virus curable no we don't have a
specific treatment for this new corona
virus is corona virus airborne this one
is so tricky because there's no
Universal definition of exactly what
airborne means when a person who's
infected with the new corona virus
coughs or sneezes they disperse droplets
from their respiratory tract and those
droplets can be full of virus they're
said to travel about three to six feet
now compare that to somebody who has
measles and sneezes the virus then
clings to particles that hang in the air
those are much smaller particles
compared to droplets they can travel
further and they can just stay suspended
in the air for a lot longer now I will
say but this is a new virus right now
what we're saying is that there's a
droplet transmission we're not calling
it airborne
how did Crona by
star so this new coronavirus as I've
mentioned a few times probably
originated in bats went from bats to an
intermediate host some other animal and
then from that animal to humans
how does coronavirus spread so like I
just mentioned with those droplets what
we understand is that an infected person
coughs or sneezes and those virus and
Laden droplets can land on another
person make their way into the person's
respiratory tract and that's how it
spreads it could also spread through
inanimate surfaces maybe an elevator
button or a door handle but that's still
being studied right now the evidences of
person to person spread is coronavirus
deadly that's a number-one question and
the answer is yes worldwide this new
corona virus has killed more than 6,000
people as of March 17th 2020 so those
are the most googled questions as of
this week I do think there's a lot of
power in information and a lot of
comfort in dialogue so if you have any
questions at all please put them here in
the comments reach me on social media
and I'll be back here in the wired
Channel responding to your questions and
concerns
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