The markets are falling but the manufacturers of soaps and various kinds

of sanitizing substances I think are doing quite well. Why is that? Of course

because of the onset of the coronavirus, which could become a pandemic.

What can we do for now? Well, the best advice is to keep washing our hands,

make sure that we don't touch too many surfaces

and hope that everything is going to come out okay.

But as is very often the case when some event like this happens,

the pseudoscience mongers get into the picture and start with their stories and

conspiracy theories. So let's stick to the facts. What do we know?

We know that the virus somehow emerged from Wuhan in China

it probably came from some sort of animal

possibly bat droppings, contaminated wild animals sold in a store

at least that's the theory, and there's some evidence for that

although not everyone thinks that was ground zero but it certainly could have been.

There are stories going around about how Wuhan actually

housed some kind of biological facility where they were testing out viruses for warfare.

There's zero evidence for that.

Then there is the story of eating bats

and there's even a video going around of someone eating a bat suggesting that

this is what started it all. That video is actually old and it wasn't taken in China.

It was taken on some Pacific island where they actually do

sometimes eat bats but this has nothing to do with the current outbreak.

And then of course there are all of the potential treatments

and all of these are are quackery.

Nobody right now has any kind of treatment for this virus.

Of course they're e working feverishly to try to find a vaccine

but that's going to be a long time

at least a year a year until anything crops up.

But there are people out there who are telling us that what you have to do is take sesame

oil, mix it with ground-up garlic and ascorbic acid or vitamin C and that this

is the cure for for the coronavirus.

Incidentally, the reason it's called coronavirus is because

when you look under microscope it kind of looks like it has a crown.

A virus is just basically some protein and some genetic material.

We don't really talk about killing a virus because the virus isn't alive.

It has to infect a cell and it uses the cell's machinery to replicate itself.

However, it can be washed away from from the hands and it is

susceptible to some disinfectants.

Certainly bleach, a dilute solution of bleach, can inactivate the virus.

Hydrogen peroxide can inactivate the virus.

You may have seen trucks going around in China spraying

I suspect they are spraying a dilute solution of bleach or hydrogen peroxide

But then there is the quack item known as miracle mineral solution

this is all over internet now supposing it's the treatment for the coronavirus.

It's a bleach called chlorine dioxide and you actually make it by mixing

together two chemicals. Sodium chloride and citric acid can be

mixed together to make this. Now miracle mineral solution has been around for a

while with claims of curing every disease that you have heard of

and now of course they are jumping on this particular bandwagon

and saying that this is the cure.

There's absolutely no evidence for it.

There's no reason to think that swallowing this will do any good whatsoever.

This is nonsense.

Now what about the masks? People are wearing surgical masks like doctors have.

They don't do much good because air can get in, air can get out

There is some value in masks, though, especially this kind.

This is called the N-95 mask because it keeps out particles which are very very small

and they're generally referred to by microns and 95 refers to that.

It is not the most comfortable thing when you put it on

but it's okay and it provides a very good seal

so that nothing comes out and nothing goes in.

I don't even know if my sound is coming out now

But you can wear this

and if you are infected it will certainly keep you from coughing any kind of sputum

and also protects you from inhaling anything from the air

because it turns out that tiny little particles in the air

particles of moisture can harbour the organism.

So anyway, that's what we know for now.

The N-95 mask is the one that that works.

Surgical masks are less effective.

But at this point all we can hope is that the virus will kind of

peter out as the spring rolls around as we saw with SARS and with MERS

But it's also possible that it will develop into a full-scale pandemic.

Obviously let's hope that doesn't happen

And for now let's just keep washing our hands as often as we can

and stay away from large crowds.