COVID-19-Not the First Coronavirus

Fun (ish) fact: On March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The last pandemic was the flu in 2009!  We all know a little bit about coronavirus because we are trapped inside because of one virus. In fact, COVID-19 isn’t the only coronavirus in our history.

But what is a coronavirus? It is a wide family of zoonotic viruses, meaning it can transfer from animals to humans. There are more types? coronavirus circling through the animal population, but COVID-19 is the most recent virus to infect humans. 

COVID-19 is the most deadly coronavirus so far. The cases are growing every day with, 1,508 new cases, and those are just from April 15th. These are also just cases in Michigan. On April 15, 2020, the hardest-hit state in the U.S. is New York had 11,571 new cases.

The first coronavirus is Severe Acute Respitiory Syndrom or SARS-CoV. It was first reported in 2002. It only has a total of 8,098 cases from 17 countries. It is way less severe than COVID-19 and there have only been 744 deaths ( a death rate of 11%). 

The second coronavirus is Middle East Respiratory Syndrom or MERS-CoV. It was first reported in 2012. It is believed that it transmits from camels. This virus spread to 21 countries and had more than 2,500 cases reported and 860 deaths ( a death rate of 15-%50). More than 2,000,000 people have it worldwide. 

There are so many new cases every second that it is hard to get an accurate count for COVID-19. Some sights are trying to track the spread, but it is just too hard to keep an accurate count, especially with limited testing.  The death rate os so hard to find because so many people are dying and getting sick. The overall hospitalization rate is 20-100,000. 

Works Cited

“COVID-19: A History of Coronavirus.” Lab Manager, Apr. 2020, www.labmanager.com/lab-health-and-safety/covid-19-a-history-of-coronavirus-22021.