There have been nearly 2,800 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far. At least 80 people have died, and the disease has popped up in a dozen countries. China’s Hubei province, where the virus originated, is on lockdown; its cities resemble a post-apocalyptic landscape absent cars, pedestrians, and vendors. Like any deadly disease, coronavirus is a tragedy; however, Chinese communism is making this one far worse.
The coronavirus is naturally difficult to stop. Unlike SARS, an outbreak of which left 800 dead in 2003, coronavirus is apparently contagious before people show symptoms. It has an incubation period of up to two weeks, during which people are contagious but won’t know they’re sick. One doctor who authored a study on coronavirus last week described it as “asymptomatic walking pneumonia.” Emergency services are overwhelmed and Chinese hospitals lack sufficient space to accommodate patients, putting even those who are healthy at risk of contracting the disease. Neil Ferguson, a public health expert at the London’s Imperial College, estimated the actual number of infected to be 100,000.