The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread to discuss COVID-19.



What Exactly is COVID-19?

First, let’s get some terms straight. SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the virus that’s spreading; COVID-19 is the disease it causes. Although most media reports have used the term “coronavirus” to describe SARS-CoV-2, the term is, by itself, not very informative.

Ccoronaviruses comprise an entire branch of the virus family tree that includes the disease-causing pathogens behind SARS, MERS and several variants of the common cold. Using “coronavirus” to refer to a potentially dangerous viral strain is a little bit like saying “mammal” when you mean “lion,” technically accurate, but not specific.

The fact that this new virus belongs to the coronavirus group, however, is telling, as humans have encountered plenty of these pathogens before. Named for the spiky, crown-like fringe that shrouds each viral particle—giving them a “coronated” appearance—coronaviruses tend to target the respiratory systems of bats and other mammals, as well as birds. More often than not, the viruses remain restricted to their wild hosts. But occasionally, they make the hop into humans, as occurred with the 2003 SARS and 2012 MERS outbreaks, both of which likely originated in bats.

The animal source of SARS-CoV-2 has yet to be pinpointed definitively. Given the history, bats remain a probable culprit, with some researchers suspecting the pangolin—an endangered mammal prized on the black market for its scales—as a potential intermediary, reports Joel Achenbach for the Washington Post.

What are the symptoms of COVID-19, and how is it transmitted?

Like other coronaviruses, the COVID-19 virus infiltrates the airways of its hosts. At worst, these pathogens can cause severe forms of viral pneumonia, which in some cases leads to death. Though researchers caution that numbers could shift as the outbreak progresses, the new coronavirus’s fatality rate appears to be around 2 percent. That’s a small fraction of the 10 and 35 percent figures reported for SARS and MERS, respectively.

The vast majority of COVID-19 cases—about 80 percent—appear to be mild, causing a spate of cold-like symptoms like coughing, shortness of breath and fever. Many people are suspected to carry the virus without presenting any symptoms. As physicians continue to identify more of these less-severe cases, which are more difficult to detect, the COVID-19 death rate may drop closer to 1 percent or even below it, reports Denise Grady for the New York Times.

That said, in the few months since it was first reported in China’s Hubei province, COVID-19 has killed about 3,000 people. That’s more than SARS (about 770 deaths) and MERS (about 850 deaths) combined. COVID-19’s death rate suggests the virus is more contagious than these predecessors, as well as most strains of the distantly related influenza virus, according to the Times. (According to the CDC, severe cases of the flu lead to at least 140,000 hospitalizations in the United States each year out of a total of more than 9 million cases of influenza documented annually. With an average of 12,000 deaths each year, influenza’s death rate is about 0.1 percent.) (NOTE THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN ON MARCH 6, 2020 - SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN AND THE US HAS OVER A MILLION CASES!!!!)

Remainder of the Smithsonian Article by Katherine J. Wu:

Johns Hopkins COVID-19 site and stats:

Resource Center:



Note: Sadly as of Wednesday - April 29th, the United States has 1,030,487 confirmed cases of Covid-19! And sadly there have been 60,207 death of fellow Americans thus far. The US has only 4% of the world's population yet has about one third of all of the global coronavirus cases and one quarter of the world's fatalities from Covid -19 (as of April 25th - these were the percentages and these could increase!)

This site is updated daily and shows global stats.

Source: John Hopkins

CNN Health - Coronavirus (COVID-19) reported cases and deaths globally and in the United States:

Link:


This link shows the US cases and deaths - updated daily


Source: CNN