With the total number of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases nearing 100, some have voiced worries about the country’s preparedness, and whether the average American ought to be seriously concerned about a coronavirus outbreak. Addressing those concerns, Dr. Sandro Galea, Boston University’s Dean of the School of Public Health, called in to Boston Public Radio on Monday to make the case that, while we shouldn’t panic, Americans are better off thinking about preparedness now.
"I think it doesn’t serve us to say [the coronavirus] is nothing, it’s going to go away… It also doesn’t serve us to say the sky is falling, because the truth is somewhere in the middle,” Galea said. "This is problematic, it’s something we should be paying attention to, but we should also put it into perspective.
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"What we should be doing is very much the basic hygiene that we should always be doing,” Galea advised. "We should be, as much as possible, not touching our face, we should be using well established antiseptics, washing our hands for at least 20 seconds."
