The World Health Organization (WHO) declared today that the China coronavirus is now a global health emergency.
This rare designation helps the international agency
mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak. The
coronavirus has now killed at least 171 people in China and has spread to at
least eighteen other countries.
The WHO defines a global health emergency as an
“extraordinary event” that is “serious, unusual or
unexpected.” The WHO executive-director noted that “the numbers
outside China are relatively small” but added that “they hold the potential
for a much larger outbreak.”
Two criteria are used to determine whether or not to declare a global health emergency: (1) whether the disease spreads locally when it arrives in new parts of the world, and (2) whether it has already interfered or will likely interfere with trade and travel.
The Wuhan virus now meets both criteria.
Declaring an emergency allows the WHO to make recommendations on travel or trade bans. It also helps to mobilize public health resources and galvanize public and political action.
In related news, the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention confirmed today the first case of person-to-person transmission in
the United States. A woman was diagnosed after returning to Chicago from Wuhan,
China. Now her husband, who did not travel to China, has been diagnosed as
well.
The 2003 SARS outbreak lasted for five or six months. Health
officials have stated that no one knows how long the China virus health
emergency will continue.
What can we do about the Wuhan virus?
Let’s consider two biblical responses.
One: God calls and uses health care professionals just as he calls clergy and missionaries.
Physicians and medical researchers are on the front lines of
this fight. Work is underway now to develop vaccines and better treatments for
patients. Nurses and doctors risk themselves to treat us.
If you or a…
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