Coronavirus News Explained

How Long Does the Coronavirus Last on Different Surfaces?           The most effective way to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is to stay at home and avoid going to public gatherings. However, staying at home does not completely protect yourself from the virus. Even at home, there's still exposure to the outside world through contact with packages, groceries and mail. A concern some people may have is that the virus could linger on these different surfaces. How long can the coronavirus survive on mail, packages and groceries and how likely is it to be infected through contact with a contaminated surface? Studies and Data      A new study , published on April 16, 2020 in the New England Journal of Medicine , examined how long the novel coronavirus can survive in the air and on different surfaces (copper, cardboard, stainless steel and plastic). Based on the results of the paper, in each environment, the virus had a different lifespan.  1. Air: at least 3 hours 2. Coppe

Remdesivir- A possible drug underway to treat COVID-19      Ever since the first case of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, the coronavirus has presented itself as a potentially fatal disease with symptoms including pneumonia, organ failure and ultimately death. According to Johns Hopkins University, the mortality rate in the U.S. due to COVID-19 is 5.4% as of April 20, 2020. Coronavirus has been spreading rapidly across the globe and taking many lives with it. Doctors and scientists have been working tirelessly these past few months looking for ways to flatten the curve and develop drugs to fight the novel coronavirus. Although none have yet been approved by the FDA, an antiviral drug originally developed against the Ebola virus shows potential to be effective against the coronavirus. The name of this drug is remdesivir. How it works      You may be wondering how a drug that was developed for ebola can be effective against the coronavirus. The ebola and coronavirus both have genomes m

Do Wearing Masks Really Prevent Coronavirus            For weeks, U.S. health authorities discouraged healthy Americans from wearing masks, believing they would do more harm than good. However, other countries such as China and South Korea have required all citizens to wear a mask when entering a public setting to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But really how effective are these masks against the coronavirus? On April 3rd, Nature Medicine published an article describing their findings based off an experiment testing the efficacy of surgical face masks against coronavirus, influenza virus and rhinovirus.   Study Findings      Their results demonstrated that surgical masks were largely effective in reducing coronavirus transmission through respiratory droplets as well as aerosol particles. 3/10 people who did not wear a mask were infected with the coronavirus through droplet particles. Out of 11 people who wore masks, not a single one was infected through the transmission

Welcome to Coronavirus News Explained About      Hi, my name is Sarah and I am the author of Coronavirus News Explained. I'm a student interested in biological sciences and hope to pursue a career in that field. The inspiration to create the blog Coronavirus News Explained came to me in March 2020- the beginning of the pandemic. During this time, the media was flooded with both real and fake news about the virus. Many people, including myself, felt stressed and confused about what to believe. As a result, I wanted to create a platform that I could share with others that would provide simplified and scientifically accurate information about COVID-19.  Thus, the blog Coronavirus News Explained was born in April 2020.  All weekly blog posts contain the latest information about COVID-19, taken from peer-reviewed scientific journals or government/research institutions.  My hope for this blog is to help people gain a better understanding of new data and findings on COVID-19 by tr