Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Numbers of infected, hospitalized, and perished continues to rise quickly.  Get the latest stats from Bloomberg:  https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-wuhan-novel-coronavirus-outbreak/ and bookmark the page. As of this recording, DATE, TIME: ConfirmedCasesWorldwide: X; DeathsWorldwide: X. Official name to date 2019-nCoV Genetically similar to SARS coronavirus and thought to have originated in bats.  The originally report snake may have been an intermediate host. The WHO has declared a global health emergency. Risk of spread highest: 1. Bangkok Thailand, 2. Hong Kong, 3. Taipei China followed by 6. USA, 10. Australia,  12 Sydney Australia, 16.New York City, 17. UK. Cloth masks are not proven barriers to spread.  While they can catch large liquid droplet containing infected material, most cannot filter out fine viral particles in the air.  Spread is often from hand to mouth, masks do remind you to keep your hands from your face.  Frequent hand washing is effective.  The FDA has cleared more effective N95