Coronavirus isn’t the flu and it’s this response that makes the US unprepared, health expert warns

[Natural News]: As the U.S. continues to deal with the upswing of coronavirus cases, which has now surpassed 1,000 as of Tuesday night, most of the country still isn’t prepared for what will come next, according to public health scientists Michael Osterholm. In an interview with CNBC, he noted that the government’s current response to COVID-19 isn’t enough, given its magnitude of spread, saying that the virus is already past its containment stage.

“Right now we’re approaching this like it’s the Washington, D.C., blizzard — for a couple of days we’re shut down,” added Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “This is actually a coronavirus winter and we’re in the first week.”

For Osterholm, downplaying COVID-19 to be no worse than the flu — a narrative that many so-called pundits peddle — is one of the ways that the U.S. isn’t containing the virus. The coronavirus has an R0 between 2 and 2.5, that is, a person infected with the virus can spread it to over two people. In comparison, the seasonal flu only has an R0 of around 1.3...<<<Read The Full Article Here>>>...