The Chinese coronavirus is likely to stay with us.
Experts believe it will become a permanent part of the human respiratory viral repertoire.
“The virus will be with us for some time – it is endemic in humans and will not go away without a vaccine,” said Amesh Adalya, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
The virus causes COVID-19 disease, which is accompanied by fever, cough, and sometimes severe lung infections. At least 2,800 people have died and over 82,500 have fallen ill, mostly in China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump have expressed optimism about the impending spring weather, as the warmth can prevent the spread of the virus like seasonal flu.
This may be the case, Adalja said: “The frequency of transmission may decrease so that you can have time to increase the production of the vaccine by the next time it appears.”
But this does not mean that the coronavirus will disappear forever.
Even if the coronavirus becomes seasonal, it won't go anywhere.
“We know that respiratory viruses are very seasonal, and this one is no different,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University.
'Hopefully spring will help us deal with it. We cannot be sure of that. '
Respiratory viruses are seasonal because cold temperatures help strengthen the protective gel-like coating that surrounds the virus particles while they are airborne. The stronger shell allows them to survive long enough in the air to travel from one person to another.
The flu virus “survives better in cool, dry climates,” said Amanda Simanek, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Another virus that circulates in the community.
Four other human coronaviruses are already endemic to the world's population. They are all seasonal and they usually cause mild common colds, although each can cause pneumonia.
According to Adal, the new coronavirus may still be quite endemic – a member of the community-acquired club of constantly circulating coronaviruses.
On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the first possible case of the spread of coronavirus in the US population. The patient is at a hospital in Sacramento, California.
This means the new coronavirus is spreading from person to person in the US, Adalja says, and not just among people who have recently been to China.
