Recently the coronavirus disease has been expanding to several countries throughout the world. Over 50 countries have recorded at least one case of coronavirus. Among those countries, the top five are Mainland China, South Korea, Italy, Japan and Iran. The New York Times has labeled these countries under “Avoid travel,” meaning these countries should be avoided at all costs.

President Donald Trump is cracking down on traveling to Iran after the first recorded death in the United States due to coronavirus. Not only that, but he will make recent travelers from South Korea and Italy pass through screenings in order to reduce coronavirus cases in the United States. Trump stated, “If we can help the Iranians, we have the greatest health care professionals in the world.” Trump knows that he cannot allow a health pandemic to occur, which is why he is trying to promote America’s highly trained medical staff and is checking for cases of the virus on every flight.

Luckily, the virus has yet to spread to Maryland. There have been three cases that were believed to lead into the coronavirus, but tests came out negative in all three cases. Governor Larry Hogan has announced that Maryland is currently considered a “low level-risk” and that there is “no immediate health threat in Maryland.”

The United States must nevertheless continue to worry about the virus. A doctor in China who gave an early warning about the virus has died from the disease. Many study reports are pointing towards the coronavirus affecting older people rather than youth. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention provided a statistic stating that only .2% of 44,000 patients aged 10-19 had a mortality rate, but adults aged 80+ have a 14.8% mortality rate.

We can only wait and see how serious of an issue the coronavirus will become in the United States.