In Part 5 of his series on the coronavirus, LBJ Professor Joshua Busby looks at what should happen now:
"On the same day that the World Health Organization said that there were now only 889 new cases of the coronavirus in China (down from 1,749 on Wednesday), there were also reports of new outbreaks in two Chinese prisons. We also witnessed the deaths of two people in Iran (apparently from COVID-19) and an outbreak in Korea — now up to more than 150 cases — fueled by a superspreader associated with a strange cult and no known connection to China.
"In the U.S., there are both reports of several hundred people getting out of quarantine after 14 days with a clean bill of health as well as the amazing story that the State Department overruled the Centers for Disease Control in allowing 14 people infected with the coronavirus to be on the same plane of evacuees from the Princess Cruises ship.
"So, we might be cautiously optimistic that the worst is behind us, or maybe not. It's looking like the disease will not be contained in China, with there being local transmission taking off in a few other countries."
The full series:
- Part 1: The coronavirus: Global health is high politics
- Part 2: Pull the alarm? The coronavirus as a global emergency
- Part 3: Shut it down? The International Response to the Coronavirus
- Part 4: China and the coronavirus: Getting it right or very wrong?
- Part 5: Now what? Health security after the 2020 coronavirus