The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, acknowledging that the virus will likely spread to all countries around the world. According to STAT News, as of Wednesday, 114 countries have reported 118,000 people have contracted COVID-19. The U.S. has reported just over 1,000 cases that have resulted in 29 deaths from the disease.
An epidemic is described as an outbreak of a contagious disease that attacks many people at about the same time through one or more communities.
Dr. Trina von Waldner is a faculty member in UGA’s College of Pharmacy. She explains how the epidemic has progressed.
“It has been epidemic in many countries and those epidemics have continued to grow into more and more countries.”
Von Waldner says the classification as a pandemic is no surprise.
“A pandemic is when we see epidemics occurring worldwide,” von Waldner said. “It’s a natural progression from when epidemics occur and we can’t stop it from moving, and we’re a very mobile society so we knew that it was unlikely that we would be able to stop this thing in its tracks and we have not been able to. However, we know things that we can do to protect ourselves.”
The doctor is careful to explain the WHO assessment is not a cause for panic.
“So when you think of a pandemic, it is just an extension of those multiple epidemics that were occurring. The World Health Organization didn’t say we declare a pandemic; they said our assessment of the ongoing epidemics now characterizes this as a pandemic, as a worldwide program.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced that the CDC will award over $560 million dollars to state and local agencies to support their efforts to fight the virus.
