ABC-7 Xtra: Coronavirus
El Paso, Texas -- The Centers for Disease Control are preparing for a possible outbreak of the coronavirus right here in the U.S.
It is a relatively new virus and because of that, very little is known about the potentially fatal virus.
Adding to the confusion - the World Health Organization announced an official name change for the virus: Covid-19. But for the purpose of this show we'll continue to refer to it as coronavirus.
According to theWHO, as of Friday, there are 47,000 laboratory confirmed cases worldwide, the majority of those cases are in mainland china.
Also, as of Friday, 15 cases were identified in the U.S., in states like California, Arizona, Washington, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Texas.
The CDC has set up coronavirus screening in several airports throughout the nation.
El Paso International Airport did have that screening, but it has since been dropped.
The Trump Administration put in place travel restrictions blocking foreign nationals from entering the United States if they visited china in the 14 days prior to their arrival to the United States.
Dr. Ogechika Alozie, chief medical officer at Del Sol Medical Center, is a local expert in infectious diseases.
He says El Pasoans should have little concern about contracting the virus, unless they, or someone they are in close contact, traveled to China.
We'll talk to an infectious disease expert to tell us what the coronavirus is, who it affects and if El Pasoans need to worry about it.
Executive director for the International Business Accelerator in Santa Teresa, Jerry Pacheco, says the coronavirus is having an impact on trade.
Sunday on ABC-7 Xtra, host Saul Saenz speaks exclusively with an American living in Singapore, a country with the second largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases.
