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Emergency Rooms In U.S. Prepare for Coronavirus

NPR
Published January 29, 2020 at 12:40 PM EST
In the U.S., there have been five confirmed coronavirus cases in four states, and emergency rooms are putting special protocols into place to identify, treat and contain further outbreak. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In the U.S., there have been five confirmed coronavirus cases in four states, and emergency rooms are putting special protocols into place to identify, treat and contain further outbreak. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Eighteen countries have confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases worldwide to more than 5,900. Most cases have been in China.

More than 130 people have died, all of them in China.

On Wednesday, British Airways halted all its flights to China, joining several Asian airlines that are cutting or suspending service to the region.

In the U.S., there have been five confirmed cases in four states, and emergency rooms are putting special protocols into place to identify, treat and contain further outbreak.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd talks to Dr. Jolion McGreevy, medical director of the emergency department at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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