IHP 330 - Final Project - A Novel Coronavirus Outbreak: A Teaching Case Study Frederica Peal Southern New Hampshire University Professor: Dr. Thalia M. Williams December 2023
7-2 Final Project: Epidemiological Research Study Report On December 31, 2019, the suspected new coronavirus illnesses, or COVID-19, rapidly expanded over the country (China CDC, 2020). Between December 31, 2016, and January 3, 2020, the Chinese national authorities reported to WHO 44 case patients suffering from pneumonia of unclear cause. The causative agent was not found during the specified time frame (Bashier, 2020). The vast family of viruses known as coronaviruses (CoV) is responsible for a variety of illnesses, from common colds to more serious conditions including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) (Bashier, 2020). The most frequent symptoms that the patients reported having were fever and cough (Bashier, 2020). The COVID-19 virus can induce long-term consequences in certain infected individuals. These are referred to as Long COVID or Post-COVID Conditions (PCC). Signs, symptoms, and problems that follow an acute COVID-19 infection or emerge afterward are together referred to as long COVID-19 (CDC). Anyone can contact the COVID-19 virus. However, according to the CDC, older adults aged 50 years and older are more likely to get very sick with COVID-19 than younger people. A major sickness is also likely to strike someone with a compromised immune system. Some people might never exhibit any symptoms at all. Some of the major risk factors include respiratory illnesses caused by widespread air pollution, hundreds of millions of cigarette smokers, and large population and densely populated cities. China faced challenges in the recent past, including the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010 due to air pollution (Bashier, 2020). The National Health Commission of China provided WHO with more comprehensive information on January 11 and 12, 2020, indicating that exposure to the disease occurred in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market located in Wuhan City (Bashier,
2020). Since COVID-19 has a high rate of mutation and recombination, multiple zoonotic events at Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan likely allowed the virus to spread from an unknown animal to humans. As a result, the working theory suggests that the mixed outbreak time trend supports this theory. Modes of transmission of Coronavirus, as described in the essay involve animals and humans through zoonotic transmission. The seafood and animal markets, which are thought to be at the epicenter of the outbreak, were the source of exposure for 49 (49%) of the 99 cases that were detected at Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, which is situated in the Dongxihu District of Wuhan, Hubei, China. Men made up most of the cases (67), with an average age of about 55.5 years (Bashier, 2020). For example, according to the case study, China reported 15,238 suspected coronavirus cases till January 31, 2020, of which 9,720 cases were confirmed. 213 people are said to have died because of the coronavirus outbreak (Bashier, 2020). The number of new