- [Lorie] As moreAmericans become infected

with the Coronavirus called COVID-19,

health officials say those most likely

to require hospitalization,or die from it, are elderly,

or people with underlying health issues.

- Now there's seven coronaviruses

that have infected humans so far.

Four of them cause the common cold.

So 10 to 30% of all commoncold is due to a coronavirus.

So it looks like this one

can not only do somethinglike the common cold,

but if you're older, or havewhat we call comorbidities,

congestive heart failure,

chronic lung disease, it can be fatal.

- [Lorie] Recognizing the vulnerability

of senior citizens,

the White House Coronavirus Taskforce,

led by Vice President Mike Pence,

is paying new attention to nursing homes.

- Our administrationannounced increased standards

for all nursing homes in theUnited States of America,

to prevent the spreadof infectious diseases.

And later today we'll beimplementing a new policy

to focus all of our inspection efforts,

in all 50 states, on nursing homes,

complying with infectiousdisease protocols,

that have been put into placeby the federal government.

- [Lorie] Furthermore,they recommend anyone

in the general public, who is sick

to avoid visiting a nursing home.

Meanwhile, in a rare show of unity,

competing pharmaceuticalcompanies cooperating,

in an effort to providea coronavirus test,

to anyone who wants one.

- And we've decided tocome together as one,

to help really focus on thisimportant health crisis.

So we will be sharing information,

we'll be working together at capacity,

and we'll be doing everythingwe can, across our industry,

to meet the needs of the American people.

- [Lorie] Infectious disease specialists

say the best way to preventgetting the coronavirus

is by keeping your hands clean,

and avoid touching your face.

- When we cough, and when we sneeze,

that's what this virus like to ride,

from place to place, and person to person.

It may also get onto our hands,

and usually these viruses,once they get on our hands,

our hands can then touch other people,

or other places, andthey can spread there.

- [Lorie] Experts estimate80% of those infected

will experience mild symptoms,or no symptoms at all.

- Well Lorie Johnson joins us now

for the latest on the coronavirus.

And Lorie, how serious is this?

What's the, I guess,the rate of infection,

and then the rate ofdeath from the infection?

How many people can we expect to see?

- This is actually thenumber one question,

this is the bottom line,how serious is this?

How worried do we need to be?

How deadly is this, andwhat's really fascinating

is this is changing all the time.

And the good news is, health experts

within the United States,at the CDC and the NIH

believe that it's actuallygoing to be less deadly

than we previously thought.

When we look at thedeath rate, what is it?

It is a math problem.

You take how many peoplehave this disease,

and out of all the people who have it,

what percentage of them die from it?

And so what we're seeing, for example,

in South Korea, is themore people who get tested,

the death rate goes down.

In South Korea, 140,000people have been tested.

That's a lot.

In the United States, it's not even 2,000.

And in South Korea, where140,000 people have been tested,

6,000 people have tested positive.

That's a lot of cases, but thedeath rate is less than 1%.

That's about the same asthe flu, less than 1%.

Here in the United States, we'vehad less than 2,000 tested,

and that's because doctorsare only recommending

people get tested right now,

if there's very good reasonto believe they might have it.

So as more people becometested in the United States,

we're going to probably see more cases,

but we might see that death rate go down,

because we might see more mild cases.

- What about a vaccine, Lorie,where are we at with that?

- Interesting, they'refast tracking this vaccine.

Doctors are amazed at how fast

they're getting a vaccine out.

But the vaccine process takes a long time,

and you just can't hurryit, for medical reasons.

We don't wanna rush something.

They don't wanna start stickingthings in people's arms

that hasn't been proven to be safe.

So we have about 20 companies, worldwide,

that are working on a vaccine,

and say they have come up with a vaccine.

Now they have to test it

to make sure it's evensafe to give people,

then after that, they have to test to see

if it even works, and they dothat by testing small groups,

and then larger groups.

So, they're saying now,the CDC, and the NIH,

says maybe a year, at theearliest, we'll have a vaccine.

That's good and bad news,

because we know thatthis coronavirus might,

this is something to pray about,

might be seasonal, likefour other coronaviruses.

- [Terry] So we're notgonna get rid of it.

- Well, maybe not, but itmight go away in the spring.

- And then come back in the fall.

- And then come back next year,

and when it comes back next year,

maybe we'll be readyfor it with a vaccine.

That's what we saw with the swine flu.

- Oh forgive me for being skeptical,

but this thing is relatedto the common cold,

and that's been thequest of medical science

for a long time.

How do you get a cure for the common cold?

- (laughing) Exactly.

- And so are we really going to find

a vaccine that's effective?

- Well the experts do believethat they will have a vaccine

because SARS is also a coronavirus,

and we saw that SARS was very deadly,

and experts did come upwith a vaccine for SARS,

and they were ready for SARS to come back,

and it disappeared, andit still hasn't come back.

- So let's pray that way.- They keep waiting for it.

- Which is great, yeah.

- It's great, right, don'tlook a gift horse in the mouth,

but it's funny how that just disappeared,

and never came back.

Scientists don't know why.

And in fact, it's the SARS vaccine

that they tweaked a little,

to make the coronavirus vaccine.

- So once people are identifiedas having this coronavirus,

how are doctors treating that?

What's the process?

- Great question, and very exciting also,

Remdesivir, say it, Remdesivir.

That's the anti-viral,yeah, and the stock,

by the way, has gone way up.

That's the anti-viral medication

that they're testing rightnow, on coronavirus cases,

in the United States, in Nebraska,

and also in China, that'sshowing great promise.

This anti-viral has beenshown to be effective

against Ebola and alsoSARS, another coronavirus.

So these tests are going on right now.

If they show that this Remdesivir works,

it'll be available for general consumption

at the end of the summer.

- Wow.- Okay, what could people do

to not get it, 'cause thatseems to be the best way to go,

so wash your hands, don't touch your face,

anything else we can do?

- All these things that we hear about,

but do we do them?

I'm guessing no.

They say that 1/3 of allAmericans do not wash their hands,

and Terry, I don't know about you.

I'm not a big hand washer.- At all?

- Not at all, because hey,that messes up your manicure.

(laughing)

So (laughing) we need toget over these things.

- So avoid manicures?

(laughing)

- We just needed to know- That's a man's perspective.

- That's the price we pay.- I'm doing that right now.

- So yes, do wash yourhands, a lotta people don't,

when they need to get in the habit.

Wash your hands often, and thenalso don't touch your face.

Believe it or not, science shows us

that we touch our face 20 times an hour.

And don't realize, weneed to stop doing that.

- Okay.- Okay, bad habit I guess.

(laughing)

- Wash your hands, don't touch your face.

- And the experts say that this spreads--

- Do we avoid crowds?

- Well, that's a personal decision.

People who are at highrisk, who are most at risk

of catching this and dying from it,

are people who are elderly,

and people who haveunderlying health conditions.

These people need totake extra precautions.

- Okay, well good to know,thanks for being with us.

- Thank you.- My pleasure.

Thanks for having me.