US News and World Report via Associated Press has an article up about the country of Zambia and how it is dealing with the threat of the coronavirus. Now I admit, I had to look up where Zambia is. Zambia is in Southern Africa. It is north of Zimbabwe and south of Congo. It has a population of 17 million.
The virus that has spread through much of China has yet to be confirmed in Africa, but global health authorities are increasingly worried about the threat to the continent where an estimated 1 million Chinese now live, as some health workers on the ground warn they are not ready to handle an outbreak.
. . . But the effort has been complicated by a critical shortage of testing kits and numerous illnesses that display symptoms similar to the flu-like virus.
. . . Those growing worried include employees at the Sino-Zambia Friendship Hospital in the mining city of Kitwe in northern Zambia, near the Congo border. Chinese companies operate mines on the outskirts of the city of more than half a million people. One company is headquartered in Wuhan, the city at the center of the virus outbreak. Hundreds of workers traveled between Zambia and China in recent weeks.
. . . But the employees and others familiar with the matter, some of whom spoke anonymously under the new rules, say some Chinese patients checked in with coughs and fevers but did not get placed in isolation.
So there is obviously no way that 1 million Chinese went back to China for the Chinese New Years and then flew back to Africa. But some of them obviously did fly back to China and are now back in Africa. Let's take a quick trip off the topic of Africa and look at the United States. Now I don't have the numbers of how many Americans or Chinese come from China to the US between mid-January and now, but we do know that there are 12 cases in the US (as of Sunday). Of those 12 cases, I believe 2 got the virus in the US due to contact with one of the other 10. Of the other 10, I believe all had returned from China. So what are the chances that no one who flew from China to Africa doesn't currently have the coronavirus? Is America that unlucky or is Africa just that lucky?
Reading the article, I wonder if it would be accurate to conclude that Africans are treating Chinese with kid gloves when it comes to health issues. How many of those Chinese patients with coughs and fevers had just arrived from China? Ethiopia is still allowing flights into the country from China. Is China's economic power within Africa causing the African countries to look the other way at what might be obvious cases that need to be investigated?
I will say this, if the virus takes hold in Africa we may as well assume that Europe will be next to have a serious problem. We know that Libya is an exit point for Africans trying to cross into Europe. I'm thinking personally, if I was in Africa (and who cares if I'm healthy or sick), I would want to get into Europe. I would assume that Europe has much better healthcare than Africa and especially if I'm sick with the virus, I'd likely try and figure a way to get to Europe (or maybe my family would try to get me into Europe).
Also, as of Sunday, USA Today reports that 69 people on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that is off the coast of Japan have come down with the virus. All this from just one individual. I doubt that one person infected 69 people. There are probably people who got it from that individual and then passed it along to a loved one. But seriously, 1 person to 69 people in a matter of days. That should be considered scary.
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