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Americans Will Wear Masks for ‘Several years’, Says Coronavirus Expert; Woman Dies After Accidentally Using the Wrong Kind of Oil; and China Bans Eating Risky Animals After Confirmed Case of Bubonic Plague.
Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, has been preparing for something like Covid-19 for years. As a result, he believes the virus isn’t going to slow down in the United States any time soon.
“There’s going to be no summertime lull with a big wave in the fall,” he said during CNET’s Hacking the Apocalypse series. “It’s clear that we are having a significant resurgence of cases in the summer, and they’ll get bigger. And it’ll keep going until we lock things down again.”
Americans have an easy line of defense against the virus: Create distance and wear masks, he said. It is really that simple.
“I think that mask-wearing and some degree of social distancing, we will be living with – hopefully living with happily – for several years,” said Toner. “It’s actually pretty straightforward. If we cover our faces, and both you and anyone you’re interacting with are wearing a mask, the risk of transmission goes way down.”
As for people who refuse to wear masks, Toner said they’d wise up eventually.
“They will get over it,” he said. “It’s just a question of how many people get sick and die before they get over it.”
Will Americans really listen? Time will tell. Plenty refuse to wear masks for many reasons. But, why?
Related: Why Do Some People Not Want to Wear Masks?
Cooking fries led to a woman’s death when she used lubricating oil instead of cooking oil. Carol Oldfield, 74, mistakenly used 3-in-One oil on her fries. This caused her to inhale poisonous smoke.
Oldfield initially went into another room and fell asleep for two hours. When she woke up, she found her home full of smoke, which she inhaled. Her house wouldn’t stop smoking.
She immediately called the Derbyshire Fire and Rescue service around 7 pm on March 6. She let them know that her house was full of smoke and that she couldn’t find her way out.
Oldfield was rescued by firefighters and taken to a local hospital. Unfortunately, although she seemed okay at first, she later succumbed to smoke-related injuries.
“She woke up and called the fire service who managed to get her out of the address. But sadly, the damage had already happened. She did not recover and sadly passed away,” said Assistant coroner Emma Serrano.
Her passing was ruled “death by misadventure,” caused by pneumonia and smoke inhalation.
Related: Woman Almost Dies after Her Cat Scratches Her
A warning has been issued by officials in China. This was after a confirmed case of the bubonic plague. The plague was responsible for one of the deadliest recorded pandemics in human history.
The patient in question is a herdsman from Bayannur, in Inner Mongolia. He’s currently in quarantine in stable condition. Additionally, his brother contracted the disease. He is now in quarantine also.
As a result, people are banned from eating or hunting animals that could carry the plague. Specifically, officials issued a Level 3 warning. This is the second-lowest in a four-tier system.
Speaking to China Daily, a local health authority said, “At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly.”
Similarly, Dr. Shanthi Kappagoda, an infectious disease physician at Stanford Health Care, spoke with Healthline.
“We know how to prevent it. Avoid handling sick or dead animals in areas where there is transmission. We are also able to treat patients who are infected with effective antibiotics, and can give antibiotics to people who may have been exposed to the bacteria [and] prevent them [from] getting sick.”
While the disease is easier to treat nowadays and is increasingly rare, it still claims lives.
For example, between 2008 and 2018, China recorded 26 cases. This resulted in 11 deaths. However, even one death is too many.
Related: Man Catches Plague after Eating a Wild Rabbit
