You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

Today we're talking coronavirus, more specifically your questions about it.

And y'all, you had a lot of them.

How much of the concern is fear driven versus data driven?

Is a mask the only way to reduce the risk?

Is this just media hype or am I missing something?

How do scientists go about it?

Is it true the coronavirus?

How can we keep ourselves safe while traveling?

But fear not shortwave listeners.

I've got NPR Global Health and Development Reporter Ping Huang with me here in the studio.

Hiya Ping.

Hi Maddie.

Okay, so before we jump in, Ping, let's bring everybody up to speed.

So there's a strain of virus.

It's called the 2019 novel coronavirus.

And it appears to have originated in Wuhan, China.

Despite all efforts, the number of infections keeps rising.

It causes upper respiratory symptoms, dry cough, difficulty breathing,

and more severe cases pneumonia and even kidney failure.

Global health emergency has since been declared.

Most of the cases are showing up in China, but the viruses start to spread around the globe.

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