Coronavirus Death Toll Climbs in China, and a Lockdown Widens

By The New York Times

Published Jan. 23, 2020
Updated March 9, 2020

What is a coronavirus and how dangerous is it?

Coronaviruses are named for the spikes that protrude from their membranes, which resemble the sun’s corona.
They can infect both animals and people, and cause illnesses of the respiratory tract, ranging from the common
cold to severe conditions like SARS. The incubation period the time from exposure to the onset of symptoms is
believed to be about two weeks. While the headlines are alarming, health experts cautioned that it was too early
to gauge the severity of the outbreak. There are too many unknowns: Where did it start? How easily does it
spread? How does it compare to other coronaviruses, like SARS? Scientists have been scrambling to understand
the source of the coronavirus, in particular, the animals from which the virus may have jumped to humans.
Many of the cases in Wuhan were connected to a market that sold live poultry and exotic animal meats. The
market was closed and disinfected.

Who are the victims?

The first 17 people were largely older men, many with underlying health problems. All died in Hubei
Province, which includes the city of Wuhan. The first confirmed death was a 61-year-old man who went to a
hospital in Wuhan on December 27, weak with a fever and a cough. He was transferred to another hospital as
his condition worsened, but he died on Jan. 9.
Many of the victims had underlying conditions like cirrhosis of the liver, hypertension, diabetes and Parkinson’s
disease. Most had gone to the hospital with a fever and a cough, though at least three had no fever when they
were admitted, according to the health commission. While a full picture of the virus is still unknown, medical
experts found positive signs in the fact that the disease did not appear to be killing young and otherwise healthy
people. The majority of fatal cases are elderly and/or have a chronic disease that would increase their
susceptibility
to infectious diseases,” said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, an epidemiologist at the Mailman School of Public Health at
Columbia University in New York. ‘I feel extremely powerless,’ says a SARS expert, raising an alarm.
There are growing concerns that the Chinese authorities are underreporting the number of people who
are ill with the virus. In Wuhan, Kyle Hui, an architect from Shanghai, said that doctors at Tongji Hospital
declined to test his stepmother for the virus, even though she was showing symptoms like a cough and a fever.
After she died, the hospital instructed the family to cremate the body immediately. “I’m very sad my stepmother
left without any dignity,” Mr. Hui said during an interview this week in a cafe in Wuhan. “There was no time to
say goodbye.”

Many residents tried to leave the city

The announcement that the city of Wuhan would be temporarily sealed off from the outside world starting at 10
a.m. on Thursday came while most residents were asleep at 2 a.m. Some decided to flee the city. Lines of
passengers in masks and down jackets, lugging suitcases, formed outside the major Hankou railway station just
20 minutes before the cutoff time, a live video by media outlet The Paper showed. they were frustrated by the
sudden lockdown and were scrambling to find a way home.

Cuomo warns local governments he could withhold state funds over virus restriction enforcement:
‘Hopefully that will motivate them

As New York State continues to fight the apparent resurgence of the coronavirus in several hot spots, Gov.
Andrew M. Cuomo threatened at one point on Wednesday to withhold state funds from local governments that
do not successfully enforce shutdowns on schools and restrictions on gathering.During a morning call with
reporters, Mr. Cuomo specifically mentioned New York City and Orange and Rockland counties in the northern
suburbs, including the town of Ramapo and village of Spring Valley, all of which have areas with the highest
positivity rates in the state. Mr. Cuomo said he was frustrated by reports of continued gathering in those areas,
including at schools and houses of worship, despite restrictions imposed by the state last week. “Hopefully that
will motivate them,” the governor said of local governments.
The governor did not provide details on what sources of funding could be withheld, or how much money could
be denied to local governments, though he said the state “could impound all funds.” His office later said no
withholding of funds was imminent, characterizing Mr. Cuomo’s comments as a warning. Still, a spokesman for
Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City criticized the governor’s comments, suggesting that such tactics were
counterproductive. The Rockland County executive, Ed Day, said in a statement that he generally supported the
governor’s restrictions and that the county had taken steps to enforce them. But he singled out both Ramapo and
Spring Valley, saying that those localities, which have a majority of the county’s cases, “flat out refuse to
enforce the governor’s executive orders.”

Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html#link-9aad3f7
Reporting was contributed by Amy Qin, Vivian Wang, Russell Goldman, Chris Buckley, Javier Hernández, Austin Ramzy,
Gillian Wong, Paulina Villegas, Steven Lee Myers, Tiffany May, Elaine Yu, Denise Grady, Karen Zraick, Roni Caryn Rabin,
Carl Zimmer and Rick Gladstone. Amber Wang, Albee Zhang, Claire Fu, Elsie Chen, Yiwei Wang and Zoe Mou contributed
research.

COMPOUND WORDS LEXICAL CATEGORIES

1. Onset
2. Headlines Noun
3. Outbreak Noun
4. Understand preposition + noun
5. Underlying preposition + noun
6. Hypertension
7. Otherwise
8. Mailman Noun
9. Powerless Adjective
10.Underreporting preposition + noun/verb u
11.Stepmother Noun
12.Interview Noun
13.Goodbye
14.Outside Noun

COMPOUND WORDS
15.Lockdown
16.Shutdowns
17.Withheld
18.Spokesman Noun
19.Counterproductive Noun
20.Local Adjectives