COVID-19: Coverage of the pandemic from MPR News

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The World Health Organization is sharing posts like these to debunk widely circulated rumors about the coronavirus on its social media.

Fake facts are flying about coronavirus. Now there's a plan to debunk them

February 21, 2020 12:30 PM

By Malaka Gharib

Rumors and untruths are spreading online — from conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus to outlandish treatments.

Poll China Outbreak

AP-NORC poll: More Americans worry about flu than new virus

February 20, 2020 12:38 PM

By The Associated Press

A wide share of Americans are at least moderately confident in United States health officials’ ability to handle emerging viruses. The findings are encouraging to health experts who want people to get their flu shots while also staying informed about efforts to contain the new virus.

A girl in a park in Beijing on Feb. 15. Researchers are looking at the impact of the newly identified coronavirus on children.

Coronavirus is contagious, but kids seem less vulnerable so far

February 20, 2020 10:24 AM

By Allison Aubrey

A small study from China finds infected babies have only mild symptoms. And a study of pregnant women who were infected with the virus evaluates whether it can be passed on to their babies.

A man hugs and kisses his young daughter in an airport.

Caught in the epicenter of the coronavirus, Minneapolis man finally comes home

February 20, 2020 4:00 AM

By Brandt Williams

After a visit to his parents in Wuhan, China, unexpectedly turned upside down because of the novel coronavirus, Yulin Yin was cleared to leave quarantine in California and arrived in Minnesota Wednesday.

Australians Clare Hedger and her mother are now free from a two-week quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan. Health officials in Japan are being sharply criticized for their handling of the coronavirus quarantine on the ship.

Coronavirus update: Diamond Princess passengers leave ship as expert slams quarantine

February 19, 2020 3:10 PM

By Bill Chappell

A total of 621 people from the cruise ship have now been confirmed to have COVID-19 — or about 20 percent of the 3,011 people who had been tested for the coronavirus disease as of Wednesday.

An entrance to a dormitory for Foxconn workers. China's factories normally ramp up production right after the Lunar New Year, but few workers have returned so far this year.

The wide-ranging ways in which COVID-19 is hurting global business

February 19, 2020 11:53 AM

By Emily Feng and Amy Cheng

Some factories are beginning to reopen, but labor shortages continue. In a recent poll of U.S. companies by Shanghai's American Chamber of Commerce, 78 percent said they lack staff to resume full production.

Checking for signs of COVID-19, a medical worker in a protective suit checks the temperatures of people who were on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship as they fly on a chartered evacuation plane from Japan to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Coronavirus update: 346 Americans emerge from quarantine at California military bases

February 18, 2020 7:55 PM

By Bill Chappell

"It is important to know that these people being released from quarantine pose no health risk to the surrounding community," a CDC press officer said in a statement to NPR.

American evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship arrive at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on Monday in San Antonio, Texas.

14 Americans taken off cruise ship and flown to U.S. test positive for coronavirus

February 17, 2020 9:31 AM

By Brakkton Booker

U.S. officials said the people infected with the virus were isolated from the other passengers. The two evacuation flights landed at military bases in California and Texas.

Fact-checking 'Contagion': In wake of coronavirus, the 2011 movie is trending

February 16, 2020 9:40 AM

NPR asked epidemiologists and doctors to assess the science in the 2011 movie, in which the character played by Gwyneth Paltrow starts a global pandemic. Spoiler alert: The movie does a pretty good job.

Passengers walk along the deck of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, on which about 3,600 people have been quarantined because of fears of the new COVID-19 coronavirus.

U.S. to evacuate Americans from quarantined cruise ship in Japan

February 15, 2020 10:20 AM

By The Associated Press and Wynne Davis

The State Department informed U.S. citizens aboard the quarantined ship that it would send a charter plane to remove them. This comes as 67 more COVID-19 cases were identified on the ship.