COVID-19: Coverage of the pandemic from MPR News

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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.

A doctor wearing a face mask looks at a CT image of a lung of a patient at a hospital in Wuhan, China.

How COVID-19 kills: The new coronavirus disease can take a deadly turn

February 14, 2020 12:07 PM

Most cases of the illness are characterized as mild, with symptoms similar to those of a common cold or the flu. But there have been over 1,300 deaths.

Where should you sit on a plane to reduce the risk of exposure to germs spread by infectious passengers?

How not to get sick on a plane: A guide to avoiding pathogens

February 13, 2020 9:43 AM

By Michaeleen Doucleff and Pien Huang

Here are recommendations from researchers on how to stave off infectious diseases such as the common cold and the flu during a flight.

A man wearing a face mask has his temperature checked before entering a community hospital in Shanghai on Thursday. China's official death toll and infection numbers from the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus spiked dramatically on Thursday after authorities changed their counting methods.

A change in how 1 Chinese province reports coronavirus adds thousands of cases

February 13, 2020 5:11 AM

By Scott Neuman and Emily Feng

Hubei province has added "clinical cases" to the count — patients who exhibit all the symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, but have either not been tested or tested negative.

Quarantine workers in protective suits check identity documents.

If new virus gets here, health systems say they’re prepared

February 12, 2020 5:01 PM

A state health expert says responding to infectious diseases is “our bread and butter.”