The new coronavirus, COVID-19, is a major international health concern. Here in the United States, the situation at the moment isn’t especially dire with (at the time of writing) only 60 confirmed cases, all with the possible exception of one of which has been connected to overseas travel. Coronaviruses aren’t new at all; in fact roughly 20% of all common colds come from a coronavirus. It isn’t new that the original virus host was an animal, possibly an ant-eater like animal called pangolins or perhaps bats. It also isn’t new that a New York Times article last week discussed the need to stop wildlife trafficking to prevent future outbreaks.
