The coronavirus will never disappear and likely circulate during the winter like the flu and other respiratory viruses, according to some healthcare experts.
"This is going to be with us for some time — it's endemic in human populations and not going to go away without a vaccine," Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Business Insider.
"It may decrease in transmission frequency so that you'll be able to have time to get a vaccine scaled up by the next appearance of it."
The coronavirus outbreak has affected 80,000 people globally. In mainland China, there have been 2,663 deaths.
Like the flu, the virus, which started in Wuhan, China, could retreat in the summer and return in the winter.
"We know respiratory viruses are very seasonal, but not exclusively," William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, told CNN. "One would hope that the gradual spring will help this virus recede. We can't be sure of that."
The CDC's director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease on Tuesday warned of an imminent coronavirus pandemic and said parents need to prepare for school closures and "significant disruption" in their lives.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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