Throwback: How COVID was covered in the news when it first appeared

Two years ago, a mysterious virus appeared in China ...

Transcript

00:00Concern is growing this morning over an outbreak of a new SARS-like virus in China.

00:05At least six people have died from the Wuhan coronavirus.

00:30We recommend basic hand hygiene such as washing your hands with soap and water and respiratory

00:48hygiene such as when you sneeze, sneezing into your elbow.

00:55They say a new strain of coronavirus, originated here, has struck dozens of people and put

01:00an entire region on edge.

01:02It's about four o'clock in the morning, we've received word that there's going to be effectively

01:19a full quarantine of the city, so we're packing up and we're heading out.

01:23What we don't know is a lot about this virus, we don't know it's incubation period, we don't

01:28really know the route of transmission, it is a coronavirus which normally spreads via

01:32respiratory droplets.

01:33A vaccine is in the works but it's a couple of years away.

01:39We also know that there is what's called an incubation period and what that means is people

01:43contract the virus and then there's a period of time that passes before they actually start

01:48to develop symptoms.

01:51California health officials emphasizing there is no immediate danger to the public.

01:56We are pretty confident that we can get something made which will work and which stay active

02:01for the longer term.

02:04Greeted by people in hazmat suits, the 195 Americans traveling back to the US from Wuhan

02:11China were taken from the plane to quarantine yesterday.

02:18Right now in the United States, the situation still is a low risk for the American public

02:24but then again that could change.

02:26I have today declared that the coronavirus presents a public health emergency in the

02:31United States.

02:34Tonight the United States now closed to almost all foreigners coming from China in an unprecedented

02:40move to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

02:46The virus, they're working hard, looks like by April, you know in theory when it gets

02:51a little warmer it miraculously goes away, hope that's true.