We have all been hearing about a new hazardous virus for the past two months. The growing global health concern right now is the coronavirus, a type of virus that is known to cause respiratory illness.

There are actually several other coronaviruses that only causes mild diseases in humans, but a new coronavirus called 2019 Novel Coronavirus or 2019-nCoV was recently identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

According to Al Jazeera, the virus has now reached more than 34,000 confirmed infection cases with more than 800 people dead since it was first reported on Dec. 31, 2019. However, we here in the United States do not need to be worried about being affected.

Although the numbers are alarmingly high in China, other nations are have not had nearly as many cases as China.

Countries like Japan, Thailand, and Singapore have less than 30 confirmed infection cases with no death casualties. Outside China, there have only been two deaths due to coronavirus: one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines.

According to CBS News, the U.S. has 12 confirmed cases and one death of an American citizen in Wuhan. But we don’t have to treat it like the end of the world. The flu is a more serious threat to the United States than coronavirus.

I don’t mean we should completely neglect the virus that has killed more than 800 people across the globe. But we don’t have to walk the streets wearing masks and gloves.

Indeed, prevention is always better than a cure, but with only eleven cases and no deaths in the country, there’s no reason to live in constant fear. You don’t have to be alarmed if a student coughs beside you in class tomorrow.

What we should be doing instead of unnecessarily freaking out about the virus is learning more about the disease and sharing the information with other people. We need to help the people suffering from the disease by contributing whatever we can.

More people should donate to fundraising organizations like Direct Rellief or Global Giving that are helping the people of China and even to organizations that are continuously working to cure the disease.

Things will get worse if we don’t stop worrying and start helping.