KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — We've been talking about the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus for more than a month now, but there is still a lot of misinformation going around.
Tuesday night, the University of Tennessee brought in a panel of experts to debunk those myths and get the facts straight not only worldwide, but specifically how it's impacting Tennessee.
Five experts sat down to tackle the biggest coronavirus myths. Their backgrounds ranged from medical, supply chain and even historical. The experts included: Spencer Gregg with UT Student Health Center, Stevie Hayes with DeRoyal Industries, Susan Lawrence with the UT History Department, Charity Menefee with the Knox County Health Department and Mark Rasnake with UT Medical.
Worldwide there are 75,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but only 15 of those tested positive in the U.S.
But what about Tennessee? Currently there are no active cases.
"If you want to avoid getting a respiratory virus, work on not getting the flu right now," said Dr. Rasnake who said instead we should be focusing on the flu. "The biggest myth is that the flu is nothing to worry about, we need to worry about coronavirus."
Another question the panelists, got was how deadly is the coronavirus. Experts compared it with the flu.
While more severe flu cases are found in kids and the elderly, they said more research needs to be done with the coronavirus and who it affects most.
Out of 75,000 cases there are only 2,000 deaths.
With rumors swirling on social media, one student asked if we should worry about products being shipped from China that could be contagious. The answer is not at this time.
History professor Susan Lawrence said social media posts like this historically stem from similar pandemics causing a lot of fear and loss of trust.
"It's a loss of trust in political authorities and scientific authorities," she said.
Dr. Rasnake said scientists are hard at work developing a vaccine. While it could be some time before we see it, all the experts said that if anything were to happen in Tennessee, there are many plans in place to keep us safe.
Two East Tennessee couples who were quarantined to a cruise ship docked in Japan are now either in the U.S. or waiting for clearance to return to the U.S. after exposure to the coronavirus.
Only two of the four have tested positive for the virus, and none of them have returned to Tennessee since the outbreak on the cruise ship first began. One couple from Elizabethton was still in Japan as of Tuesday, and the other from Grainger County is at a quarantine camp in Nebraska.
There are more than 100 Americans still on board the Diamond Princess or in hospitals in Japan, health officials said. If anyone from the ship arrives back in the U.S. before the 14-day period ends, they'll have to undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine, the CDC explained.