Why canceling events makes sense in the age of COVID-19

Governments, businesses and sports leagues are taking drastic steps to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 1,300 people across the United States.

The measures, virtually unprecedented in the century since the Spanish flu that killed more than 50 million people around the globe, are aimed at reducing the transmission of the potentially life-threatening virus between those already infected and those who are at risk.

Public health experts say the steps are necessary, even critical, to stop the spread of the virus. The difference between fast action now and further delays, they said, will determine whether the outbreak in the United States looks more like the one in South Korea, where COVID-19 case counts are coming under control, or more like the one in Italy, where the outbreak is already swamping the health care system. Continue reading.