The University of Mississippi is restricting university-related travel to China as a result of the recent outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.
Provost Noel Wilkin sent out a university-wide email on Jan. 29, announcing that academic programs have been suspended or canceled by university partners in China.
“Students may not proceed with UM-related travel to China and should check in with the UM coordinators of their program,” Wilkin wrote.
Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a global health emergency. According to the WHO, over 8,200 people across 18 countries have been infected with the virus.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, with some causing people to get sick and others circulating among animals. They usually affect the respiratory tract and sometimes the gut. They are usually associated with the common cold, pneumonia and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
The China coronavirus emerged on Dec. 31, and has already infected over 8,000 people in mainland China alone. At least 100 more cases have been confirmed around the world.
The WHO declared the global health emergency just hours after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed the first human-to-human transmission in the United States in Chicago. One woman inadvertently brought the virus back from Wuhan — the epicenter of the outbreak — and transmitted it to her husband.
International student Van Wang, a junior accounting major from Beijing, said he is not too worried about the virus because his hometown is far enough away from the outbreak.
Still, Wang’s parents asked him to buy sanitary masks and mail them home just to be safe. However, he came up empty handed.
“We ran out of masks in China. A lot of people (in China) will just buy as much as possible,” Wang said. “We’ve just been to the Walmart and CVS to find masks, but they’re already out in Oxford.”
Junior international studies major Lennis Barlow studied abroad last semester in Beijing. She said that she feels like her time abroad has given her some perspective as to what’s really happening in China.
“I lived with a Chinese roommate while I was there, and I’ve been talking to her,” Barlow said. “It’s hard to travel around (Beijing). I know to get onto a train, you have to have your temperature taken. I know that within China, a lot of the masks are sold out. If they’re not sold out, they’re really expensive.”
Barlow said that she knew people that were supposed to be studying in China for the whole year, but all of them flew back a few days ago.
“(People from my program in China) got an email from their provider — the study abroad program — that the United States was considering cutting off flights from China. So I think that prompts a lot of people (to be) like, ‘I don’t want to get stuck here,’” Barlow said.
Sophomore Zach Spooner, an international studies, Chinese and engineering major and a member of the Chinese Flagship Program, was planning on studying abroad in China over the summer, but now his plans have been hindered because of the coronavirus.
“The outbreak could be over by then,” Spooner said. “(The possibility of not being able to go to China) sucks. It means I won’t be able to improve my Chinese as much as I want to. I’m really disappointed.”
