What is the Coronavirus?
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause respiratory infections in humans. The name "coronavirus" is derived from the Latin term for crown, and refers to the appearance of the virus, which is round, with a fringe reminiscent of a crown or a solar halo. There are seven known strains of coronavirus, including the SARS-CoV virus, which caused the much-publicized 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, which claimed 774 lives worldwide. The current, deadly outbreak is being caused by the seventh, and newest, form of coronavirus, which is being called “novel coronavirus.” There are no vaccines or antiviral drugs approved for prevention or treatment of the coronavirus.
Illness and Death caused by the Coronavirus
As of this writing, over 37,000 cases and 809 fatalities have been confirmed, most in mainland China [updated statistics here]. More than 60 million people are under full or partial quarantine, and some researchers estimate that more than 75,000 may already have been infected. Given that China is a totalitarian tyranny that controls its media to further its propaganda goals, the real number is probably higher. There are reports of bodies being cremated without being tested for coronavirus, and not being added to the official statistics.
Although many have died, the fatality rate is holding steady at just over 2% of cases, which makes this form of coronavirus less deadly than SARS, which had a fatality rate of 9.6%.
Twelve cases have been confirmed in the U.S., all of whom traveled to China, or lived with someone who did. The Trump Administration has formed a coronavirus taskforce, headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and has announced a ban on foreign national travel for those who have been in China within the last 14 days. The U.S. is "temporarily suspending the entry into the United States of foreign nationals who pose a risk of transmitting the 2019 novel coronavirus."
Americans returning to U.S. from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the epidemic, were diverted to U.S. Airforce bases in California, then placed under quarantine. Several other nations are quarantining their nationals who have returned from the Wuhan, China, area. The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak.
How did the coronavirus jump from animals to humans?
DNA analysis indicates that this strain of the virus likely originated in bats. (It is known that the SARS coronavirus jumped to humans from civets, and that the civets got it from bats.)
Since bats do not normally live with or around humans, the likelihood is that the virus spread to humans because of humans eating bats. One Chinese blogger recorded video of herself eating a bat, and bat soup is reportedly eaten in China. The coronavirus outbreak began at an animal and seafood market in the city of Wuhan, China.
How can Illnesses Like Coronavirus be Avoided?
The sad truth is that this whole international epidemic, and all of these hundreds of deaths, and probably hundreds more to come, could have been easily avoided by heeding the Bible’s teachings regarding clean and unclean meat. Not all animals were ever intended to be food. God has given us a warning in Scripture not to eat certain kinds of animals.
In Leviticus 11, God instructed Moses regarding which animals may be eaten. Of land animals, those that both (1) have a cloven or split hoof and (2) chew the cud (ruminants) could be eaten. This restricts the edible land animals to a class of herbivore that includes cattle, sheep, goat, deer, and gazelle. (Deut.14:4-5) It excludes some animals that have commonly been used for food, such as rabbits and pigs, as well as predators (canines, felines, and ursines) “creeping things” (reptiles, amphibians, and rodents) and any animal that feeds on carrion. (Lev. 11:4-8, 27-31, 41-42)
Of water-dwelling creatures, the requirement for edibility is that it have both fins and scales. (Lev. 11:9-12) This excludes catfish (a bottom-feeder having no scales), bivalves (clams, oysters, scallops, etc.), crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, shrimp, crayfish, prawns, etc.), and cephalopods (squid, octopus, cuttlefish), as wells as sharks, rays, skates, eels, congers, sturgeon, swordfish, etc.
Of flying animals, the unclean animals were birds of prey or raptors (eagles, owls, hawks, kites, etc.) carrion eaters (vultures, condors), water birds (ospreys, cormorant, stork, heron, etc., probably including ducks), and the bat (which is not a bird but a mammal of the order Chiroptera—hand-wing). (Lev. 11:13-19) All insects are unclean, except for those with jointed legs for hopping, including the locust, katydid, cricket and grasshopper. (Lev. 11:20-23; Mat. 3:4)
These laws are based upon scientific principles of health and safety. God outlawed the consumption of scavengers and carrion eaters that feed on decaying flesh. Likewise, He forbade the consumption of predatory animals, which typically eat the weakest and slowest among a group of prey animals, which often are weakest because they are diseased. As to marine animals, bottom dwellers that scavenge for dead animals or consume decaying organic matter that sinks to the sea floor are excluded from human consumption. These animals fill a vital ecological niche—cleaning up dead things and waste matter—but in His love and wisdom, God directed His children not to eat these animals.
Some say it is wrong--not “politically correct”—to point out that coronavirus is caused by the unhealthy eating habits of some Chinese people. In certain Leftist circles of opinion, recommending a better diet to non-Westerners is considered a form of Western colonialism. But the shoe is on the other foot. It is immoral to withhold lifesaving knowledge from people who are dying in order merely to signal one’s own “wokeness.”
The 1918-19 Influenza Epidemic
Because of the international resources arrayed against the coronavirus, it is very unlikely to claim as many victims as the “Spanish Flu” of one century ago. That deadly pandemic killed at least 25 million people (some researchers say up to 50 million), and has been called “the mother of all pandemics.” The worldwide travel of troops returning home at the end of the First World War helped spread the virus. The Spanish Flu is believed to have been caused by a near ancestor of the H1N1 flu virus, which originates in birds and then mutates in pig populations. Humans are at risk of infection when they handle pigs and pork.
In His love for us, God has given us laws that, if we follow them, will spare us from much illness and suffering. It is unfortunate that we too often do not take advantage of this divinely revealed knowledge on how to avoid disease.