I'm, I'm Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Um, ah oh, my first question

is should we be shaking hands right now?

or should we be doing this instead?

♪ [light]

[swoosh]

Matthew: Some Canadian kids are worried that

they're going to get infected and die.

How likely is this going to happen?

Most people who get infected with this,

especially, if you're young and healthy,

have a pretty mild illness.

It's kind of like having a cold,

maybe a little bit more serious than that,

but most of them do just fine and get better quickly.

Matthew: OK.

There's a small portion of people who get more

severe illness and get a pneumonia or an infection

in the lungs and they may end up in hospital.

And here in Canada we have good systems to support people

if they get that sick and there's a very

small percentage of people who've died

and they've mostly been older people.

[swoosh]

Matthew: Lots of people think this comes from a Chinese lab,

and one of the test tubes spilt and some people think

this comes from a restaurant.

Some people think that this just randomly started somehow.

No, it does not come from a Chinese food restaurant.

It does not come from a lab with an accident.

What we know is that it's much more mundane than that.

It probably came from animals that were in this market

that were being used for food.

Um, and it created, it developed a genetic mutation

that allowed it to start infecting humans.

Matthew: I've heard about people avoiding Chinatown

and Chinese people.

What do you think about that?

That makes me feel really sad.

And I think it's about misinformation.

People are afraid and, you know, when they don't know

what's going on

and there's sometimes scary headlines about things,

people take reactions that are sometimes not,

not good reactions and not warranted.

There's no reason, if you healthy, there's no reason

not to go out and go to a Chinese food restaurant,

be in Chinatown, have celebrations,

and the really important message is,

if you're not feeling well, even if you're a little bit

concerned about not feeling well,

then don't go out, stay at home, take care of yourself

and don't pass it on to others.

[swooshes]

Matthew: There's a clip going around on TikTok,

of a girl wearing a mask while opening a packet from China.

Do we have to be worried about toys and electronics

that are produced in China?

There's no evidence at all that this virus

can be transmitted through things like that.

And the virus doesn't live for a long period of time

outside of the body.

It needs, it needs your body's cells

and your body's systems to reproduce itself

and it can stay in droplets for, on a surface,

depending on temperatures and things like that

for maybe a couple of hours, but in a package

that's come from China.

No, there's no need for that.

[swooshes]

Matthew: Well, I've seen people wearing masks

all over the place. Is this really helpful?

Masks are helpful when you're sick,

because what it does, these respiratory,

the virus can get in our saliva, and when we cough or sneeze

it can get out into the air

and then somebody else breathes it in.

So, if I'm wearing a mask, that keeps my secretions in,

keeps my droplets in.

So, if you're not feeling well,

then wearing a mask can work.

If you think that wearing a mask is going to keep you

from getting sick from somebody else?

Probably not.

Thank you so much and...

[laughter] Punches, punching.

now I understand, it's not that dangerous.