Dr. Siegel reports from Nebraska biocontainment facility: Coronavirus may be 'more contagious than the flu'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Medical A-Team member Dr. Marc Siegel said Wednesday that coronavirus is appearing to be more contagious than the flu.
Reporting from Omaha, Neb., Siegel said he has received wide-ranging access to the University of Nebraska's biocontainment facility where Americans infected with the virus are being treated and quarantined.
Two patients were being treated while Siegel reported on "Outnumbered Overtime."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"One ... is suffering from that severe pneumonia we've been talking about and is possibly or probably on the antiviral treatment we are studying so intensely," he said. "The others, there are 15 total — one came in last night on a MedEvac and was reunited with her spouse. They are in adjoining rooms."
Siegel, also a professor at New York University, said he is studying how the nurses and medical professionals are treating the virus in the unique facility, and that people are wearing protective gear almost all of the time.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"One thing they told me that's really striking: they think this virus may actually be more contagious than the flu," he said.
Siegel said that news is concerning because of the sudden spread of the China-born virus across the globe, from South Korea, to Italy, to Bahrain.
"That's why the CDC is concerned about community spread here. Because it's looking like it's even more contagious than we thought," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SECOND PERSON WITH CORONAVIRUS SENT TO NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER
Host Harris Faulkner also played a clip of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, who warned Democrats against politicizing the coronavirus outbreak as a cudgel against the president.
Limbaugh referenced how Democrats are blaming Trump for what they consider a slow or inadequate federal response to the epidemic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Donald Trump is president of the United States. He is not president of the world," the recent Medal of Freedom honoree said.
"It is not his job to control the spread of the coronavirus in China. It is not his job to control the spread of the coronavirus in the U.K. There's nothing he can do about it anyway about it."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Earlier in the week, Limbaugh had added that he believed the Chinese government has been trying to sensationalize the outbreak to hurt the American president.
"I want to try to put this in perspective for you. It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump," he claimed.