John Oliver explains the coronavirus, apportions blame, offers practical advice

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wasn't wrong last week that the new COVID-19 coronavirus would hit the U.S., John Oliver said on Sunday's extremely topical Last Week Tonight. There are now several dozen confirmed cases and two deaths in the U.S., "the stock market taken it's biggest one-week dive since 2008, and many Americans have questions about how to stay safe."

Oliver started with "the very basics" about COVID-19, the new strain of coronavirus. "Symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath, and preliminary estimates are that is has around a 2 percent mortality rate," which would be about 20 times higher than the seasonal flu. "The good news is that around 80 percent of those who get this virus have mild symptoms," he said, but "the bad news is that means they are more likely to spread it without even realizing. That is one of the things that makes this so dangerous, and why, even though its mortality rate is much lower than that of SARS or MERS, this virus has already killed three times as many people." One estimate is that up to 70 percent of humanity will become infected with the virus in the next year.

"So if the stock market is tanking and people are considering gargling bleach, we thought tonight might be a good time to talk about the coronavirus: how we got to this point, what's currently being done, and how this virus has exposed governmental vulnerabilities as it has spread around the world," Oliver said. The first answer was China, and the responses from various have been mixed.

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"Trust in institutions is critical when trying to contain a possible pandemic, and unfortunately, that brings us to the Untied States," Oliver said, digging into the "dissonance" between President Trump's sunny news and the warnings from "the many trained experts who we're lucky enough to have working in our nation's public health agencies." He found Vice President Mike Pence a poor choice to lead the coronavirus response, but said the larger problem is having "a president whose entire like has been a series of low-stakes lies."

So, how scared should you actually be about COVID-19? "A bit," Oliver said. He ended with some basic practical advice: "Don't hoard masks," do "check the CDC website for future updates," and importantly, "wash your hand regularly, for at least 20 seconds." Vietnam can help there. Watch below. Peter Weber