Coronavirus, COVID-19

While some schools across the country are closed out of precaution over the spread of coronavirus, many others remain open. Dr. Ashish Jha of Harvard’s School of Public Health explains the effectiveness of school closures and the challenges they present.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Updated at 2:10 p.m.

President Trump announced a 30-day ban on travel from several European nations starting at midnight Friday in a bid to rein in the spread of the coronavirus. Here's a look at what that means and who will be affected:

Who's affected

Updated at 6 p.m. ET

The leading Democratic presidential candidates slammed the Trump administration on Thursday for its response to the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

"The EU disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation," the heads of the European Union said Thursday, expressing their displeasure with President Trump's plan to block visitors from 26 European countries from entering the United States.

"The Coronavirus is a global crisis and requires cooperation," the EU leaders said.

Updated at 5:25 a.m. ET on Friday

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was unable to reach a deal late Thursday on a package of measures to address the coronavirus pandemic amid pushback from the top House Republican that the bill "comes up short."

Negotiations were set to resume on Friday on the legislation, which does not include an emergency payroll tax cut — something that President Trump has been pressing for Congress to pass but that Democrats and some Republicans have rejected.

The coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, is causing businesses, health officials and patients to worry about potential shortages of prescription drugs.

That's because the vast majority of active ingredients in medicines dispensed in the U.S. are made in factories overseas, many in China.

Masks, gloves and other equipment are crucial as health care workers face the COVID-19 outbreak. There is a strategic national stockpile that the U.S. government controls — but no one actually knows, beyond that stockpile, what's already out there in the private sector.

Some hospitals have extras, and some not enough. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working on a system that would track the inventory across the U.S.

Updated at 1:10 p.m. ET Thursday

The NBA suspended its season Wednesday after a player on the Utah Jazz preliminarily tested positive for the coronavirus. The team announced Thursday that after testing the entire traveling team in follow-up, a second player has tested positive.

Updated at 11:21 p.m. ET

March Madness is going to be very different this year. The NCAA has decided both the men's and women's Division I basketball tournaments won't be played in front of fans. The energy. The excitement. The yelling. All gone. Thanks, coronavirus.

Updated at 12:34 a.m. ET Thursday

President Trump announced a 30-day ban on travel from European countries to the United States, beginning on Friday at midnight, in a bid "to keep new cases" of coronavirus "from entering our shores."

The restrictions, he said late Wednesday, do not apply to travelers from the United Kingdom.

Muhammad H. Zaman (@mhzaman) is a professor of biomedical engineering and international health at Boston University, and the author of Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens, to be published by Harper Wave in April.

The message about coronavirus to the public is loud and clear: If you feel sick, call your doctor. There is nothing wrong with the message. But not everyone has the luxury of calling a doctor.