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Officials at the Maine Center for Disease Control are keeping a close watch on developments with the coronavirus and putting hospitals on notice to start screening for it.

invited ����ֱ��’s Jodie Hermann, D.O., MBA, assistant professor and chair in the Department of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, into the television station’s Westbrook studio to discuss coronavirus and the flu during a live broadcast of the noon news.

Hermann also spoke with reporter Jim Keithley for reports aired during later newscasts.

"Since coronavirus is new, we suspect it is more like SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, that actually jumped from the animal population to the human population," Hermann told Keithley. "Now we are transferring person to person, so we're just realizing, just discovering what the coronavirus abilities and possibilities are."

In 2003, SARS infected 8,098 and killed 774. The coronavirus has infected more than 6,000 people worldwide, mostly in China, causing 132 deaths.

Hermann says good hygiene is the best defense against coronavirus, the flu, or the common cold.

“If you’re in a public place where people touch things constantly such as shopping carts, door handles, or elevator buttons, wash your hands and don’t put your hands on your eyes, your nose, or your mouth,” she said.