My team and I have received a lot of calls and questions about the coronavirus over the last few weeks. There is a lot of information out there, some helpful, some concerning, and some false. I wanted to take a moment to share some steps you can take to be prepared and stay healthy, as well as some general information about the virus so you can stay informed.

It’s important, first and foremost, to recognize we are fortunate to live in a region and country that leads the world when it comes to responding to public health emergencies. We have experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and at hospitals, in labs, and on college and university campuses across the country who are working day and night to develop treatments, a vaccine, and a better test kit for this virus. I strongly support investing more in the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health because the cost of preventing something like this is much cheaper than the cost of responding to it. But in the near term, we need to ensure that these agencies have the funding they need to respond to coronavirus.

In any public health emergency, it is important to get good, verified information. Check in with the experts at CDC.gov for the latest and most accurate information. Read trusted news sources like your local newspaper. And, know that the people commenting on Facebook and Twitter are probably not public health experts.

The general rule about this virus is that if you know how to protect yourself from the flu, you know how to protect yourself from coronavirus. The public health experts that my team and I have spent the last few weeks talking to all say the same things:

• Wash your hands with hot, soapy water for at least 20 seconds.
• Cover your mouth, ideally with an elbow, when you cough or sneeze.
• Get a flu shot, not necessarily because it will prevent the spread of coronavirus, but so that you stay healthy and out of the doctor's office.
• And, like I tell my team often, use your sick days. If you're not feeling well, stay home from work and get better.