KITCHENER -- Fear of the coronavirus can be overwhelming for some, but the government of Canada continues to push the message that the risk to residents remains low.
Even those who have tested positive for the virus have about a two percent chance of dying from it.
So far, all deaths related to coronavirus, except for one, have been in mainland China.
Here at home, experts say influenza is a much bigger risk.
Flu cases across Canada jumped in the last month, yet flu season has been somewhat overshadowed by the concerns of coronavirus.
"We may be evolutionarily prepared to react to more fear to novel infectious illnesses than we do to chronic illnesses that have been around for a while," said Peter Hall, director of the Prevention Neuroscience Lab at the University of Waterloo.
In Canada, 3,500 people will die from the flu this year.
Hall, who studies the psychology of infectious disease, says the public may be overreacting emotionally to the coronavirus without actually taking preventative steps to calm those fears, like washing your hands or using sanitizer.
"We're spending a lot of time focusing on the fearful aspects of the epidemic and not focusing enough on the behaviours that we could be implementing individually to manage our risk," said Hall.
Locally, the Region of Waterloo public health department also confirms the risk of contracting coronavirus is low.
The Ministry of Health updates its website each day with information, including the status of cases in Ontario.
