To the Editor:

Re “Mask Hoarders May Raise the Risk of the Virus Spreading in the U.S.” (news article, Jan. 30):

Your coverage of coronavirus reflects a real concern as well as an overreaction in the West to this outbreak. When I walk through our Phoenix hospital’s emergency department, I’m reminded of the global outbreak we really should be worried about: influenza.

We are at a high point in the flu season, with 15 million cases, 140,000 hospitalizations, and 8,200 deaths in the United States alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Every day dozens of people with flu symptoms come through our emergency department.

Coronavirus is a serious disease, and we must be vigilant in monitoring its spread while working to find solutions. But at this writing, there have been only a handful of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in this country, mostly in recent travelers to Wuhan, China. Rather than rushing out to buy masks and fretting over the unlikely chance of contracting the coronavirus, Americans should get their flu shots, and wash their hands often to avoid the flu.

Michael D. White

Phoenix

The writer is chief medical officer at Valleywise Health.

To the Editor:

While it is far too early to make concrete predictions about the lethality of the coronavirus that is now spreading around the globe, the media has overlooked one critical risk factor that is present in China: high levels of PM 2.5 in the air. PM 2.5 refers to particles of pollution that are small enough to pass through the lung and enter the bloodstream, causing damage to the immune system as well as other organ systems, such as the lungs.