It's a deadly virus that started in China, and now it's spreading across the world.

"Every day we're seeing more and more new countries reporting cases like Brazil and Austria and France and South Korea,” said Stephen Thomas, the Upstate Medical University Infectious Disease Division chief.

And there are about 60 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S.

Thomas expects that number to grow.

"The concern is that a billion people get infected and the case fatality rate of 3.5%  is a lot of people and it's going to disrupt a lot of different health care structures and systems,” said Thomas.

But Thomas says Upstate University Hospital is constantly preparing for the threat.

"We meet,” said Thomas. “We tweak the plan. We have daily reports and exchange of information. We're constantly monitoring what's going on. We're starting to look at different scenarios we may be faced with."

Thomas says they'll also follow their usual protocol of asking patients about their travels within the last 28 days.

"We're focusing a little bit more on people with respiratory symptoms, people with fevers or people who are coming from Asia or some of these other countries,” said Thomas.

Dr. Thomas says if they identify people who have the virus, they're going to isolate and treat those patients, but they're also going to pay close attention to the staff because they don't want them to become infected as well."

"We think very deeply about how we're going to make sure our staff don't get infected and how our staff don't infect other people,” said Thomas. “So, personal protective equipment, everything from gloves, to gowns to masks to eyewear."

Thomas says groups are working on vaccines right now, but they won't be ready for at least another year.

There are also clinical trials in China and the U.S. to find a potential treatment.

For now, Thomas says people can take their own preventative measures such as washing their hands and staying home if they're sick.

Thomas also provides infectious disease consultations for Crouse Hospital and the Syracuse VA. He meets with them at least once a week.