The novel coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe has claimed at least 100,000 lives, most of them in Italy, Spain, China, the United States and Iran. With the death toll soaring even in countries with sophisticated health care, what are the risks for people struggling in refugee and IDP camps? And what might be done to reduce their vulnerability? 

Epidemiologist Paul Spiegel, head of the Johns Hopkins (University) Center for Humanitarian Health in Baltimore, Maryland, wrestles with those questions. 

“There's a concern that the virus will transmit more quickly because of the densely populated areas, but also that social distancing and isolation will be much more difficult in these settings,” Spiegel says.