And the answer is: Neither.
Yes, there is a segment of the population that can be killed by the virus, but the numbers are small compared with the total and will be even smaller if common sense is applied to try to avoid contagion. If you are a 65 year old, chain-smoker asthmatic who like to lick hand rails in subway stations in China, well you will end up in some ER with the Beer Virus.
The real ranger is the sheer stupid panic of people overwhelming hospitals at the first hint of the sniffles demanding the cure for the Virus or at least the test to prove they are dying and need a private suit in the hospital’s penthouse. Stay the fuck away from hospitals, sick people gather there and die in them! The deal here is to avoid getting the damn virus which means do not go where sick people may be contaminated! You don’t get your had bitten off by sharks unless you dip your arm in the shark tank at feeding time.
Plus it is rather stupid to waste the limited resources of a hospital on a allergy-caused dripping nose that could be cured with over-the-counter Claritin, but you search in WebMD made you think you had COVID-19 and TB together and need professional care right now.
Reducing contact with other people is a good health practice. Most of them are assholes anyway, so the health benefits include peace of mind. Stop being Web-Browsing hypochondriacs and let’s reserve medical facilities for those who are truly in need. In case you have not noticed, all other sicknesses are still going strong affecting people and accidents are still happening. People having heart attacks did not just stop because you sneezed twice in a row and think you are a victim of the 21st Century plague.
Stay informed and stop panicking.
Wise words there Miguel. Cannot agree more.
I have a buddy who has been evaluating the death rate versus confirmed infection rate, and just like every other “extinction level” disease is following the typical pattern.
Initially lots of deaths because it is a new disease and until it is properly diagnosed, it is not treated properly. Therefore, lots of initial deaths. Deaths will stay at a high rate until effective treatments are identified. Then they will start dropping, even though the disease is spreading.
So, nothing new under the sun here with this virus.
So I caught “something.” As primary medical transport for my lady, I get to take her to all the doctor’s visits and dentist visits out there.
Most of the time I’m a work at home sort of person. I only have to work from the office once a week. Which isn’t too bad.
When I decided that this virus was going to be worse than I wanted to deal with, I went to paranoid level 2. What this means is that I assume that every surface I touch that has been touched by somebody else has a contact poison.
This means that I avoid touching anything that somebody else might have touched as much as possible. This includes things like the door handles for my truck.
If I am forced to touch something, at the next “safe” place, I use hand sanitizer on my hands.
I use just one hand for all contact with those things. So here is an example:
I pick up my EDC gear in the house and go to the truck. Laptop bag, lunch box, range bag coffee cup over the shoulder or in my left hand. Exit house, use remote to unlock truck, open door to truck, ALL with right hand. Put coffee cup and bags in place in the cab. Do NOT touch any of those things with right hand. Do not touch interior of cab with right hand.
Close back door exterior side using right hand. Enter cab. Use steering wheel as grip surface with right hand. Close door with left hand.
Pull sanitizer from coat pocket, sanitize hands, steering wheel, key fob and key.
So even with this level of paranoia I caught something.
And my lady went bonkers. “Where did you catch it?” Is it CoVid-19? We were in _location_ and they had reported somebody testing positive there… My kids were going the same way.
Me, it’s a freaking cold. Knocked me on my tush for a couple of days, but just a cold.
I didn’t even bother to call the doctor as the symptoms are already fading and there is no reason to suspect it is the virus.
So don’t panic, evaluate what’s going on and do your best not to spread your own illnesses or contract other peoples.
ain’t that the truth!
Preach!