OT: Coronavirus do you care?

Status
Not open for further replies.
The number of cases of coronavirus infection with COVID-19, according to recent data, exceeded 101 thousand. 3,5 thousand patients died, more than 57 thousand recovered
 
I just told my boss we need to start charging a Coronavirus Risk Fee on all of our Travel, and I get to pocket the whole thing. 🍺
 
If it spreads like a the common flu you can expect about 2 million dead in the US. that is with just 10% of the population being infected. That is a lot of people compared to 35,000 from the flu which on average infects 5 to 20% of the populating every year.
 
Originally posted by leighhigh...

If it spreads like a the common flu...

I for one wouldn't expect it to spread like the common flu. While COVID-19 is certainly both more infectious and more deadly than the common flu we are not treating it like the common flu either. At least in my area of the country we basically do nothing to prevent the common flu on a year to year basis. While you can make the case that our response to COVID-19 may not be aggressive enough, it is already orders of magnitude greater than what we do for the common flu on a yearly basis.

Keith
 
Before I comment, a comment. I'm not going to read all of the posts here, just a couple. It's not that I don't care but rather with my background I've already heard a lot about and talked a lot about SARS-CoV-2 (the Virus) and COVID-19 (the disease) in the past week, one thing I've learned is that even the best well intentioned people only hear about 10% of what anyone else has to say and I just don't have the energy to go into too much detail. However, the OCD in me will force me to respond if I read anything I don't agree with or find as bad information. So, with that said...
I've been connected to one of the local fire departments in my area for 30 years. As a member of the fire department (as a first responder) I’ve been an EMT for just under 30 years with the last 25 of those years having re-occurring training on a wide variety of topics. The one constant class given every year (sometime two or three times a year during past outbreaks) has been “infectious disease”. Its primary focus was how to protect yourself and your patient but there was also basic information on the nature of different types of diseases, how they spread and prevention (of spreading). With that, one of the things I've learned the most about as an EMT is diseases, how to protect myself and others and how to stop the spread. Not exactly my favorite topic but none the less I've learned a lot about it. One of the most common "worldwide" diseases, outside of the flu, is SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which SARS-CoV-2 is a version of (by the way, just for clarification, SARS-CoV-2 is the Virus that causes the disease COVID-19). However, this version is showing some rather concerning differences primarily how easily and quickly it spreads. Fortunately, it is nowhere near as deadly as the SARS outbreak in 2002 or the MERS outbreak in 2012 when you look at the mortality rate however far fewer people were infected during those outbreaks so the total number of fatalities with COVID-19 is likely to exceed both of those outbreaks. Having said that, it is much to early to predict what the long-term result will be with regards to fatalities. The underlying Virus, Coronavirus, has been around since the 1930’s and the more outbreaks they have the better they get at finding the cause and coming up with a cure. It’s not guarantee that we will come up with a cure, but the odds are better that they will. The other thing to remember is most people who come down with COVID-19 will have a mild case of it with a lot of them thinking it’s nothing but a common cold or flu (very common with most Coronavirus infections).
With regards to the general population, there are really two aspects to consider, first is the containment. The reality is we are going to lose that fight if we haven’t already so it’s really just a matter how bad we lose it. This is part of what good hygiene is all about. Disinfecting surfaces, coughing into your sleeve rather than your hand, etc… helps prevent the spread of the Virus as much, if not more than, doing all of those things to protect you. The other aspect is preventing yourself from getting sick. The biggest fight against that is good personal hygiene like washing your hands frequently and not touching your mouth, nose or eyes. Avoiding large crowds is also a very good idea if you live in an area with known confirmed cases but keep in mind with an incubation period of up to 14 days by the time an area is known to have the Virus it’s far to late to stop it from spreading (again, it’s how bad it will be that we have some control over). If anyone reading this is at high risk or has loved ones you are close to frequently that are high risk, you need to be very concerned and diligent in how you deal with this. People with diminished immune systems are the ones most likely to die from this disease and for them it must be treated seriously. It is coming and will spread pretty much throughout almost all of North America but those who are at high risk can be protected if we all take is seriously enough. Having said that, those who have said they aren’t going to panic are spot on. The best way to let this Virus devastate our population is to panic. That has never worked, and it never will. However, those who aren’t treating it seriously at all, are putting the rest of us at risk.
Last let me leave with this, don’t rely on the news media or social media as a reliable source of information (including this website). The WHO, CDC and your local health departments (State and County) are the best places to get accurate and up to date information. With the news media, in my 30 years in the fire service I’ve seen a lot of incidents that wind up on the news (mostly local but some national) and I have yet to see news coverage that was completely accurate. Sometimes they are close but never 100%. You have to remember that news is a for profit business and the more sensational it is and the quicker they can get the information to the viewer/readers the more profit there is. Because of that the truth gets twisted to be more sensational and time isn’t taken to get accurate facts. I include the coverage in Kirkland in this observation. To be fair it isn’t to far off, but there are some inaccuracies and certainly a lot of sensationalism. Get your information from places that aren’t out to make a profit off of you getting your information from them.
 
Last let me leave with this, don’t rely on the news media or social media as a reliable source of information (including this website). The WHO, CDC and your local health departments (State and County) are the best places to get accurate and up to date information. With the news media, in my 30 years in the fire service I’ve seen a lot of incidents that wind up on the news (mostly local but some national) and I have yet to see news coverage that was completely accurate. Sometimes they are close but never 100%.

If that ain't the truth, I don't know what is. Every story I have ever seen concerning an area of my expertise rarely breaks the 75% accurate threshold.
 
I just read through what seemed to be a pretty decent report from a WHO team that went into China the last couple weeks of February. It was basically a mission to try and figure out what works and what doesn't relative to COVID-19.

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf

I came away with three big personal takeaways.

1) It doesn't appear that there are a significant number of asymptomatic carriers of the virus. If you get a large enough infection of the virus to become viable in your body you will show symptoms, which is a good thing in the big picture. Asymptomatic carriers are the bane of an epidemiologist's existence.

2) If you are a child this is basically the seasonal flu. For some as yet unknown reason COVID-19 presents disproportionately mildly in children. Good for the kids, maybe not so good for stopping disease transmission. Kids get coughs and fevers all the time. If it isn't bad enough to go to the doctor you probably won't worry about it until everyone in the extended family is infected.

3) COVID-19 has turned the corner in China. New infection rates are way down. The thing that seems to have done the trick is the isolation restrictions that were put on the public to prevent personal interaction (especially travel to and from hot spots) as well as the fact that the public went along with those restrictions. That doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies when it comes to Western democracies, especially here in the US. We tend not to like to do what people tell us to even if it is the right thing to do.

We shall see.

Keith
 
Firejo, good writeup. Some line break would be nice :)

I actually don't feel the "media" has done a bad job. However, I also know how different people can read a story and have completely different takeaway.

I have been very worried about this for a long time and actually posted in another forum that targeted toward financial discussion in the first week of Feb that I don't see how we could avoid a very bad year. I still don't get why CDC didn't ramp up testing readiness with months of non-stop report of this spreading.
 
Firejo, good writeup. Some line break would be nice :)

I actually don't feel the "media" has done a bad job. However, I also know how different people can read a story and have completely different takeaway.

I have been very worried about this for a long time and actually posted in another forum that targeted toward financial discussion in the first week of Feb that I don't see how we could avoid a very bad year. I still don't get why CDC didn't ramp up testing readiness with months of non-stop report of this spreading.

I agree that some of the media is doing a decent job however I have close ties to some of the local (to me) stories that are ongoing and I have yet to see a news story (local or national) that hasn't twisted things just a little or missed a detail that changes the actual story. Nothing Earth shattering, but inaccurate all the same. Disappointing but nothing new or surprising.
(Line break:))
As to the CDC's response, SARS CoV-2 wasn't identified as a Virus until December of 2019 and the WHO didn't classify (name) it and COVID 19 until January 20th 2020. The time from this level of awareness to where we are now is unprecedented for a Virus and Disease in the SARS family. I won't go into politics but the CDC was caught off guard by the time frame alone (and also by the fact that they were pulled out of 37 of 39 regions where they had/have people monitoring outbreaks).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar Topics

Hello, people. I'm trying to download .deh file into Prowirl 200 flowmeter using DeviceCare SFE100, but after connection I've got a message...
Replies
0
Views
1,521
Headline: "Hackers halt plant operations in 'watershed' cyberattack" ...
Replies
15
Views
5,582
Hi All, I am trying to set up a flowmeter (FCI ST98) using Fiedcare or PACTware with Profitrace proficore ultra, but when I add PROCENTEC...
Replies
0
Views
2,221
G'day gentlemen, We are setting up a E+H Fieldcare installation and don't seem to have any problems with the E+H instruments, however when we...
Replies
0
Views
2,266
frequently , i hear this statement " do not care for AC connection but must care for DC connection " who say this statement wants to connect " L...
Replies
26
Views
13,439
Back
Top Bottom