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| Maybe it's time to dial back the coronavirus drama |
| 2020-03-08 |
| Legal Insurrection via Instapundit After a week of covering the Wuhan coronavirus as both as a pundit and a biosafety professional, I have come to the conclusion that maybe it is time to dial back the drama associated with the pathogen. Let’s begin by starting with some perspective. The current flu season has hit 32 million Americans, resulting in 18,000 deaths, and the vaccine that was selected for the flu season was limited in its effectiveness. Yet, we are not doing a daily flu death countdown. ...The press is currently ginning up fear about the lack test kits. However, Pence noted that all the state labs that had requested test kits have received them. And because of the changes in the regulations implemented by the Trump administration last week, the state labs can actually run the tests. Between March 2 and 5, over 900,000 tests had been distributed across the country. By the end of next week, 4 million tests could be shipped. Pence made it clear that a public-private partnership (working with Lab Corp and Quest) was being implemented toward getting even more test materials to the state labs more quickly. ...Finally, Dr. James Phillips, operational medicine fellowship director at George Washington University, recently said that most people who contract the coronavirus will "do just fine."
In conclusion: Stay calm and keep your hands away from your face. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #15 * of OrangeMan * wash your hands |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-03-08 20:17 |
| #14 Occam agrees: This is an attempted Katrina-ing if OrangeMan. Not saying you shouldn't wash her hands, or take reasonable precautions. Just saying that the panic-mongering conceals a large degree of Machiavellian political manipulation. |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-03-08 20:16 |
| #13 Even if its not "TrumP's Katrina", the media is doing its best to make it into that. Something needs to be done with/to the dominant leftist media to hold the writers and editors personally accountable and punish them for sedition. |
| Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 2020-03-08 17:47 |
| #12 Experts I heard said that the virus probably spread all around the world during the cold and flu season. Folks got it and for nearly everyone it was no worse than the flu so they never went to the hospital and so never knew they had Coronavirus. For others they got sick as they would the flu and hospitals treated them for the flu and in many cases they parallel the normal flu. This really does seem like fear mongering making things worse and with folks saying it will be Trump's Katrina it's hard not to find motive. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2020-03-08 17:21 |
| #11 I can't imagine Trump lying down and accepting being pinned for his 'Katrina' like Bush did. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2020-03-08 16:42 |
| #10 I get why the media doom-casters hyping this virus. But they are doing so cheerfully - in the obvious hope it will hurt Trump. If they truly believed what they said, they'd be terrified. And they are not. |
| Posted by: The peanut gallery 2020-03-08 16:14 |
| #9 ^ But CDC is trying to figure out how to siphon the money away from virus research and over to their true love, gun violence research. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-03-08 13:47 |
| #8 If there is any sort of a silver lining to this and all the different information available, at least we can rejoice in knowing the FDA and CDC haven’ t delegated the vaccine research to Boeing. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2020-03-08 13:05 |
| #7 We've got a nice little experiment underway here right now. It's Bike Week on the Florida coast and there are people who have come from all over the country. There are going to be crowds, people suppressing their immune systems with alcohol and whatnot. We shall see... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-03-08 12:35 |
| #6 The deaths from COVID-19 are following the influenza pattern. Most dead are above 60. Most people will be fine. However, it is a very serious and deadly virus for a lot of people. Just take basic precautions and stay away from old people and immune system compromised people if you are ill. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2020-03-08 11:27 |
| #5 bad actors in the media (but I repeat myself) are already salivating at the prospect of this being 'Trump's Katrina' (their words). So hoping that the drama gets dialed back by those who use drama as their biggest weapon... not likely. |
| Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 2020-03-08 09:33 |
| #4 that "1-2%" they reference are the ones will need hospitalization and extended acute care. Of that group, that's where the deaths will come. And remember most of the death statistics so far are in China and Iran, not exactly known for hygienic society. Also there is the issue of under reporting of cases, which falsely skews the death rate higher. In the younger population this virus appears to be very mild, and sometimes shows mild symptoms or none at all, which means those cases arent being reported. And supposedly there are yet to be any cases reported in otherwise healthy children under the age of about 15. Right now, its primarily the elderly, the immuno-compromised like diabetics, mporbidly obese, heart failure and circulatory issues, and especially cancer patients on chemo/radiation. Above all else, the people most at risk for death are those with compromised pulmonary function: smokers, former smokers, living in highly air polluted areas like central (Wuhan) China, and especially those with chronic lung diseases like emphysema, chronic bronchitis, long-term severe or acute asthma, and most definitely COPD. Basically, if you are under the age of 60, and don't smoke, do not have cancer, and do not have pulmonary issues, and are otherwise fairly healthy, you are very unlikely to die from this. Flu is more likely to kill you. So stay away from crowds, wash your hands properly and frequently, use hand sanitizer after touching things in public, like door knobs, gas pump handles and shopping carts. And until you do clean your hands, don't touch in or near the eyes, nose or mouth. And disinfect the surfaces in your home and car regularly, this virus lives up to 9 days on surfaces. Do those things and you reduce your chances of exposure. So stop adding to the panic and hysteria. |
| Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 2020-03-08 07:03 |
| #3 So let's do the math: "Most of us will get the virus" = minimum 165m Americans "98-99% will do fine" = 1-2% will not "do fine", i.e. will not recover, i.e. will ... die? What else could he mean? 1% of 165m = 1.65m Americans will die from coronavirus 2% of 165m = 3.30m Americans will die from coronavirus If the good professor aims to reduce panic, he ought to speak more precisely. Or not speak up altogether. |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-03-08 06:23 |
| #2 * Tango |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-03-08 06:15 |
| #1 In general I agree that panicking is a stupid and unwise response. But unless the author is totally innumerate, his article actually increases anxiety. According to the professor, coronavirus is at least 20x, perhaps 40x, more lethal than the flu -- AND "most of us will get it" -- but there's nothing to worry about. Whiskey Tamgo...? |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-03-08 06:14 |