FW: COVID an Officially organized panic – A good summary of “State of Play”
Thanks to Ian Lee for forwarding this short posting/article. This about sums up things so far – at least outside of the Far East, AFAIK… And Tom Hanks is, apparently, fine and dandy!
“Elderly Woman Dies Of Flu In Dublin” – March 12, 2020
Said no headline ever. However, the following headline blared from today’s edition of Journal:
‘First Death In Ireland Confirmed As Coronavirus Declared Pandemic’
The latter headline referred to an elderly patient, already sick, who had passed away. What the hell is
going on with COVID-19?
An officially organized panic.
Worse than zika, ebola, SARS….remember them? We were all supposed to die from them as well. But we’re on
a different level altogether with the latest.
Again, why? According to LiveScience “So far, the new coronavirus has led to more than 100,000 illnesses
and more than 3,000 deaths worldwide. But that’s nothing compared with the flu. In the U.S. alone, the
flu has caused an estimated 34 million illnesses, 350,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths this season,”
The Hong Kong flu was very similar to the current outbreak in being extremely contagious but with a fairly
low mortality rate. While 30% of the UK population is estimated to have been infected the death rate was
about 0.5%, mostly elderly or those with underlying health conditions.”
To what extent does this differ from COVID-19? Well as they say, experts differ and patients die. Suffice
to say that the impact of COVID-19 is little different to that of a typical flu pandemic. The Diamond
Princess liner (the ‘Bug Boat’) marooned in San Francisco represents the perfect incubation centre for the
spread of the virus. Thousands of people jammed in a small place serviced by a single ventilation system…..
it’s virus heaven. Surely all on board are dead by now? Well no. Several people got the decease, but only
two, both aged over 80, have died. No children on the boat became sick.
As Trump tweeted ‘So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!’