Update: 17 April 2020, Fear, panic and pandemonium have gripped the entire country as the CCP Virus has spread across the nation and brought with it thousands of deaths. However, almost all of the original forecasts on cases and deaths have been revised downward more and more it looks as though the CCP Virus will be similar to a sever year of flu.
I rarely write two articles on the same subject the same day but today is going to be an exception. The press and the media are blowing out of proportion the threat of the corona virus (COVID-19). I was just catching up on the days news and on the Fox News app was presented with a story with this headline, “Coronavirus outbreak in US ‘at best could be 10 times worse than bad flu season,’ expert warns.” In the text of the article the author, Alexandria Hein, quotes no authority or expert stating such a thing. The flu in a worse case scenario infects around 60 million people in the US in a year. 10 times this number, as her headline suggests would be 600 million people. The population of the US is only 330 million. So are we to believe almost twice the population are going to be infected?
Earlier in the day, in statements before Congress, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made the statement, “The idea of anybody getting it (tested) easily the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that. Do I think we should be? Yes. But we’re not.” If other countries are doing so much better than the US, how is it that we have a far lower incidence of the disease than countries a tenth our size. Germany, France, Spain, and Italy all have more reported cases than the US yet their populations are significantly smaller than ours. Suggesting that asymptomatic individuals be tested is ludicrous. The CDC said just yesterday they have over 2 million test kits available and have had a million test kits since the early days of the outbreak.
A WHO spokesperson stated that 80% of people infected will have a mild case. Since symptoms are very similar to the flu I suspect many of these individuals will not be tested or go to medical facilities. Should we force testing on everyone who has a flu like symptom? No, what we must do is be sensible and implement good hygiene practices, something we should do always. If you feel ill with flu like symptoms do not expose others, stay at home, begin drinking plenty of fluids, always wash your hands regularly with soap, especially the finger tips where you touch objects, avoid as much as possible touching your face, rubbing your eyes, etc. Avoid close contact with people who are coughing and sneezing. Change out of and wash clothing after any close contact. You may even want to shower.
My daughter called a little bit ago asking me, “what is going on?” “Are people really this scared?” With events in every state being canceled, NBA, WBA, NHL, NCAA, Broadway, music festivals and work-related conferences, it would certainly seem there is something frightening on the horizon. Some of these precautions are warranted but let’s not go overboard. Use common sense, urge others to use common sense. Above all exercise a little bit of critical thinking and when you see a headline like the one on Fox News recognize it as fake news, a scare tactic, designed to elicit a fear response so you come back over and over again to check to see if the news is changing.
At this point in time I see no purpose in stocking up on toilet paper, as I have heard so many people are doing and as seems to be the case in the photo above. What is that about?
