I posted this message in response to a friend who is among the more vulnerable to coronavirus, and modified it slightly to post it on my own Facebook page:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been hearing some try to minimize the precautions we\u2019ve seen thus far against the coronavirus. Some have even ridiculed it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would ask you to consider that some of these precautions are not so YOU won\u2019t get the coronavirus, which you figure you\u2019ll handle just fine. It\u2019s so you don\u2019t act as a vector for COVID-19 and SPREAD it to someone who is more vulnerable than you. Keep in mind that the best information we have now says YOU ARE CONTAGIOUS before you start showing symptoms YOURSELF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sorry for your inconvenience, but this is more than just \u201call about you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, by the way \u2014 why weren\u2019t we all washing our hands and employing reasonable social practices minimizing the spread of things like this \u2014 AND THE FLU, which has been killing tens of thousands EVERY YEAR \u2014 ALL ALONG?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the news coverage has been shallow and sensationalist. But if you listen to it, some fairly shocking facts emerge. You are several more time more likely to die of coronavirus than the flu if you\u2019re over 60, especially if you have \u201ccompicating medical conditions.\u201d Like heart disease. Or respiratory disease. Or diabetes. Or high blood pressure. A LOT of people over 60 have high blood pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I just learned something new yesterday. The pneumonia that older people are getting as a complication of coronavirus? It\u2019s not bacterial pneumonia, as initially thought. It\u2019s ARDS – acute respiratory disease syndrome. The Wikipedia pages states that OF THOSE WHO SURVIVE (my emphasis), a decreased quality of life is relatively common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And ARDS is what killed so many, so quickly, during the Spanish flu of 1918. The mortality rate of ARDS is 36-52%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is NOT the flu. It\u2019s both more communicable and several times more deadly. It\u2019s worth taking it seriously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I posted this message in response to a friend who is among the more vulnerable to coronavirus, and modified it slightly to post it on my own Facebook page: I\u2019ve been hearing some try to minimize the precautions we\u2019ve seen thus far against the coronavirus. Some have even ridiculed it all. I would ask you … <\/p>\n