IF the media would actually cover how the flu or common cold spreads around the world, the headlines would be much more scary.
Let's put this in perspective:
Right now the media is pushing hard (click or link bait) about the infection rate and the nearly 3k deaths from COVID-19. This infection pattern or rate seems no different than the cold or flu. BUT as we see the death numbers being reported from COVID-19, IN THE UNITED STATES, it's estimated that the flu was responsible for over 34k deaths in 2018-19!
( https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html )
But that's old news and not headline worthy. It's the new and fresh content that media grabs a hold of and drives the attention spans of media digesting web surfers. It's much like when an earthquake hits a third-world location, killing hundreds. But two weeks later, the victim country doesn't rate a mention after that initial set of headlines.
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BE it as it may, what has happened next is the latest human pandemic to spread across the globe. Despite the media attention, COVID-19, has yet to catch up to the flu and other diseases. And despite today's technology and ability to fly around the world in a day, this spread is no different than the the great flu of 1918. The Spanish Flu. Though, sadly, because various political powers sought to silence negative impressions, the 1918 flu should have been called the 'Haskell County, Kansas' flu!
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/journal-plague-year-180965222/
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HERE in the United States, we're watching the rest of the world report COVID-19 infections, and CNN is reporting that domestically, it's not a matter of if, but when. Right now, the only country it has not been reported in yet, is Antarctica.
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-02-29-20-intl-hnk/index.html
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IN my locale, I take public transit (Caltrain).
A few weeks ago, there was nary a sniffle on-board, but this last week, pretty much everyone is sniffling, coughing and sneezing. To me, this is a scary example of how we can all become infected with a cold or sneeze or what have you because many don't have decent sick leave or the ability to take time off.
Some are getting ahead of the battle and wearing masks, but as it's been reported, wearing surgical type masks won't help unless they're the top-of-the-line surgical masks. The only way a mask could help, is if sick people wore then, to help contain their exhalations.
"Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water."
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wearing-mask-traveling-ward-off-illness-experts/story?id=68502930
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I've been following medically-based websites to stay ahead of this game, or at least, to be informed.
According to WHO,
"Most people who become infected experience mild illness and recover, but it can be more severe for others. " But then they recommend what you can do to protect others...
Wash your hands often.**
Stay at least 3 feet away from people.
Don't touch your own nose, eyes or mouth. If you have happened to come in contact with 'it,' with your fingers, you'd be easily giving it to yourself.
Cover your nose and mouth with your bent elbow or Kleenex when you sneeze.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
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Let's get real for a moment. COVID-19 has killed 2,941 people to date. Of those, the probabilities break down to...
80+ years old 14.8%
70-79 years old 8.0%
60-69 years old 3.6%
50-59 years old 1.3%
40-49 years old 0.4%
30-39 years old 0.2%
20-29 years old 0.2%
10-19 years old 0.2%
0-9 years old no fatalities
*This percentage is (number of deaths / number of cases) = probability of dying if infected by the virus (%).
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/
OF the deaths, the percentage of pre-existing conditions involve
Cardiovascular disease 13.2%
Diabetes 9.2%
Chronic respiratory disease 8.0%
Hypertension 8.4%
Cancer 7.6%
no pre-existing conditions 0.9%
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But before we finish this off to say, that's not so bad, comparatively speaking. OR the famous one... that it won't impact me!... let's take a look at some worse case scenarios, not just for the fatality rates, but what happens to the medical system as it tries to cope, because to be honest, like a bad sci-fi movie, events are happening.
- Many people will spread it for up to two weeks not even knowing they have it (Not showing symptoms).
- It's twice as infectious as the flu.
- Within the year, up to 70% of all people around the world will be infected with it.
- Remember, 'confirmed' cases is the lower boundary of any estimate. We have no clue who has it and not reported it to any medical resource.
- For the number of cases developing, there are nowhere near enough hospital beds for them.
- "Trump told people not to worry because 60,000 people a year die of the flu. If just 25% of the US over 80’s cohort get infected, given current mortality rates that’s 466,200 deaths in that age group alone with the assumption that the healthcare system has the capacity to handle all of the infected."
- Best case scenario, only 8% of the UK population gets infected.
- That's 5.4 of the 67 million people infected.
- If 20% of those people require hospitalization, that amounts to 1,086,176 people.
- The UK health care system only has 140k beds.
https://medium.com/@amwren/forget-about-the-death-rate-this-is-why-you-should-be-worried-about-the-coronavirus-890fbf9c4de6
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https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses
https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-02-29-20-intl-hnk/index.html
** TAKE this with a grain of salt if you wish... Some years back I read an article in a scientific journal (an actual magazine geared towards the scientific community) that pointed out that the reason the CDC recommends washing your hands for at least 20 seconds is that the friction of the rubbing is what does the trick and that the soaps they used and tested only served to provide a 'lubricant' of sorts.
Since then, I've always been rubbing my hands under running water, or on my pants after touching questionable surfaces or the like when I can't get to water. Yet for the life of me, I can't find this information replicated anywhere on the web. I've been looking for a few years now.
My bottom line in saying this is that even if you don't have access to soap, just rubbing your hands together or on your pants or what not, may be a better-than-nothing form of self-contamination than nothing at all.
My parting 'gift,'
Remember that mid-credit scene from the Matt Reeves directed reboot of Planet of the Apes, where the one infected pilot gets on his flight?
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