Maybe I just hang around with old macho men.
After listening to my hiking buddies Mac and Lloyd, dismiss concerns about the coronavirus as “exaggerated”, I happened to overhear one of Charlie’s clients (my ex-golfing buddy Terry) talking to her on the phone this morning, describing the pandemic as “overblown”.
All three of these He-men are Trump guys and Fox News devotees, and are regurgitating the company line.
So, who’s right about this “panic” that has gripped the country?
Yes, Mr. Sean Hannity, it is similar in some ways to the flu, we experience “flu season” every Winter, people get sick, most recover, and some die from it. The CDC estimates that influenza has resulted in between 9 million – 45 million illnesses, between 140,000 – 810,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 – 61,000 deaths annually since 2010.
Same old, same old…right?
I have some personal experience with these statistics. A couple of years ago Charlie and I held a family pre-Christmas party at our home in Southern California. My 88-year-old Mom couldn’t attend, as she was in a nursing home. We visited her on Christmas morning to spread the holiday cheer. What we didn’t know was that our grandson Joshua, who attended the family party, had the flu. He apparently passed it on to Charlie and I, who apparently passed it on to my Mom. We came down with the heavy symptoms in a week or so, and it was nasty, but within a few weeks we had shaken it. My Mom didn’t make it: the “common flu” had done her in.
So, yes, even the common cold/flu can be a problem. Well-meaning people can kill others with it.
The thing about the Covid-19 coronavirus that’s making the rounds is that it is ten times as lethal as the normal flu. And, it is extremely communicable. And, there’s no available cure.
So, it is more of a threat to society.
The hardest hit state in America has been Washington, where they’ve seen 118 confirmed infections and 18 deaths. The epidemic there was started by one man (Patient Zero) who returned from a conference in Wuhan, China. Within a couple of days, he felt sick and went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed and treated. Unfortunately, while taking group transportation from the airport, he had passed the virus on to several fellow passengers. One of them, in turn, passed the virus along to patients in a nursing home, where a dozen deaths later occurred.
Patient Zero, the guy who brought the virus to America, is doing fine, by the way.
While my macho friends Mac and Lloyd might be super-healthy studs and could probably survive an infection, they could acquire the virus (they might already have!) and pass it on to some of their friends…most of whom are in the higher-risk age groups (70-79, 80-89)…without even knowing that they were carriers.
Our 55+ retirement community here in Mesquite is like a huge nursing home with 5,000 patients. Once the virus gets a foothold here, Katie bar the door.
One of the big problems in America is that, despite what our President has publicly told us, testing for the virus has been limited. As of this week, roughly 7,000 tests had been given in the U.S. This compares to some of the Asian countries where 10,000 tests are being conducted each day.
(The President said today that he’s been tested (although his personal White House physician was unaware of this!), and said he expected the results in a few days. Meanwhile, against the advice of medical experts, he continues to meet with people, shake hands, talk into shared microphones, etc!
The upshot is that there are probably a large number of people out there in American society who are infected and don’t know it. They are going to work, coughing, sneezing, and touching things…before they even begin to suffer from the normal “flu symptoms”. Then, maybe, if they can afford it, they stay home and try to get better.
Or, if they have medical insurance, which many working people don’t, they go to the emergency room. There, they might be tested for Covid-19, if test kits are available. (As of last week, there was a nationwide shortage of such testing kits. President Trump initially lied about this, but his Administration now admits it.)
Those latter folks, who show up at doctor’s offices or emergency rooms, are the one’s that make up the statistic of “positive” infections (i.e. the one’s we know about). Meanwhile, the vast majority of children, working folks, etc., that may be carriers, just go about their normal activities, coping with Kleenex and drugstore cough and cold remedies. To them, their current malady is probably just a “cold”…they get one or two each year.
But, one of them could turn out to be your community’s Covid-19 Patient Zero.
In the past few days, officials of professional sports leagues have canceled or suspended games, conventions have been canceled, ocean cruises have been canceled, and schools have shut down temporarily. Contrary to what Fox News might tell you, these moves haven’t been made by “panicky” officials over a “made-up emergency”. Rather, they are prudent precautions to help contain the spread of this extremely contagious virus.
It is voluntary, corporate “social distancing”, and is an extremely responsible thing to do. In China, with a different kind of government, factories, events, schools, etc. were closed by the government…and the spread of the virus has slowed dramatically. It’s painful, economically and socially, but it works.
Rather than pooh-poohing the seriousness of this medical problem, blaming people or countries for it, or trying to make political hay out of it, all Americans need to focus on stifling its spread.
If the testosterone can be dialed back, if we take this problem seriously, and if everyone does their part, we can knock this thing down and go on with our lives in a few months.
Hopefully.