Just to clarify. Some of the advice on here is just wrong.
With coronavirus, the old ideas do not apply. The idea that if you know you are sick, just stay home, will not help. There are some unique features to this virus you should be aware of:
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You can have the virus for up to two weeks BEFORE you show any symptoms AND you will be contagious, even though you have no symptoms. That means you can walk around for 2 weeks spreading the virus to others without knowing you have it.
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The virus is more easily transmitted than the common flu. It's about 2 1/2 times more transmissible than the flu. You are more likely to catch it.
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The death rate is something like 2% which is 20 times the death rate of the common flu.
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The virus attacks cells in the lungs causing respiratory distress. This is more of a problem with older people and people who have other heart or lung conditions. However, there are younger people who can be severely affected also. Genetics may play a part in who it attacks most strongly.
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40% of the people who recover will have permanent lung damage.
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10-20% of the people who have the virus will need to be hospitalized. The 2% death rate assumes that they can receive treatment.
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The virus completely new to the earth. No one has any built up immunity to it. I know a doctor who works in ICU and he predicts that at least 70% of us will get it.
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The government has been very, very late to roll out testing. Tests were available from the WHO immediately, but the government did not avail themselves of them. Recently, you can see why that is, because a big pharmaceutical company wants to patent the test themselves. While people in the U.S. are getting sick, the people at the top who are in charge are working to see how much money they can make off of it.
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Hospital treatment relies on ventilators, ($100K per). The U.S. has about 70K of these machines.
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The U.S. population is something like 440 million. The 1918 flu was caught by about 1/3 of the population. 1/3 of 440 million is about 150 million people. 10% of that is 15 million who might need to be hospitalized. 2% is 3 million people.
Since, we can spread the virus BEFORE we have any symptoms, it is extremely important to not walk around or go to any large gathering of people. This is why the country is going into lockdown mode.
There are only 70,000 or so ventilators. If there are huge waves of millions of people who need hospitalization, that is a serious, serious problem. There are also only about 1 million hospital beds in the country. We have to make sure that we do not overwhelm the hospital system.
In addition, even if you never get the virus. Imagine not being able to get into the hospital if you are in a car accident, or you are having a heart attack. This affects us all and we all need to take it very, very seriously.
With the ability of this virus to spread BEFORE you have any symptoms, there is a serious problem of overwhelming the hospitals. If that happens, the medical people in this country will have to ration ventilators. The government, should be building temporary hospitals using the army corp of engineers. Governor Cuomo of NY has been pointing that out.
This is NOT a joke. I know this is not the normal type of post for this site, but I hope the moderators will allow this post to stay. It is extremely important to all of us that everyone be aware of what is going on.