Coronavirus - are you afraid?

[Beorning]

So... what's your attitude toward the coronavirus epidemic? Are you worried? Are you afraid?

I know I am... :\ It seems like there's no stopping this thing - and people really are dying...

[Lustful Bride]

I am not afraid. Its a tragic that this is happening and so many are suffering, but be have been through pandemics before, we will weather this one. Just take proper precautions and do your best. Wash your hands, cover your mouth when coughing/sneezing, take vitamins, take your flu shots, and don't panic. Panic only helps diseases spread.

[TheGlyphstone]

People die from all sorts of things, but the media is blowing Coronavirus out of proportion because it's new and unknown. It's only slightly more lethal than the flu, expressed so far in mortality rates.

https://www.livescience.com/new-coronavirus-compare-with-flu.html
https://khn.org/news/facts-vs-fears-five-things-to-help-weigh-your-coronavirus-risk/

[Orval Wintermute]

I think the spotlight has become bigger after what's been happening with the cruise ship in Japan appearing to be a great incubator and the virus making it to mainland Europe with part of Italy now being locked down.

But I think it's also important to remember that the fatality rate is very low, it something around 2-3%, so if you catch it there's a very good chance you'll be fine. It's seems to be worse for the elderly and people with under laying health problems, and as someone who has to take immuno-suppressants that's not great news but it's also  the same story every year when it comes to seasonal flu.

As long as you're not hanging round people who've recently come back from China etc and are following normal flu prevention protocols, (wash your hands, sneeze in to a tissue) you're probably going to be fine.

[Lilias]

Took me a bit of time to translate, but Singapore-based Greek blogger broke it down in clear bite-sized chunks:

The virus is not airborne. It is transmitted between people with the droplets ejected through coughing and sneezing (and other bodily fluids), and does not live long outside the body.

Avoid crowded places where you don't have to be. Not an excuse to miss school or work, but theatres, cinemas, concerts, rallies, churches etc. should be out. It's probably the one time when it's better to drive to work than take public transport.

Avoid consuming raw or half-cooked food.

Wash your hands several times a day and use bleach in house cleaning.

Avoid casual sex.

Masks protect others from catching it from you; the other way around, not so much. Better cover your nose and mouth with a tissue before coughing or sneezing (bin it afterwards), and save the mask for the off chance you develop respiratory distress symptoms or you go to the doctor's.

Do see a doctor if you develop respiratory distress symptoms (fever, catarrh, cough, difficulty breathing).

If you get depressed, remember that the common flu season currently in progress has already killed over 2400 people in the US alone. Take care of yourselves.

[Twisted Crow]

Remember that wall-to-wall coverage on Ebola CNN had a while back? Yeah. I am treating this like that and similar to how Glyph puts it.

[Beguile's Mistress]

So far the coronavirus hasn't arrived here where I live and our company is warning people about the contagious aspects of the disease.  Regular flu virus is striking harder here with my county being high on the list of patients diagnosed and deaths cause by the flu.  However, if coronavirus does begin to show up here we will be taking stronger steps to combat it.  We've purchased a large volume of hand sanitizer at the start of flu season and are encouraging people to make use of it.

[Beorning]

Thank you for your opinions... I really don't know whether this situation is serious or not. When I hear about people in quarantine and whole areas being cordoned off, I'm starting to feel like there's another Spanish flu going on...

[gaggedLouise]

Not much really,  not for myself and people I know. I've been through several waves of annual flu without getting a vaccine (it's a new breed every year) and without getting "stung" by the flu. This new virus is very far away, the huge majority of cases seem to recover and there are only a handful of cases in Europe, so um no, I'm not worried. :)

[Iniquitous]

Not really afraid per se.  I don't want to get it for several reasons beyond the 'I don't want to be sick' factor. A) I have a compromised immune system B) I am too poor to have to spend time in the hospital C) I don't want to blow through my sick days and vacation time.

I was reading articles today about COVID-19 and it was saying that it has a relatively low death rate (unless you are immune-compromised, elderly, or very young, you have a good chance of surviving COVID-19) when compared to a virus such as H1N1, but it is spreading further than H1N1 did.  The reasoning is people who caught H1N1 started showing symptoms and either self-isolated or went to the hospitals and were isolated.  With COVID-19, people are becoming infected and showing no symptoms - thus they are going about their daily routines and infecting more people.  This means that there are scientists who are saying COVID-19 will not be contained and will become a pandemic.

[TheGlyphstone]

Thank you for your opinions... I really don't know whether this situation is serious or not. When I hear about people in quarantine and whole areas being cordoned off, I'm starting to feel like there's another Spanish flu going on...

Fun fact - Spanish flu and Swine flu were genetically identical, the same virus. 70+ years of medical advances, 90% lower death toll.

[Orval Wintermute]

Thank you for your opinions... I really don't know whether this situation is serious or not. When I hear about people in quarantine and whole areas being cordoned off, I'm starting to feel like there's another Spanish flu going on...

Spanish flu was very different as it effected the young and healthy, Coronavirus is much closer to your standard issue flu in who is effected.

There was report on the news tonight that puts the numbers in some sort of perspective:
60M people in the UK; 6,000 people tested because they were showing symptoms; 13 have tested positive

[HannibalBarca]

Fun fact - Spanish flu and Swine flu were genetically identical, the same virus. 70+ years of medical advances, 90% lower death toll.

Also those who were more susceptible to the virus died in the 1910s, and those who survived may have passed on their genes to resist to following generations.  No different than the build-up of resistance to smallpox in Europe, Africa, and Asia, but none in the Americas or Australia.

[Missy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbuqmziQ28I

[Muddy Waters]

Took me a bit of time to translate, but Singapore-based Greek blogger broke it down in clear bite-sized chunks:

The virus is not airborne. It is transmitted between people with the droplets ejected through coughing and sneezing (and other bodily fluids), and does not live long outside the body.

Avoid crowded places where you don't have to be. Not an excuse to miss school or work, but theatres, cinemas, concerts, rallies, churches etc. should be out. It's probably the one time when it's better to drive to work than take public transport.

Avoid consuming raw or half-cooked food.

Wash your hands several times a day and use bleach in house cleaning.

Avoid casual sex.

Masks protect others from catching it from you; the other way around, not so much. Better cover your nose and mouth with a tissue before coughing or sneezing (bin it afterwards), and save the mask for the off chance you develop respiratory distress symptoms or you go to the doctor's.

Do see a doctor if you develop respiratory distress symptoms (fever, catarrh, cough, difficulty breathing).

If you get depressed, remember that the common flu season currently in progress has already killed over 2400 people in the US alone. Take care of yourselves.

I heard from a friend who works at a hospital in Singapore and he basically said exactly what you said above.
He was a lot more colorful in his wording but he said it's not a time to panic, it's a time to prepare and be aware and he couldn't stress hygiene enough.  Hand to face touching.

[legomaster00156]

Am I, personally, afraid? No. My chances of ever contracting this disease, let alone dying from it, are infinitesimally small. That said, I am glad that the world governments are treating it with the seriousness such a potential pandemic deserves. If only they would do the same for the much more lethal problem of climate change.

[Orval Wintermute]

Pence being put in charge of the US response to the virus doesn't seem like good news.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/27/mike-pence-hiv-indiana/

[Callie Del Noire]

Pence being put in charge of the US response to the virus doesn't seem like good news.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/27/mike-pence-hiv-indiana/

I was thinking that he was responsible for a HUGE increase in cases of HIV in his home state but I had forgotten the HEP crisis as well

Wow I’m sure his ‘pray it away’ approach will work again

[RedRose]

Not gonna say that I'm not worried. But I choose to try to live normally.

I think also people are more afraid of the loss of control than the disease. How many CHOOSE not to wear a condom? or to not pop the malaria pill in those areas (I'm guilty)

We have all lived through SRAS and others. Humanity has lived through the incredible pandemics of the Middle Ages. I have also traveled through an epidemics and got fever controled and all. If you drive daily, it is riskier. If you're like many of my co citizens and do so without a seat belt, it is MUCH riskier.

Get to the numbers, compare with what people have been through over centuries.

[TheHangedOne]

I'm more concerned by the human response than anything else. The potentiality for riots is significantly higher during periods like this. And then, the response to the riots... it's a bad cycle.

As a type 1 diabetic with a compromised immune system, I am at a higher than normal risk for the virus itself; yet, I still worry more about how people will react to the news than anything else.

[Beorning]

Hmmm. Guys, explain something to me, because I don't get it:

If this thing is supposed to just slightly more dangerous than seasonal flu, then why the precautions? Why are whole communities being cordoned off etc.?

[Orval Wintermute]

Hmmm. Guys, explain something to me, because I don't get it:

If this thing is supposed to just slightly more dangerous than seasonal flu, then why the precautions? Why are whole communities being cordoned off etc.?

As I understand the concern is about how and when the virus is infective.

Normal flu; you pick it up, it incubates fairly rapidly but you wouldn't pass it on until you started showing symptoms.
Coronavirus; you pick it up, it takes 2 weeks to before you show symptoms but during that time you can also pass it on.

With normal flu it's a few days where you might pass it on to family, co-workers but with coronavirus everybody you met for the last fortnight is at risk. So the risk is it spreads further and faster, which leads to healthcare systems being overwhelmed because instead of having a trickle of serious cases they get a flood.
Imagine you meet 50 different people everyday and there's a 10% chance you pass the virus on (I have no idea what the real number is). How many people will you have infected before you show symptoms in 14 days? And how many people will they have infected before you shows symptoms? etc. etc. Chances are if a few people in a community are showing symptoms then everybody has it but they just don't know it yet.

[RedRose]

The unknown, people, it's the unknown.

[TheHangedOne]

Some states currently don't have testing kits to check people for it, too. Above and beyond that, it is quite a bit more infectable/spreadable than the normal flu.

Also, let's not forget, that the biggest news seller is fear. Turn in tonight, and I'll tell you why you should be afraid.  This is why I'm more afraid of people; because our country (the U.S.) enjoys whipping people into a fear-frenzy.

[Orval Wintermute]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-uk-outbreak-city-shut-down-matt-hancock-interview-bbc-andrew-marr-a9366971.html

He (the Health Minister) also said a research paper suggesting half a million people in the UK could die in the event of a flu pandemic was a “reasonable worst-case scenario”

I'm sure sound bites like that are going to calm people's fears.