Updated August 18, 2020
I’ll admit something right off the bat: I am writing this article for entirely self-centered reasons. It’s because I want to. There’s not much I can contribute to the conversation at large, and I doubt there’s much I’ll say that hasn’t been said by most everyone else, but my own emotional response to the unfounded panic people have been having in the US is so out of hand I felt the need to say something.
In the US we have the Centers for Disease Control, they are the brain trust and experts regarding all illnesses. I also monitor the World Health Organization, for a second opinion and to monitor the situation globally. Neither organization is perfect, but you go with what you’ve got.
To quote the official representative from the CDC in their latest update, March 14th, 2020: “Most people are going to get exposed to COVID-19, and many people will get sick, but the majority of people will recover with only a mild illness. If you’re young and healthy, you might not need to see a doctor, or get a diagnostic test. You really might be able to ride this out at home.” She goes on to say those that are older (over 60) or have underlying illnesses can contact their doctor to get specific advice about what to do.
As of mid-June of 2020, the mortality rate of COVID is 5.2%. This means approximately 5 people in 100 who contract COVID will die. While disturbing, keep in mind that COVID is less contagious than the measles, it’s less contagious than the common flu. You also cannot get the Coronavirus through skin contact, it can’t be absorbed through the skin.
Even if you get some on your skin through touching a contaminated surface, you still can’t get it unless you stick that hand in your mouth or in your eye. That’s why you need to wash your hands on a regular basis, like people should be doing anyway. Since it’s spread through airborne droplets, being within 6 feet of someone for 10 minutes or more can increase your odds of catching it. You can’t catch it merely by passing within six feet of someone that’s infected. If you’re going to be closer to someone than that for that long in public, wear a mask.
Do people die from the Coronavirus? Yes. It’s officially a pandemic, which simply means it is a worldwide disease. What it is NOT, is some killer plague that’s going to wipe out half the world. Or a third. Or a quarter. Or a tenth. What it is NOT, is something that should keep us tucked in our beds instead of living our lives. This is a novel virus, in that humans have no known immunity to it. It mutated from an animal-only virus to a human one, so the medical community has no tools in its shed for it. But there is some good news.
The odds are, unless you have an underlying illness that compromises your immune system or are over 60, you either won’t have any symptoms or it will feel like the flu. The great majority of everyone (~95%) of all ages who get symptoms will recover just fine on their own, at home.
I am not afraid of the Coronavirus at all. I’m not afraid of getting it myself. What worries me is that people will panic, and buy out massive supplies from stores that needlessly makes life difficult for everyone else. That has already happened. I’m worried that people will spread a culture based on fear and misinformation. People (and nations) do really stupid things when they are afraid.
Many of us know someone who has had symptoms of the Coronavirus, and we feel fear. That is understandable. It is one thing to feel fear, it is another to let it rule your reason unchecked. It is possible to “get” how serious things are without being unnecessarily afraid.
You want to take some reasonable precautions against the Coronavirus? Do so. Go ahead and learn what the symptoms are, and learn what the emergency symptoms of Coronavirus are just in case. But otherwise calm down, calm down, calm down. Our thoughts, our emotions and our behaviors are really the only thing we have control over.