Knuthulhu wrote:
I mean it's just a cold with currently 5000 deaths, all old people. Up to 60000 die every year from the flu but you dont see people panic about that, so why is everyone so scared when it comes to covid 19?
Thats a pretty ignorant way to look at this situation. I'm not so much worried about myself but those around me who are vulnerable to something like this. As someone in my twenties without health problems it probably won't kill me. But my 90 year old Grandpa who had to move in with us a few months back because he is battling cancer is a completely different story. Lets break down some numbers here. Sure the flu kills about 60000 people a year but how many people is it that it infects?
Low end is 9.3 million and high end is 45 million. Now lets look at what we know about the Corona Virus.
i.insider.com/5e67b19a54f25c32e320ef33?w...ormat=jpeg&auto=webp
Granted that data is from the Chinese CDC so take it as you will. But those numbers paint a dark picture for those above a certain age and those with autoimmune and respiratory problems. For reference here is some info on the flu's death rate per age group.
That is what should be scaring people. I think the 3.6 death rate is an average of all age groups so we when you look at the data you can see the people above a certain age group need to worry the most, about 2 billion people in the world are over the age of 60... But that doesn't mean the rest of us can just say fuck it and act like nothing is wrong. How shitty would it be for my Grandpa to be beating cancer and he dies from this because I or someone in my family didn't take it seriously and unnecessarily exposed him. Or what about while he is at the hospital getting the much needed treatment for cancer he gets infected because some asshole didn't think this was a problem.
Lets look at Italy, their medical system is at its breaking point, because shocker when a new virus shows up the old ones don't go away. You have doctors who have to turn people way and make decisions on who gets to live and who doesn't because they don't have anymore room for sick people. So yes I think we should be concerned and take this seriously, I don't think this is the end of the world. But if we act like nothing is wrong then the worst will come to pass. I would much rather have people bitching in a few months that everyone over reacted about this vs possibly millions dieing.