Debriefing the Coronavirus
It's time for a good old-fashioned debrief on a hot topic. The purpose of this particular debrief is to arm you with information in this false-information-rich environment. We need to get good information into the hands of the people. Let's get started: What is Coronavirus? From Wikipedia, "coronaviruses are a group of related viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds." It is a whole family of viruses that cause all kinds of respiratory diseases ranging from the common cold to the current strain causing the current 'worldwide pandemic', as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls it.
A new strain has been found in the city of Wuhan, China. This particular new strain is called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2, previously called Novel Coronavirus) and is what leads to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). As with Spanish Flu, German Measles, West Nile Virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Japanese Encephalitis, it is being referred to by the United States' President Trump as the China Virus, indicating where it first was discovered. Since it is transferred similar to the Flu and the common cold (the normal strains of coronavirus are one of the known causes of the common cold), it's passed on to other hosts through sneezing and coughing, which can send particles up to six feet, and contact with surfaces where the strain rests (bannisters, equipment, et al) and subsequent contact to mouth, nose & eyes. Washing hands thoroughly is one of the most effective ways to combat the spread.
The mortality rate, which is the percentage of people who've contracted COVID-19 and have died, rests around 3%. However, this is not a true number. This number is based on the known number of those infected compared to those that have died. The number infected is far greater than the known cases, since very few people go to the doctor or urgent care or even the Emergency Room when they get the sniffles or a slight fever. Most people who are infected will recover and never even know they had it. 99% will have a fever, dry cough and fatigue. 80% will have mild symptoms. Most will not attribute these mild symptoms to COVID-19 because of all the hype and hysteria that the news stirs up about how deadly it is. The other 20% will have symptoms that are are medium or worse. It's this 20% that will likely show up in the ER and urgent care clinics. Many of these will not be confirmed as COVID-19, because the flu is especially strong this season. As you can see, for every person that gets diagnosed, there are four to five more that never get diagnosed and simply recover. When the News tells you that 1,000 people are confirmed cases with 30 deaths, realize that's actually 5,000-5,500 cases with only 30 deaths.
With a true mortality rate below 1%, why all the hype and hysteria? For that answer, we need to know how ratings work. When a television broadcast (news or any other show) has high Nielsen Ratings, they can demand more advertising money per 30-second ad during their show due to greater viewership than shows that rate more poorly. Advertisers want more exposure to potential customers, so they pay more during higher rated shows. When there's an emergency happening in the country, people watch the news more, ergo more advertising dollars. They need to keep you glued to their newscast over other stations', so in a news-market the size of Los Angeles, instead of showing 22 minutes of news (breaking/national/weather/sports) per half hour broadcast, they'll cut some news away so they can tell you what's coming up in the next segment. Then in the next segment, they tell you what they said they would tell you. That's right, there's more than 20 minutes of news in a 20,000,000+ market like LA than 20, or even 22 minutes. They need to keep you glued. When that emergency is now a global pandemic, well... Never mind that any thinking person can look at the details and realize it's not really a global pandemic, but a hyped "Crisis! More at 11:00pm."
OK - maybe - why would CDC jump on board? Huh? You think they're in on it?! Not the way the news networks are - no. However, when do you think the CDC would get more money budgeted? A raised awareness campaign for the flu with 6.7% mortality and a vaccine that might work against this year's strain or a 'National Pandemic! - We need to stay indoors, quarantine ourselves so we can find out what's happening!'
The press and the democrats (one in the same, really - see my post on Media Bias here) both have an insatiable need to destroy Trump. They absolutely HATE him, no matter what Pelosi says. By twisting information and keeping this pandemic charade moving forward, they hope to cause enough doubt that Biden's Vice President (VP) can get elected, since they will hang Biden out to dry within months of taking office due to painfully obvious dementia issues. With Clinton making overtures that she would potentially entertain a VP spot and Biden already saying he's planning on naming a female...well, you do the math. They need to keep pressure on Trump and try to keep him on his heels so that any vaccine is developed the day after election day. At this point they're trying to delay that so they have time to destroy him - a few states have already postponed their primaries.
I've seen many people get all wrapped up in OMG! What do we do?! We're gonna die! Stop it!! There will be more deaths due to flu during this than there will be due to COVID-19. Ease up on the gas. Slow down. Stop the hype.