'People are terrified': Daily life on hold as Americans face coronavirus threat

[Lacessit]

5 hours ago, Traubert said:

You could always rent the redundant ones off the Chinese? 64,000 people are well and have gone home now. You could rent their beds? China just built more hospitals. Why can't vibrant world leader America? We're told we have so much to be thankful for so build some more hospitals. Adapt. Improvise. You have the model right here in China.

 

 

If comparative railway systems are anything to go by, that's a big ask. China has built high speed rail criss-crossing the country, thousands of kilometres. America has just 90 kilometres of high-speed rail.

[Nyezhov]

20 hours ago, Jingthing said:

The most optimistic data (out of South Korea which credit to them has done massive testing)

Ypur agenda is showing.

[Nyezhov]

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

If comparative railway systems are anything to go by, that's a big ask. China has built high speed rail criss-crossing the country, thousands of kilometres. America has just 90 kilometres of high-speed rail.

China can use forced labour, ignore environmental regulations, subsidize them to the nth degree and if necessary, force folks to use their high speed trains. The uSA is also larger geographically and is far better suited to personal car and plane travel.

 

Try building a train in the USA with the greenies laying across the tracks.

[rabas]

5 hours ago, Traubert said:

You could always rent the redundant ones off the Chinese? 64,000 people are well and have gone home now. You could rent their beds? China just built more hospitals. Why can't vibrant world leader America? We're told we have so much to be thankful for so build some more hospitals. Adapt. Improvise. You have the model right here in China.

You mean they built temporary medical shelters that leaked so badly on critically ill patients they had to be abandoned?  If we ask nicely,  maybe they will sell them to us. Won't be the first time. 

 

BTW, the US developed a truly novel antiviral drug which is most effective against nCoV2019, Remdesivir. They sent samples to China for studies. Then the Chinese began to copy it and now want to illegally patent it in China. Now that is real CCP ingenuity. 

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by rabas

[geriatrickid]

19 hours ago, Sheryl said:

What sensationalist nonsense.

I am in regular touch with friends and family in the US.

Not a single one is "terrified" nor do they know anyone who is.

People have a lot of practical concerns about the effects on the economy, availability of goods and services etc. Some are legitimately quite worried about their incomes, ability to travel etc. But "terrified?" No.

No it is not. It depends where people are in the USA. You can bet that those under isolation order in New Rochelle, NY are terrified. A  growing number of  people older than age 60 are terrified. 

 

70 of 92 coronavirus cases in Massachusetts are linked to Biogen employees who attended the biotech firm's Boston meeting. Several of those people are on life support. You can bet that their families are terrified.

 

Americans, just like every other westerner, are watching the collapse of the Italian medical care system play out in real time.  Yesterday, Italian family physician Dr. Roberto Stella died. He was in good health before his infection. Age 67 and he was treating infected patients. Many family physicians are older and you can bet they are concerned.   Health care workers are burning out in Italy and health care for the elderly is now rationed. Americans are watching this. You can bet that the older they are, the more worried they are because the USA doesn't  have the ability to do any better in a similar event.

 

A radiation oncologist in Hamilton, Ontario Canada, was the city's first confirmed positive case of COVID-19. The woman in her 30s tested positive after returning from a holiday in Hawaii. She saw 17 patients before her diagnosis. You can bet that when American cancer patients in places as far away as Topeka KS saw that on the news, they were concerned. Today, I see that a physician in Montreal, Canada at the McGill University teaching hospital was infected. He is a respirologist treating  vulnerable patients. Whether he was infected while on holiday in the USA or from a patient is to be determined.  You can bet the physicians at US hospitals reading about this case are concerned. They will be more concerned once they  have access to test kits.

 

You can also bet that the elderly nursing home patients in Washington state who have seen their care workers disappear and who are now  reported as being left to lie in their urine and feces are terrified. 

 

The panic shopping that has occurred in New York city reflects a population that is afraid. Financial institutions, insurance companies, general offices and many other firms are encouraging workers to work from home. Some large firms have gone into remote mode, meaning that no one comes in. This is both a preventative response but also a response to the concerns of very worried and in some cases, terrified employees.  I was due in Boston for a hospital conference next month, and it was cancelled at the insistence of just about everyone.  Almost every major employer in the USA and Canada  has imposed a travel moratorium.  Prudent yes, but the reality is that many of the older  employees have refused to travel, and rightly so.

 

We now know that children manage with the infection, but they unfortunately act as carriers. This is disrupting families. Parents of small children who are also  caregivers to elderly or infirm parents are terrified that they will infect their parents.

 

Every person I deal with in the USA is more than concerned. They are very worried about the impact upon the health care system because it will not be able to  cope if tens of thousands of cases start to appear.  Sir Patrick Vallance in the UK  gave some very sobering projections in his press conference and anyone who listened will be rightfully afraid of what will happen. Anyone who heard PM Boris Johnson's depressing admission yesterday that many people will "die before their time" will be terrified because it is an admission that this infection cannot be controlled.

 

I am terrified because I know that a vaccine is probably 18 months away and that means that after the first wave, we will see the infection come back again, perhaps mutated to a  deadlier form as we have seen with other respiratory illnesses. We've got nothing in the tool box to defend against this  virus and you can bet I am terrified.  Mark my words, we will soon be seeing suicide due to despair.

[geriatrickid]

34 minutes ago, rabas said:

You mean they built temporary medical shelters that leaked so badly on critically ill patients they had to be abandoned?  If we ask nicely,  maybe they will sell them to us. Won't be the first time. 

 

BTW, the US developed a truly novel antiviral drug which is most effective against nCoV2019, Remdesivir. They sent samples to China for studies. Then the Chinese began to copy it and now want to illegally patent it in China. Now that is real CCP ingenuity. 

 

Except it isn't proving to be as successful as hoped.

https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2020/03/13/gilead-coronavirus-covid19-clinical-trials/

[Nyezhov]

46 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

You can bet that those under isolation order in New Rochelle, NY are terrified.

Gee I just saw one being interviewed and she was cheery and happy and proud of her community.

 

I beleive the bulk of this isolation order are communties of very ultra Orthodox Jews who, because of how they live as a community, would be socially likely to catch the virus.

 

I doubt  there is a lot of terror in that community.

50 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

You can bet that their families are terrified.

 

51 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

Every person I deal with in the USA is more than concerned.

Every person I deal with is just concerned, not terrified. They realize that this pandemic is being hyped for political reasons, and life will go on afterwards. The market is already recovering, plans are in place, and real Americans arent running around screeching in terror.

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

Ypur agenda is showing.

You're correct. PUBLIC HEALTH. The best possible outcomes. The earliest possible measures that actually work.

It's hilarious that you accuse others of politicizing this when the gist of your posts is about shilling 45 propaganda on how this is no big deal until way too late he was literally forced (by the stock market) to change his tune. Way too late. 45's efforts to act like this isn't a big deal over several weeks have literally led to many American deaths and more to come. I recently heard of a study showing 45 fans wash their hands less believing his "it's no big deal" lies. Let's grow up, OK? It is a big deal. It's good that more action is being taken now (in a bipartisan way) but for all of time, 45 will be to blame for wasting weeks and weeks of time delaying that. Shame on him and all people that defend that mistake. 

[Nyezhov]

10 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

It's hilarious that you accuse others of politicizing this when the gist of your posts is about shilling 45 propaganda on how this is no big deal until way too late he was literally forced (by the stock market) to change his tune.

Shilling 45 propaganda? So let me understand this, if I have an opinion that doesnt jibe with yours, its becasue Im such an ignorant, weak and stupid person who can do nothing more than parrot alleged propaganda from our President? Im not smart enough to have my own opinion? Got it. More hate. Please put me on your ignore list, you just joined mine so feel free to have the last word.

 

 

 

 

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Shilling 45 propaganda? So let me understand this, if I have an opinion that doesnt jibe with yours, its becasue Im such an ignorant, weak and stupid person who can do nothing more than parrot alleged propaganda from our President? Im not smart enough to have my own opinion? Got it. More hate. Please put me on your ignore list, you just joined mine so feel free to have the last word.

 

 

 

 

Your president. 

Your wish has been granted. 

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

Gee I just saw one being interviewed and she was cheery and happy and proud of her community.

 

I beleive the bulk of this isolation order are communties of very ultra Orthodox Jews who, because of how they live as a community, would be socially likely to catch the virus.

 

I doubt  there is a lot of terror in that community.

 

Every person I deal with is just concerned, not terrified. They realize that this pandemic is being hyped for political reasons, and life will go on afterwards. The market is already recovering, plans are in place, and real Americans arent running around screeching in terror.

 

Ditto.

 

Realistic concerns.

 

No "terror". And that includes elderly people living in areas of active transmission and people in nursing homes/assisted living. They are certainly aware and concerned, and altering their  behavior/taking precautions, but no one I speak to is panicking or terrified .

 

Efforts to stir up panic are distinctly unhelpful to say the least. People do not make rational choices when acting out of terror and it leads to actions that in themselves cause more problems.

 

 

[rabas]

2 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Except it isn't proving to be as successful as hoped.

https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2020/03/13/gilead-coronavirus-covid19-clinical-trials/

The article is written by a columnist from a financial perspective, although he is an excellent technical reporter. He helped expose China's role behind the recent recall of several blood pressure meds, IIRC.

 

From the article: "As anticipation mounts over the prospects for an experimental Gilead Sciences (GILD) drug to combat the novel coronavirus, two Wall Street analysts suggested it remains uncertain whether the antiviral therapy will be successful after assessing a new paper that examined a dozen U.S. patients.

 

According to the paper, only 3 patients received Remdesivir in a uncontrolled manner and all recovered. The paper states their results cannot be used to evaluate Remdesivir's efficacy because they used no controls. Thus 'remains uncertain' is probably accurate.

[DrTuner]

13 hours ago, URMySunshine said:

I am of the opinion that the Thai diet has created a population of immunologically strong people combined with hot weather means they have been relatively spared the ravages of the virus.

Not sure about the diet but natural selection for sure. Rural areas had very little health care just a few decades ago, you'd simply die off. Allergies f.ex. were not that common before. The current generation is very likely less robust than the survivors of old.

[DrTuner]

7 hours ago, UbonThani said:

A 103yo woman lived thru it.

If you live to be that old your immune system is probably exceptionally good anyway. While it doesn't protect against SARS-CoV-2 ( it's a brand new virus ), it will protect against comorbidities and greatly improve chances of recovery. Tough granny.

[UbonThani]

8 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

If you live to be that old your immune system is probably exceptionally good anyway. While it doesn't protect against SARS-CoV-2 ( it's a brand new virus ), it will protect against comorbidities and greatly improve chances of recovery. Tough granny.

Well yes to a point but your heart and lungs are pretty weak post 100. Your body is in steep decline. Lots of people go downhill fast after 95.

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, UbonThani said:

Well yes to a point but your heart and lungs are pretty weak post 100. Your body is in steep decline. Lots of people go downhill fast after 95.

Wait......I wont live to be as old as Methuselah......someone lied to me......

[watthong]

7 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

The market is already recovering, plans are in place, and real Americans arent running around screeching in terror.

 

Real life does not unfold like scenes from "World War Z" (though what we saw happened in Wuhan at the beginning comes pretty close.) In real life, terror works in silence; no one runs around screeching, with virus shredding from their pores, and human lives usually end within the quiet beeps of a flatliner.

 

Living in Thailand on security pension, age 60 plus, non-insured, I'm terrified. I am self-quarantined out of a persistent though mild sore throat since last week (which could be due to air pollution, cov19 stress and whatnot.) What terrifies me is the possibility of being hospitalized and requiring ventilators, etc. to stay alive. Who's going to pay for that, I, me and myself. That will eat into my 800K baht extension and I don't want to go back to live beggar-style in the states.  

 

When those in charge say : "First thing check with your doctor, " they have conveniently ruled out millions who don't have a doctor to call on. I'm certain there must be "real" americans in America right now who fret equally when faced with similar prospect and found themselves in tight circumstances, such as the average 400 bucks available for emergency cash among the majority of the populace. A minor side effect of this kind of terror is the "real" prospect of - who would have thought! -children going without lunch when schools close. Those who say people are not terrified would probably also say, "Let them eat cakes!"

[URMySunshine]

17 minutes ago, watthong said:

 

Real life does not unfold like scenes from "World War Z" (though what we saw happened in Wuhan at the beginning comes pretty close.) In real life, terror works in silence; no one runs around screeching, with virus shredding from their pores, and human lives usually end within the quiet beeps of a flatliner.

 

Living in Thailand on security pension, age 60 plus, non-insured, I'm terrified. I am self-quarantined out of a persistent though mild sore throat since last week (which could be due to air pollution, cov19 stress and whatnot.) What terrifies me is the possibility of being hospitalized and requiring ventilators, etc. to stay alive. Who's going to pay for that, I, me and myself. That will eat into my 800K baht extension and I don't want to go back to live beggar-style in the states.  

 

When those in charge say : "First thing check with your doctor, " they have conveniently ruled out millions who don't have a doctor to call on. I'm certain there must be "real" americans in America right now who fret equally when faced with similar prospect and found themselves in tight circumstances, such as the average 400 bucks available for emergency cash among the majority of the populace. A minor side effect of this kind of terror is the "real" prospect of - who would have thought! -children going without lunch when schools close. Those who say people are not terrified would probably also say, "Let them eat cakes!"

Sorry to hear that. Keep up your fluids best you can and your electrolytes. Paracetamol can help if you have a fever. Even if you have it most will likely just have mild symptoms , try and stay calm (I know that's hard). Do you have anybody outside that can run errands for you ? Fah Talai Jone widely available from all pharmacies can help with a fever and cough is a well tolerated Thai traditional medicine. 

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/life/30242248

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8111219/Do-coronavirus-cold-CDC-releases-graphic-help-people-tell-difference.html

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by URMySunshine

[Nyezhov]

4 minutes ago, watthong said:

 

Real life does not unfold like scenes from "World War Z" (though what we saw happened in Wuhan at the beginning comes pretty close.) In real life, terror works in silence; no one runs around screeching, with virus shredding from their pores, and human lives usually end within the quiet beeps of a flatliner.

 

Living in Thailand on security pension, age 60 plus, non-insured, I'm terrified. I am self-quarantined out of a persistent though mild sore throat since last week (which could be due to air pollution, cov19 stress and whatnot.) What terrifies me is the possibility of being hospitalized and requiring ventilators, etc. to stay alive. Who's going to pay for that, I, me and myself. That will eat into my 800K baht extension and I don't want to go back to live beggar-style in the states.  

 

When those in charge say : "First thing check with your doctor, " they have conveniently ruled out millions who don't have a doctor to call on. I'm certain there must be "real" americans in America right now who fret equally when faced with similar prospect and found themselves in tight circumstances, such as the average 400 bucks available for emergency cash among the majority of the populace. A minor side effect of this kind of terror is the "real" prospect of - who would have thought! -children going without lunch when schools close. Those who say people are not terrified would probably also say, "Let them eat cakes!"

Got it. Because your scared and unprepared, you project that on others. Got it.  

 

Sorry you are so frightened. But there are a whole bunch of us who arent.

[tgw]

probably useful for many readers of this forum too:

 

Quote

How to keep coronavirus fears from affecting your mental health

From CNN's AJ Willingham

Coronavirus is a serious situation and deserves your vigilance and attention -- but the deluge of information, precautions and warnings can take a real toll on your mental health.

Here are some tips on maintaining a happy medium:

Pare down your sources of information. Find a few sources you trust, like the CDC or a community authority, and stick with them. Limit the frequency of your updates, be disciplined with your social media use and know when to walk away.

Name your fears. It may help to sit down and really consider what specific threats worry you. If your fears are practical ones, think about a plan: What are other options if you can't telework? Do you have savings or support? Being prepared for your fears will help keep them in scale.

Think outside yourself: Since action can allay our anxieties, you may want to also consider what you can do to help others who may be more affected by the outbreak than you, like service or hourly workers who may have to put themselves in disproportionate danger.

Seek support, but do it wisely. If you want to run to a friend to discuss the latest outbreak cluster or your family's contingency plans, try not to create an echo chamber where overwhelmed people further overwhelm each other.

Look for someone who is handling it differently, or for professional help if it's an available option.

Pay attention to your basic needs. Don't forget the essential, healthy practices that affect your wellbeing every day -- getting enough sleep, proper nutrition, physical activity, and getting outside as much as possible.

Don't chastise yourself for worrying. You are allowed to worry or feel bad, and those feelings are valid in times of crisis. The key is to work toward understanding and contextualizing your fears so they don't keep you from living your healthiest life.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/14/health/coronavirus-fears-mental-health-wellness-trnd/index.html

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by tgw

[Nyezhov]

9 minutes ago, tgw said:

probably useful for many readers of this forum too:

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/14/health/coronavirus-fears-mental-health-wellness-trnd/index.html

 

In other words, less touchy feely, grab a hold of yourself and quit acting like a freakazoid and dont let the press make you into a lunatic. Go have a beer or get laid or something. Wash your hands.

[Sujo]

23 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

In other words, less touchy feely, grab a hold of yourself and quit acting like a freakazoid and dont let the press make you into a lunatic. Go have a beer or get laid or something. Wash your hands.

So you dont agree with donald having a state of emergency. Just carry on.

[PhonThong]

What a load of <deleted>. I just returned from the states and it was nothing like this. Life was going on as normal. Stores were full of product and restaurants were serving customers as usual. I didn't observe any panic buying. The media is just spreading lies.

[candide]

12 minutes ago, PhonThong said:

What a load of <deleted>. I just returned from the states and it was nothing like this. Life was going on as normal. Stores were full of product and restaurants were serving customers as usual. I didn't observe any panic buying. The media is just spreading lies.

I guess it depends where people live. In affected areas they are likely to be more panicking than in others

[alex8912]

9 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

No it is not. It depends where people are in the USA. You can bet that those under isolation order in New Rochelle, NY are terrified. A  growing number of  people older than age 60 are terrified. 

 

70 of 92 coronavirus cases in Massachusetts are linked to Biogen employees who attended the biotech firm's Boston meeting. Several of those people are on life support. You can bet that their families are terrified.

 

Americans, just like every other westerner, are watching the collapse of the Italian medical care system play out in real time.  Yesterday, Italian family physician Dr. Roberto Stella died. He was in good health before his infection. Age 67 and he was treating infected patients. Many family physicians are older and you can bet they are concerned.   Health care workers are burning out in Italy and health care for the elderly is now rationed. Americans are watching this. You can bet that the older they are, the more worried they are because the USA doesn't  have the ability to do any better in a similar event.

 

A radiation oncologist in Hamilton, Ontario Canada, was the city's first confirmed positive case of COVID-19. The woman in her 30s tested positive after returning from a holiday in Hawaii. She saw 17 patients before her diagnosis. You can bet that when American cancer patients in places as far away as Topeka KS saw that on the news, they were concerned. Today, I see that a physician in Montreal, Canada at the McGill University teaching hospital was infected. He is a respirologist treating  vulnerable patients. Whether he was infected while on holiday in the USA or from a patient is to be determined.  You can bet the physicians at US hospitals reading about this case are concerned. They will be more concerned once they  have access to test kits.

 

You can also bet that the elderly nursing home patients in Washington state who have seen their care workers disappear and who are now  reported as being left to lie in their urine and feces are terrified. 

 

The panic shopping that has occurred in New York city reflects a population that is afraid. Financial institutions, insurance companies, general offices and many other firms are encouraging workers to work from home. Some large firms have gone into remote mode, meaning that no one comes in. This is both a preventative response but also a response to the concerns of very worried and in some cases, terrified employees.  I was due in Boston for a hospital conference next month, and it was cancelled at the insistence of just about everyone.  Almost every major employer in the USA and Canada  has imposed a travel moratorium.  Prudent yes, but the reality is that many of the older  employees have refused to travel, and rightly so.

 

We now know that children manage with the infection, but they unfortunately act as carriers. This is disrupting families. Parents of small children who are also  caregivers to elderly or infirm parents are terrified that they will infect their parents.

 

Every person I deal with in the USA is more than concerned. They are very worried about the impact upon the health care system because it will not be able to  cope if tens of thousands of cases start to appear.  Sir Patrick Vallance in the UK  gave some very sobering projections in his press conference and anyone who listened will be rightfully afraid of what will happen. Anyone who heard PM Boris Johnson's depressing admission yesterday that many people will "die before their time" will be terrified because it is an admission that this infection cannot be controlled.

 

I am terrified because I know that a vaccine is probably 18 months away and that means that after the first wave, we will see the infection come back again, perhaps mutated to a  deadlier form as we have seen with other respiratory illnesses. We've got nothing in the tool box to defend against this  virus and you can bet I am terrified.  Mark my words, we will soon be seeing suicide due to despair.

Nope. I actually couldn’t finish your whole post but I kind of knew how it would go. Was just in Boston and New York City for 18 days and arrived back last weekend. Nobody was terrified. I even know 2 families in New Rochelle they are dealing with things ok as well. Your post is too much. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 3/13/2020 at 9:00 AM, Henryford said:

Terrified of what" The chances of catching it are remore. The chances of dying under 50 are even more remote. I am more terrified of the world's over reaction than the virus.

 

Dunno where you're getting your statistics from, but in the U.S. if things progress as expected, I believe the estimates are that one-third or so of the entire U.S. population could come down with the virus before it's done.  That's not what I'd call "remote".

 

 

Quote

 

Some of the projections for covid-19’s spread in the United States have been grave. A forecast produced last month by Professor James Lawler of the University of Nebraska Medical Center on behalf of the American Hospital Association, for example, put the potential death toll at hundreds of thousands if efforts to mitigate the epidemic fail.
 

Another forecast, developed by former CDC director Tom Frieden at the nonprofit organization Resolve to Save Lives, found that deaths in the United States could range widely, depending on what percentage of the population becomes infected and how lethal the disease proves to be. Frieden, who oversaw the U.S. response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, the 2014 Ebola epidemic and the 2016 Zika epidemic, says that in a worst-case scenario, but one that is not implausible, half the U.S. population would become infected and more than 1 million people would die.

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/coronavirus-forecasts-are-grim-its-going-to-get-worse/2020/03/11/2a177e0a-63b4-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html

 

Quote

Between 160 million and 214 million people in the United States could be infected over the course of the epidemic, according to one projection. That could last months or even over a year, with infections concentrated in shorter periods, staggered across time in different communities, experts said. As many as 200,000 to 1.7 million people could die.

And, the calculations based on the C.D.C.’s scenarios suggested, 2.4 million to 21 million people in the United States could require hospitalization, potentially crushing the nation’s medical system, which has only about 925,000 staffed hospital beds. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/coronavirus-deaths-estimate.html

Edited March 14, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[metisdead]

Some nonsensical posts have been removed. 

 

Some troll posts have now been removed. 

[AlienHermit66]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Dunno where you're getting your statistics from, but in the U.S. if things progress as expected, I believe the estimates are that one-third or so of the entire U.S. population could come down with the virus before it's done.  That's not what I'd call "remote".

 

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/coronavirus-forecasts-are-grim-its-going-to-get-worse/2020/03/11/2a177e0a-63b4-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/coronavirus-deaths-estimate.html

Yeah, and "if" 1/3 of the population contacts CV, 80% will be asymptomatic or close to it, leaving 20% who even know they are sick with anything much, and that translates into 6.6% of the population knowing they are suffering from CV "if" 1/3 get it. Those who would be critical would by even lower. The media does not like low, single-digit numbers though - not scary enough. They think we need headlines quoting Merkel: "70% of Germans will get CV." 70%, nice and scary. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 minutes ago, AlienHermit66 said:

Yeah, and "if" 1/3 of the population contacts CV, 80% will be asymptomatic or close to it, leaving 20% who even know they are sick with anything much, and that translates into 6.6% of the population knowing they are suffering from CV "if" 1/3 get it. Those who would be critical would by even lower. The media does not like low, single-digit numbers though - not scary enough. They think we need headlines quoting Merkel: "70% of Germans will get CV." 70%, nice and scary. 

 

The U.S. has roughly 330 million people.  It only takes small proportions of things to translate into very large numbers...

 

E.g., a 1% overall death rate among cases if one-third to one-half of the population were to be infected would translate into 1 million to 1.6 million deaths.  Cut that assumption to a very low 0.5% death rate, and you're still talking about 500,000 to 800,000 deaths.

 

 

 

[CharlieH]

Reported flame post removed.