coronavirus...put it into perspective
Not to make light of the corona virus as I am sure more will die from it but.....this is for the United States in 2017 Number of deaths for leading causes of death: Heart disease: 647,457 Cancer:...
Forum Discussion
westernrvparkowner wrote:
Here is another perspective:
The US has a population of about 327 million people. As of today there is approximately 26,000 people with diagnosed COVID 19. That means there is one confirmed case out of every 12,000+ people. Even if the the number of undiagnosed carriers is 10 times greater than than the number of confirmed cases it still means that less than one out of every thousand people are infected.
It is very likely that the death rate will fall as testing becomes more widespread. Currently, testing is only being done on those with symptoms and is focused on the severely ill (which is the correct action, since the severely ill need intensive care and the symptomatic need to isolate themselves completely). But as we increase the denominator of virus positive individuals through expanded testing, the fatality rate will decline.
One of the best things that can happen is there to be a large population of infected people who had no symptoms and subsequently recovered. They are what will create a herd immunity and eventually stop the spread of the disease. It is the same as setting back fires to control wildfires. Just like back fires create areas that cannot burn, asymptomatic people who have recovered create large areas where there is no one left to get sick and spread the disease. There is anecdotal evidence this is already occurring, but there is really no way to know since it is impractical, and probably unwise, to test large numbers of people who show no outward signs of the virus.
Hopefully our government leaders will be able to manage the tightrope walk between illness prevention and the economy. The last thing we want is the economic damage to continue far past the health impacts of the virus. In the long run that could cause far more harm, both physically and mentally than the virus.
Certainly one of the best written posts on this thread! One thing concerns me and that is the comment about "herd immunity". Some evidence indicates this virus may not be subject to immunity. Not saying it is, just saying "might be". That could lead to long term problems. Hopefully it is proven to be inaccurate.
