Coronavirus

Can someone tell me more about this virus? Why is it special from other strains? Every year, we have a number of flu viruses "out in the wild" and a lot of people catch one and some of the vulnerable die from it.

Is it because the coronavirus is new so no one has ever been exposed to it and, therefore, no one has immunity to it? Or is there something else special about it? Aren't many flu virus strains mutated and new each year?

 

We just came back from Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. While there the thought "What if...?" crossed my mind a couple of times. I am wondering if Disney, cruise ship lines and some other attractions will soon start suspending their operations. It's just too dangerous to be around so many people while coronavirus is raging on.

The existing antiviral treatments don't work on it. For some the symptoms will be mild, while for others deadly. That's why they are all panicking.

 

Total hype and chicken with it's head cut off panic. Only 250 people have died from this so far. An estimated 8,000 will die in the U.S. from other strains of flu viruses in 2020. The panic stems from the fact that it is a new strain. In Canada at the university of Saskatchewan they already have developed a vaccine for the Corona virus. They are now field testing it and it will be put on the market and made available within 6 months to a year.

Now everyone take a deep breath....and relax.

 

That's kind of what I was thinking: it is mostly news media hype based on possibilities rather than the situation on the ground. Of course, the hype is working. My daughter is getting on a plane tomorrow for a business trip and she and her colleague both bought surgical masks for the flight. They had a hard time finding the masks because all the stores have been sold out.

Me, on the other hand, I refuse to get a flu shot every year, much to my doctor's chagrin...

 

I don't get the shots either.

And I pay little attention to what the media throws at us.

 

Of course, when you get to be as old as we are, you have been exposed to so many viruses that you have a fair amount of immunity, anyway. Many years ago, I had a dentist who told all of his patients to not miss an appointment with him because they had a cold or other virus and did not want to expose him to it. He said that over the decades he had been exposed to so many viruses that he had built up an unmatched immunity and never caught anything any more.

 

My doctor is semi retired and in his early 80's. This is precisely what he told me almost word for word.

 

Fortunately, I am not that old. Older than dirt, yes. As old as your doctor, no.

 

Social media is definitely making the coronavirus seem more serious that it actually is. There’s a misconception that people instantly die if they contact the virus. There’s no need to wear a mask and stay indoors to be protected as the flu kills 50 times more people than the virus. You can prevent the virus if you practice good hygiene such as washing your hands and coughing and sneezing into your elbow. Always make sure you fact check everything you read online, especially if it comes from Instagram. This virus is causing hysteria, racism, and xenophobia.

 

You might be right about that immunity thing.

I tend to attribute my resistance to viruses to my quitting smoking 33 years ago and that I've managed to find alternatives to the prescription drugs doctors have tried to put me on over the years.

 

After I have been out in public I always put antibacterial hand gel on my hands and a tiny bit in each nostril. I also have a yearly flu jab. I haven't had a cold for about three years.

 

I am really not sure what to think about it. On the one hand I do not want to give the media attacks so much attention because it is again real panic making. Ia m not sure what to think about it and what to believe. I also heard that it is a virus owning a real patent number. So it was produced by the pharma itself. ...Don't know what to tink aobut all this.

 

guys for real , we dont know for real how its happen and why and for what ? tv will not tell truth and all news also , the point is its already happen , so we just need to be safe . God Bless!

 

So good questions and good thoughts about it. I think it is definitively more a mass panic than anything else. We will see.

 

Seems to me that these things always get hyped up beyond reality every time.

 

As an update, the news being released today is that scientists have managed to create a 3-D atomic map of the Corona virus. What this means is that a vaccine is certainly on it's way in the near future.
All is not lost and the Corona virus is NOT a doomsday virus.

Fact is that 80% who contract the virus experience mild symptoms, 18% experience severe symptoms while only 2% of cases prove fatal. Most of those 2% all seemed to have had pre existing medical conditions and were not 100% healthy to begin with.

 

Thanks for the update @Spoiltdiva ! I have been watching, with great amusement, the folks getting on planes or walking around with surgical masks here in the U.S. It is nice to be able to pick out the gullible idiots in a crowd so easily. At least the Boston Marathon has not been cancelled, yet, though the hysteria continues. Unfortunately, there are a fair number of Chinese restaurants that have suffered loss of traffic around here due to the nonsense that the press is pushing in order to sell their content.

 

Can you even begin to imagine owning stocks in a Chinese company that makes face masks or hand sanitizers? You would be set for life! Having said that if you were an owner of a Chinese restaurant you would be wondering if you should start laying off some of your employees.

 

To say nothing of the negative financial impact that my miserable diet is having on my favorite Chinese restaurant in addition to the virus nonsense...

 

I don't think I could wear a mask. I've been having allergies. I'd have to sneeze. Imagine sneezing into a mask?! Gross.