what I want to know is, what is the difference between this virus and every other flu and pneumonia virus that is continually circulating, killing tens of thousands of people in our country every year? Why is this the one that has to have the major panic and over-reaction? Why not any of the others?
Did Tom Hanks die?
THERE IS NO VACCINE FOR IT.
A large percentage of flu related deaths tend to be elderly people who are already health compromised and don't get a flu shot. The reason it does not kill as many people every year is because enough people get a flu shot. And even if you get the shot, you can still get the flu but generally symptoms will only be mild which allows your body to fight it off easier. No flu shot, you're on your own.
If you get it the COVID-19 virus it does not necessarily mean you are automatically going to die. Per the CDC/WHO info out there, 80% of people who get it will only experience mild fever cold/flu like symptoms and be over it within a shorter time. But, if you are elderly (60-older) and/or also have an underlying health condition, (name your disease/condition here) you are at a much higher risk of becoming severely ill from complications resulting from contracting the virus. This group of people are the ones who are feeling the brunt of the virus.
Like said already, if you are otherwise healthy, contracting the virus may not necessarily mean anything to you personally but if you somehow mange to contract the virus and continue to spread it through close contact, you are putting exponential numbers of people beyond your immediate family/friend circles at risk. It's not a political issue in any way shape or form, it's a regular-everyday people dying issue. This is why its important not to be cavalier about it and take it seriously.
People in the interior of the country are about a week behind those of us on the coasts which are where most of the points of entry into this country are. Maybe you will get lucky and not have as many cases/deaths as we have had here already. Locking down everything beyond essential services will theoretically slow the spread of the virus but we won't get a real read on it until we can do mass testing to see who actually has the virus.
In a way, our situation could wind up being worse than China's since the virus has been allowed to run unchecked through our population without any real mitigation. Good or bad, China has the ability to enforce these severe draconian lock down measures and also can build hospitals with 1,000s of beds in 10 days. We don't even have widely available testing yet so we really have no clue how many people may actually have it. We probably won't see the peak of cases for a little while. Hopefully the lock down will slow it a little.
