08 March 2020

Don't panic... but rational fear and sensible precautions... hell yeah

Look, I'm trying really hard to be rational and not panicked about this COVID 19. Sensible precautions, etc. And up until recently I was probably more concerned about the disruption and likely worldwide recession that will be coming down the pike than the danger of actually dying from the disease. But THIS scares me, personally. I'm 67 and many, even most of my friends and relatives are over 60. Obviously all we can do is to take the recommended precautions. But we must take them SERIOUSLY. In most places in the US, the virus is not yet present in the general population. But it WILL be in the coming weeks or months, and if you are over 60 you had better take very seriously the need to protect yourself from infection. If you get sick, you will probably survive, but the statistics are horrible. Hopefully these will turn out to be applicable only to the conditions in China in February, and not apply to our very different living conditions, lifestyle, and medical care here in the US. But to minimize the fact that this really is a very deadly and dangerous disease, from which the great majority have no immunity, is to be a fool.

"As you can see, very low rates of mortality (relatively speaking for the young) up to very high ones for people over 80 and a steady slope from 1% on up over age 50. We have a great deal of evidence that for the great majority of people who are young or relatively young and in good health COVID-19 is a manageable disease. But for the elderly and those in fragile health it is very dangerous and deadly in a significant percentage of cases."


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