Community Chat

[Diva on The Q]

@Goodie2shoes: Ah, yeah...it's official!  

[gardenman]

If you watch a lot of news it's easy to lose your perspective. Here are some numbers to help keep things in perspective. As of this moment, there are reportedly 1,608,085 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US. There are about 330 million people in the US. That puts your odds of being around someone with Covid-19 at about one in 205. If everyone with Covid-19 infected just one other person each day, around day 35 of the infection everyone on the planet would have been infected. We're well past day 35 and a very small percentage of the world's population has Covid-19, so even those infected aren't infecting even one person a day.

What are the odds you'd bump into one of the one in 205 people who have Covid-19? What are the odds that you'd be the one person who they'd infect? And now for the kicker. Even if infected, 94% of those infected recover.  The real-world numbers aren't so bad. The numbers we have right now aren't all that bad and should offer some reassurance to anyone losing perspective. 

"But so many people have died!" As of this moment the death toll is at 95,000+, but we lost 80,000+ to the flu in the 2017-2018 flu season despite there being a flu vaccine and effective flu treatments.

As long as you take reasonable precautions, wear a mask when out, wash your hands, you should be fine. This isn't the end of the world. Don't drive yourself crazy with fear. Far more people in the US die each year from tobacco-related causes (the CDC estimates it to be 480,000) than will die from Covid-19. 

We're now testing about 400,000 people per day and the vast majority of them are testing negative. Bear in mind you typically have to have symptoms to be tested (fever, cough, etc.) and about 88% of them came back negative despite meeting the threshold to get tested. The more we know about this virus the less of a threat it appears to be. It's not something to ignore, but simple precautions can help keep you safe.

[sassenach1]

@Goodie2shoesmy best advice is to turn off all media.  Don't watch TV or read news.  You will be MUCH better off.  Trust me on this.  I often go for days without reading any news articles and I never watch TV news.  I don't miss anything.  I can control what is in my bubble, I choose what comes into my life. And I am much better off for it.  You will be much happier.

Read what @gardenman wrote above.  He is spot on! 

[beckyb1012]

The first and biggest step is admitting to ourselves that we have a problem, any type of problem.  So you are on your way to winning this.  I must admit the spider thing caused me to drop my mouth open.  It will be over one day and all of us will have reasons to look back and wonder why did or did not do certain things.

[drizzellla]

Goodie2Shoes -  Do you feel safer by going through your routine?  It is a personal choice how you want to live. And I wish you weren't as concerned but if it makes you feel safer - why not.

I want you to feel comfortable and safe and if spraying Clorox makes you feel more comfortable. Spray away.

But I also think that as others suggested, maybe get out in the sun and take a walk.