Community Chat

[Mindy D]

 @cherry realistic thinking means looking at all aspects of a situation (the positive, the negative, and the neutral) before making conclusions. 

[cherry]

So far the good has been pushed to the back of the cupboard, so  all that is shown is the bad

[Buffalogal47]

How many of the fatalities were of older people, young children, or people with compromised immune systems due to other health problems? Epidemics are how Nature culls the herd. That may be a cold way of looking at it, but that has always been Nature's way. Healthy people may get sick, but they survive. So far the mortality rate for coronavirus is around 3%. Which means most who catch it will recover, just like any other virus. The reason the Chinese are in  a panic is because there are billions of people in their country. So even if there is only a 3% mortality rate that is a lot of people compared to other less populated countries.

[Mindy D]

Spoiler

realistic thinking means looking at all aspects of a situation (the positive, the negative, and the neutral) before making conclusions. 

[Mindy D]

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@cherry wrote:

So far the good has been pushed to the back of the cupboard, so  all that is shown is the bad

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1. @cherry @I just posted that there have been ZERO US deaths. I think that’s good. I also piggybacked on your percentage of deaths at just 3% of tested worldwide cases. I think those odds are good too. The news about this outbreak is not all negative. Keep being balanced in your posts. It’s a good thing. I will try to do the same. This helps allay unwarranted fears. 

[SilleeMee]

One, rather hysterical, woman I saw at Walmart the other morning was carrying on with saying something like:  "People are dropping like flies all over the world because of this virus"...or something like that.  To me this kind of behavior tells me that some people are fearing for their lives and that they apparently do not know the facts. I hate to say it, but I'm blaming the media for reactions such as that.

[cherry]

There is no sense in panicking over this. It will only make things worse for everyone, and scare some  people, especially children half to death

[Johnnyeager]

Of course the media is running with a story like this in part irresponsibly.  Reporters stationed in China broadcasting their reports in masks adds to the drama.

And it's a story being played out in real time, particularly on social media.

Twitter and Facebook and You Tube can spread panic and dis/misinformation faster than anything we have seen before.

I agree with those who have said that the flu is a much more serious issue for us here, right now and something we are equipped to deal with.

[Mindy D]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

One, rather hysterical, woman I saw at Walmart the other morning was carrying on with saying something like:  "People are dropping like flies all over the world because of this virus"...or something like that.  To me this kind of behavior tells me that some people are fearing for their lives and that they apparently do not know the facts. I hate to say it, but I'm blaming the media for reactions such as that.

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Unfortunately, there are people that don’t bother to listen intently to reports. They just hear a tiny portion of a report and blow things out of proportion. They tune out the larger body of information, preferring to zoom into the fewest points possible.They are often uninformed or misinformed.

Being well-informed can be just as anxiety reducing as avoiding all information about an unpleasant subject. 

[BlueFinch]

You'd think people would be just as concerned about the flu virus, particularly since there is some protection through immunization.  But we don't see the same type of scare factor as with the Coronavirus.  And, we've had a heavy caseload this flu season.  

World Health Organization (WHO) reports: "The flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness globally and kills up to 650,000 people annually." 

“When we think about the relative danger of this new coronavirus and influenza, there’s just no comparison,” Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, shared with Kaiser Health News. “Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison. The risk is trivial.”

I tend to agree, at least at this point, unless this virus morphs into something more deadly.