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Originally Posted by golfing eagles
Hmmmm……..Quarantine 330,000,000 individuals because of 3,487 cases and 63 deaths nationwide?? I suppose that is one point of view, but in that case why don't we quarantine 330,000,000 every year from Dec-April for the 40,000,000 cases and 36.000 deaths from influenza
Now, if we over-react and drive the nation or the world into a global depression, how many MILLIONS of lives will that take?
Please don't apply for the jobs of national health advisor, surgeon general, or director of the CDC
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Let me post this once instead of replying to all of the posts from my friends who keep comparing CoVid-19 to the flu. The reasons that this is different from recent outbreaks of influenza is that #1, we have a very effective vaccine for influenza that we don't have for CoVid-19. The current flu season we have had 30 million reported cases of the flu. Imagine if we didn't have a vaccine. That is what we are looking at. Without a vaccination we would be having the same panic over the flu.
#2, we have anti-viral medications that are very effective against most common strains of influenza. In spite of that we have had at least 12,000 and possibly as many as 30,000 deaths from the flu. We have no medications what whatsoever to fight against CoVid-19. If we don't start taking preventative measures who knows how many will die?
#3, When a person contracts the flu, symptoms usually show up immediately. The person that gets it takes actions to get medications and stay away from friends and family. When CoVid-19 is contracted, symptoms don't show up for up to two weeks. Although we currently know how many cases have been reported of CoVid-19, we really have no idea how many people in this country have it right now. It could be in the millions. Every person that you see is a possible carrier.
This is very different from the flu. It is different from the H1N1 (Swine Flu ) that went around a few years ago. This is the worst threat to us as a people since the 1918 pandemic where 1/3 of the world's population became infected and 50 million died.
Lastly, we don't know what the long term affects of this disease. While it's true that most people that contract it have flu like symptoms for a week or so, we don't know if those people are permanently affected. Will they become immune to it in the future or will it recur in them every year?
This is not like the influenza that we see every year. It is very, very different.