For the people who still think this is a hoax... (Serious Blog)
- Barry Bangerz
- Apr 2, 2020
- 3 min read
A new untreatable disease took China by storm at the end of December. Since then, nearly a million people have been infected worldwide. The flu doesn't have shit on what is infecting hundreds of thousands across the globe.
According to the CDC, this is the most easily transmitted disease we have ever experienced in the modern world. The fact that there is little to nothing we can do about it is something that should alarm people across the nation. But, people are seeing this as something that is just as mild as the flu. The media is just trying to scare us and blame it on Trump, Right? I hope to change your opinion by supplying a few facts that debunk your myth.
The flu peaks during colder months because the colder weather helps preserve the germs that causes it to spread. A report by the CDC shows that the common flu killed around 32,500 people from 2018-2019. The novelty coronavirus has already killed nearly 43,000 people since it's initial discovery four months ago. So, 32k were killed in seven months from the flu, and 43k have died from COVID-19 in four months. That's roughly 10,850 people a month, and this could last until June. I'll let you do the math...but it's only going to keep going up.
In New York, the death toll has quadrupled in three days, and they are running out of body bags to store those who have lost their lives. Nationwide, the country is running out of proper necessities that keep our health workers safe. People who are needing assistance breathing are having to use ventilators in shifts in order to MAYBE save more lives. Aside from a mishap in 2009 with H1N1, we have never had a flu season where workers who specialize in healthcare were shorthanded with supplies, and are having to choose who to save in ICU. People are literally waiting on someone to die so they can have a ventilator until they die.
In Spain, at the peak of their infection, they were losing nearly a thousand people a day. They have experienced close to 10,000 deaths since the initial onset of the virus, according to the WHO. Given, the amount of infections have surpassed 100k, and have yet to slowdown.
In Italy, they have also reported around 110k cases, but have openly stated that they are not equipped to give an accurate report of cases due to lack of testing. This number seems high, but they went on a nationwide lock down fourteen days before the United States decided to slightly implement social distancing.
What we have had here is a failure to communicate, and a weak response to a global crisis. Why? The timeline shows that the United States and South Korea reported their first case of COVID-19 the same day, January 19th. South Korea has been able to hold the number of infected under 10,000, and have yet to have less than 200 deaths.
Why?
South Korea implemented a fairly harsh military lockdown within days of the initial testing. Also, they implemented drive-thru testing that made infection less likely to spread, and had access to testing that was made more readily accessible. Granted, South Korea has a population of 51 Million, and the United States has 368 million. South Korea has a mortality rate of 0.02% and the United States does too. But, where they have lost less than 200, we have lost nearly 6k.
How do we stop it?
The main thing we can do as humans is have respect for other humans. This disease is mostly spread from human to human contact. People think that living their lives the same way they did at the end of 2019 is feasible, but that is a selfish perspective that could lead to the loss of around another 194k Americans.
The facts show that we are not slowing this disease at all. Actually, we are still two weeks away from experiencing our peak in deaths. The United States is on track to be turning the same numbers as Spain, if not more, because we have not forced a nationwide lockdown. We, as compassionate humans, are going to have to take a backseat to pride, and understand that we are fully responsible for all the lives lost by not staying out of public.
I humbly conclude this blog begging people to think about others instead of themselves. The people who think that we should, "get back out there and work," are the people I challenged to articulate a response that disproves what I have previously stated. But, there are more factual stats that support my argument than you can possibly fabricate.
Please, keep your distance. Please, stay at home. Please, understand that we can't get back out there and work until this disease stops spreading. Educate yourself and do some research. We can revive the stock market, but not the 200k+ that we are projected to lose.
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