Help Against Misinformation

If you are like us, your Inbox has been loaded with pounds of misinformation regarding the coronavirus. We have tried to point everyone to credible sources. although we suspect several people don’t appreciate that help.However, bad info can be life-threatening.

Several organizations are also trying to short-circuit the flow of bad info.Below is a link to an organization with whom we have had a 25-year relationship.

https://centerforinquiry.org/coronavirus/ 

Hope it helps.

California Governor Goes Off DEEP END

This is a time Americans need SANE leadership, not IDIOCY in high offices
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-19/gavin-newsom-california-1-billion-federal-aid-coronavirus

The extraordinary action comes as California Governor Galvin Newsom offered a grim projection about the toll the novel coronavirus might take on California. 

The state projects that 25.5 million people in California will be infected over an eight-week period, Newsom said in a letter sent to President Trump on Wednesday requesting the deployment of the U.S. Navy’s Mercy hospital ship to the Port of Los Angeles through Sept. 1.

WHAT's THE ANSWER?

Okay, I need help to understand this coronavirus thing.  So, I am sending this note to this brainy bunch. I just checked the CDC numbers about the seasonal flu.

NUMBER OF CASES/FATALITIES

So far this flu season, the CDC estimates that up to 45 million Americans have been infected, hospitalizing up to 560,000 and killing 46,000.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm

COVID-19: U.S. at a Glance (3/18/20). Total cases: 7,038, Total deaths: 97, Jurisdictions reporting cases: 54 (50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and US Virgin Islands)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html

HOW CONTAGIOUS

From current data, the basic reproduction number R₀ for COVID-19 is estimated to be between 2 and 2.5. That is, on average, a single infected person will go on to infect about two other people within a susceptible population. (Because SARS-CoV-2 is new to humans, everyone is assumed to be susceptible.)

So far in this outbreak, the WHO has reported that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has primarily been between people who have had contact with each other, such as family members.

That’s in contrast to infections such as seasonal flu, which often spreads among unrelated people in the community and often before symptoms are apparent.

Seasonal flu has an estimate R₀ of around 1.3. The highly contagious measles has an often-cited R₀ range of 12 to 18, but some calculations have put the number at nearly 60.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/dont-panic-the-comprehensive-ars-technica-guide-to-the-coronavirus/

R0 for CoVID-19 estimated at 2 to 2.5;  R0 for seasonal flu estimated at 1.3. Not much difference.

QUESTION?

Both CoVID-19 and the season flu are dangerous.  It appears my chances of get the flu are probably at least 1000 times greater than CoVID-19 and my chances of dying from the flu are 100 times greater than CoVID-19, but the world is not shutting done because of the flu. Why not?

Coronavirus

Without a doubt we need to take steps to minimize harm caused by disease, but we need to apply our attention and resources in proportion to the risk,  The novel coronavirus is a classic example of where the media has raised fears out of proportion. 

According to LiveScience
https://www.livescience.com/new-coronavirus-compare-with-flu.html

So far, the new coronavirus has led to more than 100,000 illnesses and more than 3,000 deaths worldwide. But that's nothing compared with the flu, also called influenza. In the U.S. alone, the flu has caused an estimated 34 million illnesses, 350,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, we aren't declaring it to be a pandemic, a national emergency, shutting down the world's economies or going out of our way to scare the hell out of people.