The Corona Virus: How Dangerous is it Really?

Currently, the world seems to have gone off the deep end with Coronavirus, or COVID-19, its scientific name. It has been labeled as a “pandemic,” but there is a second pandemic sweeping the world simultaneously. That second pandemic is fear and hype. It is causing people to do outlandish things, like buy a year’s worth of toilet paper in one shot, or purchase every last bottle of water on store shelves.

Quite honestly, the second pandemic of fear and hype is more dangerous than the Corona virus itself. Fear and hype often lead to people doing really heinous things, like physically assaulting others to get what others have secured for themselves. Ergo, it begs the question- how dangerous is Corona Virus really? That answer follows.

It’s a Virus, and It’s a Form of SARS

Those who are old enough to remember the SARS virus from 2003 will remember what that panic was like. It, and Corona virus, are viruses for which their are no known cures or vaccines, but as a virus the body can fight it. Antibiotics have no effect, but healthy individuals with no immune system problems will easily recover from the illness.

Just like any cold or flu bug, the only people susceptible to its potentially lethal effects are the extremely old, the extremely young (i.e., infants and toddlers), and those whose immune systems are compromised by other diseases (e.g., those who have HIV or AIDS). The Corona virus itself is actually from the SARS family of viruses, so if you treat it like the SARS virus and take the same preventive measures, you are fine. Just think of it like a really bad cold, and it is not as scary as the hype says it is.

It Was Identified Post-Christmas Last Year, and It Took This Long to Infect Others

Right after Christmas 2019, the Corona virus was identified. It may seem like it just burst onto the scene and infected hundreds in the last week, but it hasn’t. The first cases were discovered toward the end of December last year, which means that this illness has been slowly spreading all through January and February and into March. It actually took this long to jump oceans and begin infecting people in the U.S. because transmission is the same as it is for the common cold.

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While Corona virus may have reached pandemic status, it is helpful to put things in perspective here. It took almost three months before a case popped up in the U.S.. A truly frightening and very lethal disease would have moved much faster, spread much quicker, and killed hundreds of thousands by now. Instead, only five thousand have died the entire world over, and sixty-nine thousand who contracted the illness recovered. That is an infinitesimally small part of the global population of over seven billion people.

Your Odds of Contracting Corona Virus, Plus Your Odds of Dying From It

Approximately two percent of the world’s population has died from Corona virus. Compare that to the death tolls of different types of cancer, or the deaths as a result of unvaccinated individuals developing diseases that were eliminated decades ago. One in six people this year will die of cancer, resulting in almost ten million deaths from all types of cancer worldwide. That is twelve to fourteen times more probable of dying of cancer than dying of Corona virus. Even anti-vaxxers experience a higher death rate from chicken pox than you possibly dying of Corona virus.

Preventing Corona Virus Contraction

Preventing Corona virus is not difficult. Wash your hands. Personal hygiene to avoid getting sick with anything is the same personal hygiene required for preventing Corona virus. If you do contract it, you may not even know it for weeks. You may have only the mildest case, making you think you have a light touch of this year’s flu. Some people have it, never have a single symptom, and are free and clear of it in two to five weeks.

It will not help you to hoard water, toilet paper, or hand sanitizer. It will not make any difference if you avoid going out in public to do what you normally do when zero cases of the virus have been identified near your city and home. Eat healthy, exercise, bathe, and wash your hands when you know you are supposed to.

That is literally all you need to do to stay healthy and stay safe where Corona virus is concerned. If you do get sick and suspect that you might have Corona virus, see a doctor. Wear a mask to the doctor’s office just in case, but otherwise do not worry too much about it.