3/10/2020
So, I am sick! Just what I needed right? I am pretty sure it isn't covid-19 as my cough is somewhat wet and covid-19 coughs are usually dry. As of right now it isn't too bad. Fever of 101, cough, sore throat, feel like crap! I get sick about every 8-10 weeks or so anyway due to an auto immune disorder. The one thing that bothers me is that even with all the measures I have tried to take, a bug still got in. My husband more than likely brought it in on him but we have been trying to avoid that as much as we can. Mostly I am just irritated and cranky because...I'm sick! lol
I went onto Twitter to reported and commented on the things I thought were most relevant for people to know and am done for the rest of the day. My tone has been increasingly more forceful and I am getting more and more frustrated with people. I just can't figure out why they are acting so dismissive of this. As of right now Italy is entirely locked down with an 8% mortality rate and 11% on respirators! They have twice the number of doctors and beds per person as we do in the US and look at the mess they are in! The hospitals and doctors are having to choose who to save and who not to. This has resulted in people dying at home and it taking over 24 hours for the bodies to be picked up and tested. That means that as of right now, even the current numbers are low and that is terrifying!
The US has the highest number of unhealthy people in the world but it isn't stopping them from acting like they are going to just sail through this. Even as 3/4 of a million kids are out of school and numbers are increasing exponentially, they still say crap like, "it's a mild illness", "you're fear mongering", "this is blown out of proportion!" Are these people crazy or just stupid? The big risk factors other than age are high blood pressure, heart conditions, asthma and COPD, diabetes and weakened immune systems. Do you know what can cause all of that? Obesity. Do you know what the US has more of than any other country? Obesity! All these overweight people over 30 are running around like they have a golden ticket because they aren't 90! The complication and mortality rate in the US is setting up to be the highest in the world when all is said and done. And THAT is just from the virus itself!
I was explaining to one person that they needed to prepare because shortages of vital supplies are most likely incoming. He just said, "stop it! There can't be food shortages in the US!" Really? How much of YOUR food can you get in a 50 mile radius from your home? All our local farms have been moved to large commercial farms far away from where most of us live. We have a complex supply chain for every item of food in the store, If any link in any chain breaks, that food doesn't show up! Besides, what is the worst that happens if you have a few weeks of extra food? Everyone SHOULD have that anyway! All kinds of disasters happen all over the country every year! But if you don't have it and there is a shortage, you think the fist fights over toilet paper are bad? Wait until they start fighting over food...
I am beginning to feel desperate! Not for myself but for other people. So few even understand what is happening let alone listen to all the people trying to warn them. The word of CDC and WHO isn't enough! The word of people in Italy and China and Iran isn't enough! The word of doctors and people WITH covid-19 isn't enough! The UK just said today "we just need to take it on the chin and let it happen." WHAT? What the hell are you doing? That isn't how this works! Look at even the countries who ARE trying to slow this down! Look what is happening! Why is there this crazy logical fallacy that bad things can't happen to THEM? I still see people calling this a fake health scare like H1N1 and SARS. I'm sorry WHAT? 575,000 people have died from H1n1, also known as swine flu! How the hell was that a fake health scare? Do people really just call something a hoax unless it happens to them specifically?
As bad as H1N1 was, it's nothing like covid-19. To quote the director of W.H.O. "Ebola is lousy compared to this. We take it (covid-19) much more seriously." And we have actual politicians saying, "Geez people calm down! It's not like it's Ebola or something!" No, it isn't. It's worse! And do you know why it's worse? Because it is impossible to contain with routine measures. Because it has asymptomatic infection and an unpredictable and long incubation period. It can pass from person, to person, to person before the first one even shows symptoms! And as for the 80% have "mild symptoms' crap, they should really tell people what they mean by "mild". In this context mild just means you didn't need to go on oxygen therapy! The people who have had "mild" cases have come forward to share their experience with this. They were sick for weeks and say it is the sickest they have ever been in their life. They FELT like they were going to die! Now are SOME cases actually mild like the flu? Yes, but most of those are under 25. And who the hell considers the regular flu to be a mild illness anyway? Covid-19 makes large numbers of people sick and keeps them that way for weeks. It breaks the supply chain meaning that critical supplies run short. It has already happened in the US. Notice how you can't get a mask or hand sanitizer to save your life? Most of that stuff is made in China. 87% of all consumer goods and their components come from Asia. And countries who produce this stuff are keeping it for themselves because THEY are running short with everyone out sick! People don't THINK about all this and I don't know why.
We are in really bad trouble and I literally can't convince people to save their own lives. What the hell are these people going to do 3 weeks from now? Maybe I was delusional at the start of all this but I never banked on it being so hard to get people to take basic measures to mitigate the chaos once large outbreaks begin to occur. See, above everything else, that's the real killer. Not the virus, or the overrun hospitals or even the broken supply chain. It's what people will do to themselves and others when the rest of that stuff does happen.
I don't know how bad this is going to get. I just know how bad it CAN get. And time is running out to change the final result.
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