What is COVID-19, is it dangerous?

COVID-19 is a coronavirus that has been found in Wuhan 2019. Generally speaking, it’s not dangerous to a person. The average death rate of COVID-19 is about 1%. It’s approximately 10 times higher than H1N1 influenza. As a comparison, the death rate of the SARS outbreak that happened 17 years ago, is approximately 10%.

The reason it is so dangerous is because it creates more “critically patient” than flu, about 10%. Those patients are so serious that they need oxygen/a ventilator to keep them survive. Without proper medical support, the death rate of COVID-19 will rise up to 5%, which is 50 times higher than flu. And it’s very easy to spread. 15% of the patients are “symptomless”. No coughing, no fever, nothing abnormal. They just spread the virus silently. You won’t be able to find them without a test. Combine those together, the symptomless patient will create a lot of sick patients, which will make the health caring system overloaded. And the overloaded health caring system won’t be able to handle so many “critically patient”, which will cause more death. In the end, doctors and nurses will be infected as well. People can’t find help for their family, taking care of the family will create more infection. They wait for death in the helpless and fear. That makes COVID-19 a very dangerous virus in the world.

As a comparison, the confirmed number in SARS outbreaks 17 years ago is 8096, the death toll is 774. The confirmed number in H1N1 influenza outbreaks in 2009 is 1.3 million, the death toll is 15 thousand to 16 thousand. It lasted at least a year. The confirmed number in COVID-19 is 111 thousand today, the death toll is 3,887. And it’s just a month.

What should I do?

First of all. Relax, don’t panic. Panic doesn’t help us at all. Hoarding toilet paper, having forsythia won’t help as well. Stay cool, thinking about what you should do.

DO NOT gathering

To cut off the spreading, the most important thing to do is DO NOT gathering. You should call your friend, not hang out with your friends. You should make dinner at home, not have dinner at the restaurant. And you should look out when you come out for shopping.

Wash hands

COVID-19 spread mostly through droplets. Here has some really good explanations. Basically you will be infected not just by inhaling some infectious particles, but also by touching something that has been contaminated and touching your face later.

Washing hands could remove those viruses from your hands. It might not be enough to ensure your safety, but will dramatically lower your risk. Wash your hands oftenly, especially when you come back from outside. I recommend using soap, with or without sterilize, it really doesn’t matter.

Get a mask if you need, but don’t hoard.

You might have known that face mask would help to control the infection. To ensure safety, a medical mask or KN95 mask will be needed. Those masks will filter 95% of the particles, meanwhile a normal mask would filter 20-30%.

However, I don’t suggest KN95. To ensure safety, KN95 should be exchanged every 4-8 hours. Wearing KN95 everyday will consume a lot of resources. In most of the countries, leaving it to a doctor or a nurse will be more efficient.

Cover face

Although I don’t suggest KN95. Covering your face is still helpful. You could choose a normal mask, scarf, or veil. Or recycle your KN95 everyday. It helps you by stopping your hand from touching your face. As we’ve already known, wash hands can remove viruses from your hands. But it won’t help if you touch your face unconsciously before washing hands. Moreover, it could still filter the particles, even if by 10%.

I’ve heard from some of my friends that, in some countries, people think only sick people wear a mask. Don’t be hesitate to wear a mask. And please be nice, don’t laugh at the guys wearing masks. They are protecting not just themself, but also your safety.

BTW. Don’t touch the outside of anything you wear. If it’s a scarf or veil, take it off, wash your hands, then wash it, so you could reuse it again. If you want to recycle your KN95, don’t wash it, don’t try to clean it, just reuse it. Water will damage the inner structure of KN95.

Remember, all of those “masks” can’t ensure your safety. Stay away from others, and wash your hands.

Don’t discriminate

Why shouldn’t you discriminate against the infected? It has nothing to do with political correctness or “you should be a good man”. It’s pretty simple. We can’t find the asymptomatic carriers by symptom, so the best way to approach is to find them in “contacter screening”. Fear of the discrimination will stop people to report themself as a “close contacter”. So, being nice to the infected is being nice to all of us.

Questions

Q: Should I hoarding something?

A: Nothing really help. Prepare some food you like in case your city will been lockdown. Maybe cigarette or alcohol? That’s depends on you. But you know, you can’t hoard enough resources if the city are totally shutdown.

Q: I’ve heard it will gone in summer?

A: Maybe. But it’s too late. COVID-19 could destroy a country in two months.

Q: Is it just dangerous to olders?

A: The youngest patient are just a few days. Will you younger than that?

Conclusion

Taking COVID-19 seriously. Be careful. Don’t gather. Stay away from others. Wash hands. Cover face. Be nice to others. Don’t discriminate. Wish you health and safety. Hope it can get better very soon.