I would like to remind people that the 1968 flu pandemic killed an estimated one million people worldwide. The flu is not Ebola; it is a disease we have lived with for many years. The flu virus was first isolated in 1933, but it is estimated that the flu has been around for 500 years.
Influenza, also known as “The common cold,” has a long history of infectious outbursts. Symptoms of the virus are described in texts as early as 2,400 years ago. The first real evidence of the virus comes about in 1580. So as you can see we have been living with the flu for a long time and yes there will always be causalities for this disease but they will mostly occur in those who are older with chronic conditions or the very young. The CDC estimates that as many as 56,000 people die from the flu or flu-like illness each year. With the coronavirus, we don’t even have 100,000 infected worldwide with less than 3,000 deaths.
While flu viruses are detected year-round in the United States, they are most common in the fall and winter. The exact timing and duration of flu seasons can vary, but influenza activity often begins to increase in October peak from December to February and can last as late as May. If the coronavirus is typical, it will decrease substantially in the spring but probably return in the fall when we hopefully have a vaccine available.
Everyone needs to remain calm and stop listening to the hype of the nutty liberal media.
The media is hyping up this virus to the point of bringing the world into total chaos, and they don’t seem to mind doing that. They are also trying to blame this virus on Trump and have been successful in killing the best stock market in history without a thought of what it has done to their own 401(k)s. If you go back just to 1981, none of the world epidemics have caused a disruption in the stock market like this one and most have been drops of 5% or less. Much of this current problem appears to have something to do with the globalization that has taken place.
China has become such a large world supplier of not just raw material but also of finished products. Currently, 97% of our antibiotics are produced in China as are many of the substances used in the production of other important drugs. This is a wake-up call to our drug industry that they need to bring much of their production back to America where it belongs. It is also showing companies like Apple that cheap labor in China while it has been beneficial to their bottom line, it can destroy their earnings if they can’t access supplies to build new phones and sell their products.
Yes, the economy will probably take a hit but not as great as most people think. The market has been overextended and although this is a rather sharp decline, which may still go further, unless you have a crystal ball into the future, please don’t panic. People should remain calm and treat this as if it were just another type of flu.
There is currently a company in Israel ” The Galilee Research Institute” which has come up with what they believe will be a vaccine to combat the coronavirus. They say this vaccine could be available in 3 to 6 months. Do not panic and follow simple precautions like washing your hands, staying away from sick people and crowds, getting plenty of sleep, eating well, and generally trying to stay healthy.
“This too shall pass”
