Covid blood testing in Telluride, expert projections + more

Maybe it's not 100% supported but there are people who had similar issues (stories in and from the US) and symptoms in Dec and early Jan that when tested for the FLU it was negative and doctors didn't know what it was.  One of the earliest known dates from Wuhan China was Dec 10th.   China tried to hide the details of this virus.  Is it not logically possible that it could of been spreading even before that date?  No one truly knows how long it was around until it got out of hand.  My guess is when people were being looked at for it it was treated as an unknown and sent home to rest.  Many people are recovering or have mild "flu like" symptoms from this. 

I am just thinking outside the box and was just saying lets "say" it was around in Dec or to be fair even early Jan.  The numbers still are not that much outside of that of the "flu" season so again my point of what I wrote was simple saying that yes it is somewhat bad but the media and this hysteria has many believe it is the worst thing that could happen and while not fun it's not the end of the world nor a "plague" like event.    That is all.

You're missing a key point of data: 80 percent of those infected register nothing more than mild symptoms.

If you have COVID19 but have mild symptoms for it, you may be one of those people who just stays at home and self-medicates (TheraFlu, Tylenol, etc). 

Meaning that it's VERY likely that people have had it, but did not go to the doctor in order to treat it.  Again, that's good and bad, to the extent that the mortality rate is probably lower than we think (good) and that it can spread faster and to more people than we think (bad)

I don't know about you, but unless my condition is severe, I don't go to the doctor.  I've gotten sinus infections that were at least as troublesome as the flu for me, yet I never went to the doctor for them.  I'm sure other people here do the same, as they're not in a high-risk category for cold, flu, COVID19, etc. 

That's one of the reasons why we need to take at least SOME of these stats with a grain of salt. If the OP's sourcing is true (and I don't see a reason why it can't be), people have probably been infected with it and ended up not being counted as it was not severe enough to require hospitalization. 

If you find the interview with the man in Illinois who caught it (and this was at the very beginning of it here in the U.S.) he said that, for him, it was no more severe than a common cold. Now, multiply that by thousands of others who probably have that same level of infection, and there's a whole lot of people who just let the virus come and go without reporting it. 

The large numbers come in the infection of high-risk individuals (people with COPD, lung issues, diabetes, elderly, etc).  Since elderly people often congregate together (especially when you factor in nursing homes), it should not surprise anybody that high hospitalization and potentially high mortality numbers would follow. 

By the way, let's clarify something: just because people are not screaming bloody murder and the End of the World over this does not mean that they are in denial of what it can do to people in the high-risk zone.  It's not as black-and-white as people here on either side are portraying it.  You can be aware of the risk and at the same time still realize that COVID19 is FAR less lethal than historical diseases such as the Spanish Flu or the Black Plague.  You want to talk mortality rates? Check out the Black Plague, where one-third to one-half of the population of Europe died. Let that sink in for a little bit: ONE-THIRD to ONE-HALF. We are NOWHERE NEAR that level. Of course, anybody dying from a disease is tragic, and prevention should be undertaken as well as possible. But sometimes a little bit of perspective needs to be shed on the course of human history when things like this happen. 

I'm not worried about the majority of people dying from catching COVID19: the numbers prove otherwise.  But I DO have concern for people who are high-risk, some of whom I know personally. I have a mother and a mother-in-law who, though healthy, are both over 70.  I have a student with an immunodeficiency that needs to be kept clear of kids with a common cold, let alone this or any other respiratory disease. And even though I'm not in the high-risk category, I still don't like to get sick, and I'm going to be responsible and take the proper steps to avoid contamination.

It's interesting to note how much of the current state of society has been influenced by the way people are talking themselves into it. People fly to stores and raid toilet paper and canned goods. Why? Because they believe their own hype that there's no tomorrow.  And when a narrative is repeated over and over, regardless of whether it's true, mob mentality takes over, and people do things like that.  It's pretty sad, as we create our own crisis in part.

So, am I denying that this disease can be potentially lethal to some people? Absolutely not. People have died; I don't know anybody who has denied that. COVID19 can kill, just like the flu can kill (and btw, I don't take that as making light of it when they compare it to the flu. Death is death, folks). Heck, even the Chicken Pox is lethal to a percentage of people. That's why people should not go out, especially if they know they don't feel well (like a foolish worker did at a KFC in Davison, and ended up making 5 other people sick and shutting the store down for Q-tine). I don't want sick people around me or my family, and I'm not idiotic enough to deliberately put myself into a position to catch sickness, even if it's not fatal to me. I just hate being sick, and I don't want to potentially endanger loved ones and friends in the high-risk zone.

But I'm also not screaming that this is the end of the world either.  I'm not somebody who (unlike a few people I've seen here on this site) seems to be actively wanting to hear about more bad news and more dire situations. A few posters on this site act like they WANT to wallow in the direness of the bad situation. I've seen people here who come across as dismissive of ANYTHING smacking of potentially good news, as if they don't want any good news. Vaccines are being developed; but heaven forbid we get excited about that anytime soon, even though initial results seem to be promising. Tom Hanks, a 60-plus year old diabetic, and his wife recover: people brush it off as just an anomaly.  Sean Payton, 56, recovers, and smarmy comments about him being rich are thrown around (and I fail to see how that's relevant, since last I check money doesn't vaccinate somebody from a virus).  Or how about THIS and THIS, stories of two Veterans who kicked this virus's @ss, guys who shouldn't have lived according to the odds?  People are beating this virus, and beating it hard. Over 250,000 have recovered from it, and THAT number, just like the overall infection number, is ALSO increasing exponentially.  How come naysayers don't talk about THAT number? Or are those stats too "positive" and cramping the narrative of total world collapse?

I'm in the middle, not jumping to either side, and that's where I'm staying. I'm aware of this virus. I know it's nothing to brush off. But I also know that it will only become the be-all-end-all of humanity if people keep creating a self-fulfilling prophecy about it by talking down society.  COVID19 will run its course, and life will return to normal.  The only reason it won't will be because people don't want to return to normal (BTW, for those worried about a recurrence in September, did you know you can't get reinfected with it once you've had it? Or does that ruin your apocalypse as well?). 

This is my last word on the matter. I'm done talking about this disease. There is more to life than living in fear and trembling of a disease you can stave off with commonsense precautions. You deniers, keep denying.  You fear-mongers, keep watching CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC all day and all night (if you're honest, they all do the same thing, just done from different motivations).

My life does not revolve around a damn virus.