The federal government’s top infectious disease expert told lawmakers Wednesday that the novel coronavirus spreading across the globe is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.
“I mean people always say, ‘Well, the flu does this, the flu does that,’” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said Wednesday during a hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
“The flu has a mortality rate of 0.1 percent. This has a mortality rate of 10 times that. That’s the reason I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game in preventing this,” he added.
Fauci warned that the outbreak in the U.S. is going to get worse before it gets better and said the U.S. must act quickly to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
He said how much worse it gets depends on the country’s ability to contain the influx of infected people coming to the U.S. from other countries, as well as the ability to contain and mitigate the virus domestically.
“Bottom line: It’s going to get worse,” Fauci said. “If we don’t do very serious mitigation now, what’s going to happen is we’re going to be weeks behind,” in containing the spread of the virus.
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7 Responses
That means a death rate of 1% and thats a lot lower then they thought before that it had a death rate of 3%.
1. Without information on those who are infected but don’t get sick (apparently a great many), it is impossible to state the death rate. What they have is the number of people who are sick enough to need medical assistance, and the percentage of those who die.
2. Compared to infamous plagues in the best, this is trivial. It is hardly the end of life as we know it.
Akuperma, tell that to senior citizens and people with preexisting conditions who are most at risk.
To akuperma: Who said coronavirus was the end of life as we know it? It is a serious problem, but not the end of the world. People are going to die because of this. And if it is you or a loved one, it’s a serious personal tragedy.
Putting things into perspective, even with the figures available to the general public, there is a 97% chance of not dying from this virus for the average person. However, based on what the medical professionals state, the ones most at risk of dying from this virus are elderly and those with medical conditions or weak immune systems. If so, then for your average person on the street there is even a higher percent chance of not dying from this virus then the present statistic of 97% chance. The problem is that, to my knowledge, no-one has published information on those victims that died from this virus. No-one knows how many of those were healthy individuals prior to being infected. From the one source I saw done in China, it seems that the majority of those that died were already unhealthy to begin with prior to catching the corona virus.
My point being that the hysteria is beyond realistic. Of course, those that are either sick, weak, elderly or have medical conditions should take extra precautions and the rest of us should be sensitive to the dangers to them (I.E. greater caution around them so as not to infect them and also try to help them by taking care of their needs such as purchasing food and supplies for them while they remain at home). For the rest of us, don’t panic if you get infected. Just stay at home and treat it the way you would the flu; plenty to drink and a lot of rest (unless you, G-d forbid, experiences respiratory issues).
huju end of life as we know it does not me the end of the world. it means that a lot of things are going to be different. and yes if you lose a loved one, especially at a young age it changes the world how you know it. so dont belittle the value of life.
ghffhhh the rates have changed since then!!! it could be becuase in china they dont have good treatment since the goverment dont care if people die there was a higher rate then in other countrys