This is a plea to heed government warnings and play it safe. Many of us here are considered "high risk". At least one of my wife's coworkers has been infected, I've read the one of our forum members family has been infected and isn't expected to survive and I'm sure other forum members have contracted the virus. Fortunately, my wife has been able to work from home for for the past 3 weeks. Those of you who can isolate yourselves and avoid possible exposure, please do so. Hospitals in much of the country are near capacity, medical supplies are low and the situation will likely get worse, before it gets better. Many of our members work in law enforcement, the medical industry, are firefighters, EMT's or have jobs crucial to our infrastructure and don't have that luxury.
My sincere respect and thanks goes out to those of you who still must work to maintain law and order, save lives/property and keep our heat, water and lights on. May God bless you and keep you safe.
It's been said that "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it". The coronavirus that we're facing today is unprecedented in our lifetimes, but a similar pandemic ravaged the world about 100 years ago. Troop movement and ignorance helped spread the virus.
In the final stages of WWI, the pandemic of 1918 (Spanish Flu - H1N1 strain) killed between 50 and 100 million people. That's between 2X and 4X the number of military and civilian deaths from the "War to end all wars". It's estimated that 500 million people were infected worldwide (1/3 of the population). India suffered about 18 million deaths and lost 6% of their people. About 675,000 Americans died from it. It took almost 2 years for the virus to run its course.
Those are sobering numbers. Different parts of the US dealt with the problem in different ways and had radically different result.
Saint Louis respond quickly. Early on, the mayor closed schools, libraries, court houses, churches and playgrounds, limited the number of passengers on streetcars and had businesses stagger shifts to minimize exposure. People were ordered to stay at home. The death rate in St, Louis was 358 per 100,000 people.
Philadelphia downplayed the threat at first and was slow to respond. They even hosted a Liberty Parade to promote war bonds. An estimated 200,000 people attended. Their death rate was 748 per 100,000 people. At its peak, the death rate was 8X higher than in St. Louis.
Workers digging mass graves in Philadelphia
Photo from Historical Medical Library - Philadelphia College of Physicians
Flu vaccines and antibiotics to fight secondary bacterial infections didn't exist in 1918 and health care wasn't as sophisticated. Communication wasn't as advanced. Unfortunately, the flu vaccine won't protect you from the coronavirus. The pneumonia vaccine won't protect you from COVID-19 related pneumonia. We don't have a natural immunity to this virus and no vaccine exists at this time.
Please, take this threat seriously. Stay put whenever possible. Don't allow non-residents into your home. It's really just a minor inconvenience in today's world. You can have goods delivered and deal with the packages prudently, to minimize chances of exposure. You have TV and radio for entertainment. You have the phone and the internet to keep in touch with the outside world. We will get through this. I'm sure your family and friends want to keep you around and the forum community would hate to lose you! I'm also sure the vast majority of us would be devastated if our actions unnecessarily resulted in the death of others.
As usual, we won't be discussing politics, race or religion.
My sincere respect and thanks goes out to those of you who still must work to maintain law and order, save lives/property and keep our heat, water and lights on. May God bless you and keep you safe.
It's been said that "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it". The coronavirus that we're facing today is unprecedented in our lifetimes, but a similar pandemic ravaged the world about 100 years ago. Troop movement and ignorance helped spread the virus.
In the final stages of WWI, the pandemic of 1918 (Spanish Flu - H1N1 strain) killed between 50 and 100 million people. That's between 2X and 4X the number of military and civilian deaths from the "War to end all wars". It's estimated that 500 million people were infected worldwide (1/3 of the population). India suffered about 18 million deaths and lost 6% of their people. About 675,000 Americans died from it. It took almost 2 years for the virus to run its course.
Those are sobering numbers. Different parts of the US dealt with the problem in different ways and had radically different result.
Saint Louis respond quickly. Early on, the mayor closed schools, libraries, court houses, churches and playgrounds, limited the number of passengers on streetcars and had businesses stagger shifts to minimize exposure. People were ordered to stay at home. The death rate in St, Louis was 358 per 100,000 people.
Philadelphia downplayed the threat at first and was slow to respond. They even hosted a Liberty Parade to promote war bonds. An estimated 200,000 people attended. Their death rate was 748 per 100,000 people. At its peak, the death rate was 8X higher than in St. Louis.
Workers digging mass graves in Philadelphia
Photo from Historical Medical Library - Philadelphia College of Physicians
Flu vaccines and antibiotics to fight secondary bacterial infections didn't exist in 1918 and health care wasn't as sophisticated. Communication wasn't as advanced. Unfortunately, the flu vaccine won't protect you from the coronavirus. The pneumonia vaccine won't protect you from COVID-19 related pneumonia. We don't have a natural immunity to this virus and no vaccine exists at this time.
Please, take this threat seriously. Stay put whenever possible. Don't allow non-residents into your home. It's really just a minor inconvenience in today's world. You can have goods delivered and deal with the packages prudently, to minimize chances of exposure. You have TV and radio for entertainment. You have the phone and the internet to keep in touch with the outside world. We will get through this. I'm sure your family and friends want to keep you around and the forum community would hate to lose you! I'm also sure the vast majority of us would be devastated if our actions unnecessarily resulted in the death of others.
As usual, we won't be discussing politics, race or religion.
