Even for five in the morning, I'm unusually muddled and somewhat disturbed, as I was always told that my grandfather died in the 1918 flu epidemic and so the term "pandemic" sets off all kinds of alarm bells for me. (Turned out to not be the case, it was TB a few years later, but still....)
I've been watching the extensive news coverage of the new virus running amok in China. From what I see, the virus is: 1) is novel (possibly jumping the species barrier from bats?), so humans have no immunity; highly contagious; can be transmitted via airborne contact or by touch; has a latency period of up to two weeks before symptoms, but typically pops up after about 3 days; and, is communicable before symptoms begin to show. It can range in severity from almost no symptoms to fatality. So far the fatality rate is running about 2%. (?)
I also understand that the face masks people are wearing are pretty much useless unless they are tightly-fitted and of a filtering density similar to that used by doctors in operating rooms. So the OTC ones from the local drug store are probably pretty useless, except to calm nerves. And you are supposed to only wear a mask once, then securely bin it. And that actually wearing the surgery-grade masks can only be for a relatively short period of time (not 24 hours a day), due to low-oxygen concerns. And that, as with all viruses, antibiotics are useless - they only fight bacterial illness. So, it's stay otherwise healthy and consider getting religion to avoid becoming a statistic. Or go live on a mountain top.
Last year in the USA the CDC estimates that influenza killed about half of the older (over 65) people who were hospitalized. The stats for 2017/18 are worse - unless I'm reading them wrong, it looks like almost everyone over 65 hospitalized died? (And 10% of those over 50?)
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html and
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2017-2018.htm (Surely I'm misreading these stats? Those numbers are ghastly.) I know there were news reports about waves of influenza on TV - there are every year - but nothing like the coverage this new virus is getting. Even with my penchant for thinking the news likes to sensationalize things to get viewers, countries airlifting diplomatic personnel out says that's not exactly the case here.
The Wuhan is appearing to be a particularly nasty bug. Has anyone seen which group is getting hit hardest? All I've seen is that the fatalities seem to be clustered in that group of people who already have health issues "that involved weakened immune systems, like hypertension, diabetes or cardiovascular disease." And that, so far, the mortality rate is an aggregate 2%, with about 25% of the cases becoming severe enough to require hospitalization for support. Is it pneumonia that's setting in that's killing people, or is it that immune-mediated lung inflammation thing that drowns you (as was the case in the 1918 epidemic)? While there is no "better" re: death like that, it's better overall if it's the former scenario (where there's a fighting chance to keep one alive) than the latter (where, aside from steroids, there pretty much isn't). Especially for those of us who have already had a go-round with over-active immune responses in the lungs.
So, to humor those who have a penchant for such things: plagues of locusts [check mark]; earthquakes [check mark]; famine [ditto]; war [yup]; and, now, pestilence. What we now need is a nice supernova to appear in the sky, to see all those types off with the "see, signs in the heavens!" schtick.
