3/5/20 The Virus?

    My mom asked me about my opinion about this coronavirus and I honestly have not bothered reading or getting excited about it.  I think a lot of it is the media needing something to talk about, so they go overboard and scare people needlessly.  Remember Swine Flu?  Avian Flu? smallpox?  SARS? Anthrax?  At one time or another, one of these was surely going to be an outbreak and we were all going to suffer or die, yet as soon as the summer rolled around and the news agencies got new stories to talk about, you know the Kardashians went to the beach or whatever stupid shit they cover nowadays, everyone forgets the thing that was going to kill us.
    In reality, the common flu still has the most kills, it is a silent killer and takes out the most people, usually very young or very old.  This sucks because basically taking it easy and resting and staying hydrated can get you over the worst of it, many people still refuse to take it seriously.
    It is being reported just today, that Covid-19 has about a 3.4% death rate, while the flu is below 1%.  The flu affects a lot more people, so even with a less than 1% chance of dying, it will still kill more.  I think the number, 3.4% is larger in part because the virus has mostly been doing its work in China and the government kind of gets in the way of people reaching out to the medical resources.  As much as people bitch and moan about the quality of care here, I think we will do better with the spread of this nasty disease.  I have faith in the ability of our doctors and nurses to keep people alive and strong enough to give us the time to heal and get stronger.
Another article states the mortality rate at around 2%, but even this being high, the most susceptible people to die are the very young and the very old, who both can struggle to properly care for themselves.  In the majority of people, it will present like the flu with an upper respiratory infection for a couple of days.  Some rest and liquids should keep most people healthy enough to survive.
    My wife and my mom think it a good idea to corral supplies at home, but to what end?  Wife was telling me to go buy bags of beans and rice and as much water as I can carry.  That sounds pretty stupid, this isn't WWIII, even if my conspiracist brother wants to believe it.  Shit, even when we had warnings of mad cow, we never stopped eating cows, we just shrugged and carried on.  That is what we do, we shrug partly because we're too dumb, we know it's never that bad, and if we wait long enough, something else will come along for us to worry about.