Post by Zenrider on Mar 12, 2020 22:55:39 GMT
This sums up why we should both not panic, but also be concerned.
COVID-19, by Terry Mejdrich
A reader asked if the COVID-19 virus is more dangerous than the ‘common’ flu. Some at the highest government level have compared the deaths of both and concluded that since thousands of people die each year from complications of the flu, COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be as dangerous. Another question raised is why can’t doctors use the common flu vaccine to fight COVID-19?
Comparing COVID-19 to the ‘common’ flu is very misleading. There are three main types of flu that we deal with every year, and those can be further broken down into many different viruses. They infect perhaps 20% of the world’s population every year and complications may kill one in a thousand of those infected. Every year the World Health Organization (WHO), the CDC, and other international agencies closely monitor the new flu outbreak in Asia in an attempt to determine which strain or strains will be predominant that year. When they get a good reading on that, they swing into production mode for the flu shots. So there is some amount of guesswork involved in determining which virus to target, but they have good success in protecting people.
The comparison between COVID-19 and the common flu is flawed because COVID-19 is completely new with no past track record. Statistically complications of it have killed about three out of a hundred so it is many times more deadly than the common flu. Fatalities are low, so far, in number because it is just getting started. So COVID-19 is ‘potentially’ much more dangerous.
COVID-19 is a virus so why aren’t regular flu shots effective against it? As an analogy, think of viruses as trees. One can spray them with an herbicide (but don’t) and kill some while others are unaffected. That is because even though they are all trees, different varieties have different genetic differences that makes each unique. The same is true of viruses. Even for the common flu viruses we see every year, the flu vaccine must be tailor made specific to each one. At present there is no vaccine capable of providing protection against all viruses, though there is on going research in that direction.
A common misconception is that a flu shot weakens your immune system. It does not. In simple terms a flu vaccine teaches your body to recognize a flu virus as a threat if you are exposed to it. This is ‘protection ahead of time’. A person may still get the flu but since the body is ready for it, it should be of less severity.
The above explanation is why COVID-19 would be unaffected by any of the current flu vaccines. It is a different ‘tree’ and so would require completely new research and testing to develop a vaccine against it. Such work has already begun, but experts have said that a finished product is many months away.
Some viruses are relatively mild but are extremely contagious and infect millions of people. The common cold is a good example. Some are quite deadly but are hard to ‘catch’. The nightmare scenario for researchers and health professionals is that a mild virus that infects a lot of people will ‘mutate’ into a more deadly form. A mutation is a slight random change in the genetic programming of an organism. It happens frequently in all living species and is part of the driving force behind natural evolution. In a specific organism a mutation can be fatal, it may not affect it at all, or it may provide a slight survival benefit.
In the case of a disease-causing virus, a fast killing one would rapidly spread through the population infecting everyone it could, but then die out. That was the way the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 played out. It was greatly helped in its worldwide spread by the movement of soldiers that acted as carriers during and after WWI. COVID-19 appears to target people who already have weakened immune systems, particularly elderly people, but otherwise healthy people have died as well. What makes COVID-19 particularly dangerous is that many people with strong immune systems may not realize they have it at all. They may have very mild symptoms that they might attribute to the common cold. Yet they may be out and about in public, going to work, to church, or other public gatherings and unknowingly spreading the virus to others.
So be mindful of your surroundings while in public. Wash hands frequently and use a hand sanitizer. Cover your mouth when you cough. Most states now have confirmed cases of COVID-19 and Minnesota has confirmed cases in the Cities. Our mobile society creates a great ‘mixing machine’ where people travel and wonder far and wide and then return to home base. That characteristic makes this a dynamic culture but also can be our Achilles heal.
www.grandrapidsmn.com/opinion/columnists/terry-mejdrich/image_7682a740-5fce-11ea-8982-63fd2357d7da.html
COVID-19, by Terry Mejdrich
A reader asked if the COVID-19 virus is more dangerous than the ‘common’ flu. Some at the highest government level have compared the deaths of both and concluded that since thousands of people die each year from complications of the flu, COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be as dangerous. Another question raised is why can’t doctors use the common flu vaccine to fight COVID-19?
Comparing COVID-19 to the ‘common’ flu is very misleading. There are three main types of flu that we deal with every year, and those can be further broken down into many different viruses. They infect perhaps 20% of the world’s population every year and complications may kill one in a thousand of those infected. Every year the World Health Organization (WHO), the CDC, and other international agencies closely monitor the new flu outbreak in Asia in an attempt to determine which strain or strains will be predominant that year. When they get a good reading on that, they swing into production mode for the flu shots. So there is some amount of guesswork involved in determining which virus to target, but they have good success in protecting people.
The comparison between COVID-19 and the common flu is flawed because COVID-19 is completely new with no past track record. Statistically complications of it have killed about three out of a hundred so it is many times more deadly than the common flu. Fatalities are low, so far, in number because it is just getting started. So COVID-19 is ‘potentially’ much more dangerous.
COVID-19 is a virus so why aren’t regular flu shots effective against it? As an analogy, think of viruses as trees. One can spray them with an herbicide (but don’t) and kill some while others are unaffected. That is because even though they are all trees, different varieties have different genetic differences that makes each unique. The same is true of viruses. Even for the common flu viruses we see every year, the flu vaccine must be tailor made specific to each one. At present there is no vaccine capable of providing protection against all viruses, though there is on going research in that direction.
A common misconception is that a flu shot weakens your immune system. It does not. In simple terms a flu vaccine teaches your body to recognize a flu virus as a threat if you are exposed to it. This is ‘protection ahead of time’. A person may still get the flu but since the body is ready for it, it should be of less severity.
The above explanation is why COVID-19 would be unaffected by any of the current flu vaccines. It is a different ‘tree’ and so would require completely new research and testing to develop a vaccine against it. Such work has already begun, but experts have said that a finished product is many months away.
Some viruses are relatively mild but are extremely contagious and infect millions of people. The common cold is a good example. Some are quite deadly but are hard to ‘catch’. The nightmare scenario for researchers and health professionals is that a mild virus that infects a lot of people will ‘mutate’ into a more deadly form. A mutation is a slight random change in the genetic programming of an organism. It happens frequently in all living species and is part of the driving force behind natural evolution. In a specific organism a mutation can be fatal, it may not affect it at all, or it may provide a slight survival benefit.
In the case of a disease-causing virus, a fast killing one would rapidly spread through the population infecting everyone it could, but then die out. That was the way the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 played out. It was greatly helped in its worldwide spread by the movement of soldiers that acted as carriers during and after WWI. COVID-19 appears to target people who already have weakened immune systems, particularly elderly people, but otherwise healthy people have died as well. What makes COVID-19 particularly dangerous is that many people with strong immune systems may not realize they have it at all. They may have very mild symptoms that they might attribute to the common cold. Yet they may be out and about in public, going to work, to church, or other public gatherings and unknowingly spreading the virus to others.
So be mindful of your surroundings while in public. Wash hands frequently and use a hand sanitizer. Cover your mouth when you cough. Most states now have confirmed cases of COVID-19 and Minnesota has confirmed cases in the Cities. Our mobile society creates a great ‘mixing machine’ where people travel and wonder far and wide and then return to home base. That characteristic makes this a dynamic culture but also can be our Achilles heal.
www.grandrapidsmn.com/opinion/columnists/terry-mejdrich/image_7682a740-5fce-11ea-8982-63fd2357d7da.html
Even with the signs limiting the sale of hand sanitizer, none. Good thing is I have some, because if you had to use the kiosks at the rail yards you would to. 
I only bought one bottle each, as if I need more, I'd better get my ass to hospital!
