I don't get it.

Ok, so a lot of threads have touched on this but there are no definitive answers and I don't expect there to be but I want to get to the bottom of this.
COVID-19 is supposedly a "cough and a fever" for an extremely high percentage of victims. Only the old, previously sick, smokers, diabetics, etc seem to be taking a real hit.

H1N1 was a right nasty beast and nothing was shutting down, I actually went on a Disney World vacation with my family during that time. It killed quite a few IIRC.

What I don't understand is why the entire world is shutting down over this seemingly innocuous virus (compared to H1N1 for example).
I am aware that:
It spreads extremely rapidly.
The fact that it has a LOW fatality rate helps it spread more and eventually kill more people.
The symptoms are extremely varied and it seems to be a slot machine pull as to what you get if you're infected.
It has a long incubation period and asymptomatic spread is rampant.

But why is it so fricken bad that the whole world is pausing for it? Bars and restaurants closing statewide in several states. Concerts, etc, everything stopping.

Why is this one so much worse than the rest? What makes it SO SO bad that the whole planet is going to sleep over it (OR SO the media, gov't, etc says)?

Let's be realistic here. I'm not looking for NWO conspiracy theories or whatever. I want to know what other ATSers feel about it. Media hype? Political weapon? Worse virus behind it than what's already spreading? What?

I don't know if this belongs in the rant room or not but I don't think it's quite a rant, more of a frustrated question. What is so bad about the virus?

Because if the serious case number explodes at once and overwhelms the system... People will start dying from simple things like compound fractures and bacterial infections simply due to the lack of medical space and caregivers...

a reply to: Crosswinds

Because no one wants to be Wuhan or Italy where the case numbers exploded so rapidly that the hospitals couldn't properly care for the sick, so people died who maybe didn't need to.

It's an attempt to slow the rate of infection down enough that our hospitals never get overwhelmed so that everyone who needs care can have it.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Crosswinds

Because no one wants to be Wuhan or Italy where the case numbers exploded so rapidly that the hospitals couldn't properly care for the sick, so people died who maybe didn't need to.

It's an attempt to slow the rate of infection down enough that our hospitals never get overwhelmed so that everyone who needs care can have it.

Just wondering why it wasn't like that with H1N1.

Is is simply the fact that it spreads SO rapidly? That's basically all?
Extremely rapid spread coupled with a high percentage of hospital-requiring cases?

They talk about death rate but what is the hospitalization rate?

a reply to: Crosswinds

The thing a lot of people are mistaking about this virus is that the danger isn’t in its mortality rate, it’s in the incubation period. People tend to think that things like Ebola and Cholera are the big scary diseases, but the reality is that they’re terribly inefficient.

They kill the host before it has a chance to spread. A virus with a high mortality rate isn’t as dangerous as one with a lower mortality rate and a longer incubation period. Because it’s able to be spread for a week or longer by a person before they know they have it. Which leads to a larger number of people being infected therefore more deaths and hospitalizations overall. And at the rate this spreads it has the ability to shut down healthcare services in this country the same as it has in Italy.

Even if it isn’t outright fatal, a lot of people will need lifesaving care that will be impossible to get once hospitals are swamped. And that doesn’t end at the people who catch this virus. That goes for people in car accidents or any situation that requires treatment at a hospital. We’re potentially looking at a complete shutdown of healthcare in this country if it gets out of control. For everybody.

a reply to: YouAreLiedTo

why is this so hard for people to understand?!? the health care system will crumble....

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Crosswinds

Because no one wants to be Wuhan or Italy where the case numbers exploded so rapidly that the hospitals couldn't properly care for the sick, so people died who maybe didn't need to.

It's an attempt to slow the rate of infection down enough that our hospitals never get overwhelmed so that everyone who needs care can have it.

Hate to use a meme, but it's true. What we've been saying.

originally posted by: dainfamusgc
a reply to: YouAreLiedTo

why is this so hard for people to understand?!? the health care system will crumble....

Why is this so hard for people to understand — our economy just crumbled in the process.

What’s worse?

originally posted by: YouAreLiedTo
Because if the serious case number explodes at once and overwhelms the system... People will start dying from simple things like compound fractures and bacterial infections simply due to the lack of medical space and caregivers...

Quoted for Truth.

You said it much better than I could have.

Why can't people understand it?

Here stems a whole new (or reworded) question.
I think, now don't quote me, that the hospitalization rate is 10%. I read that on some news site somewhere.
If the main threat is a shutdown of the healthcare system, basically this thing is just an angry common cold.

In perspective, if we took a "normal" cold and made it somehow as extremely contagious as C19, would it cause the same reaction?

From my understanding the only thing that makes this bug "bad" is how fast it spreads due to its newness. Is that correct?

originally posted by: KKLOCO

originally posted by: dainfamusgc
a reply to: YouAreLiedTo

why is this so hard for people to understand?!? the health care system will crumble....

Why is this so hard for people to understand — our economy just crumbled in the process.

What’s worse?

It actually didn't.

This isn't something like a war, where infrastructure is now gone and the population has been greatly diminished.

This is a temporary hold, then people go back to work in the same buildings doing the same jobs.

The economy will be just fine.

Although next week will be a good time to buy on the dip...

a reply to: Lumenari

Because people do not like change and must blame the change on other things. Instead of accepting facts they look at the facts with rose tinted glasses, hue the facts into some form falsehood denying it, then find people denying it as well like them. I truly believe to an extent it’s a personality trait, they are wired mentally that way. I am actually tired of explaining what pandemics mean. You are lied To explained it best. H1n1 was not as contagious and the crude fatality rate was not as bad either. China, could not contain the spread, as a matter a fact they purposely ignored warnings from dr’s as a result the world is dealing with a pandemic. Their are allot of articles talking about China in January of 2020. Who knows maybe it was retaliation to the trade war 🤷‍♂️. I just had to throw that in there. 🙋‍♂️

And one more question to add to my OP thoughts:
What happens if it DOESN'T go away for quite some time? Say, the vaccine takes a long time, etc.
How will the healthcare systems globally deal with it?

There are a lot of what ifs and hows. It seems this virus has far greater implications than its actual physical effects indeed.

originally posted by: YouAreLiedTo
Because if the serious case number explodes at once and overwhelms the system... People will start dying from simple things like compound fractures and bacterial infections simply due to the lack of medical space and caregivers...

But how is it different from H1N1?

Hospitals weren't over run, but thousands did die... More than 1,000 died of H1N1 in the US before Obama did anything official. We've had 50 deaths related to Wu-Tang flu and now everyone thinks the SHTF.

This is what is not making sense. SARs, nor h1n1 overwhelmed our system.... so why will Wu Flu?

a reply to: Bicent

Who knows maybe it was retaliation to the trade war 🤷‍♂️.

And there we are... the logical explanation.

a reply to: Crosswinds

It's likely a variety of things all thrown together, We now have even more access to the daily lives all over the world, so every decision is scrutinized discussed and ultimately criticized by somebody. I still believe had this happened in the 70"s we wouldn't even have known about Chinas outbreak, and here in the US we would have continued on till the summer when the news would report that was a bad flu season and we would have moved on. Now every particle of information is dissected the world saw what was happening in China and the CCP couldn't just bury it, but we were able to watch it creep from country to country in real-time.

Along with its human nature to make things seem worse than they are, and everybody can instantly spread their thoughts to hundreds if not thousands of people. Throw in a media that will say anything for ratings and nothing has ratings better than death and destruction. Add a politically, economically divided country where there is always a vocal opposition 24/7.All the while we trust our government leaders less than we ever have, rightfully so BTW. As well as most take in information in 20 second sound bites that has no substance without researching or questioning the validity. With a pinch of most live paycheck to paycheck forget the health scare the economic realities are scary enough. It other words a lot of people without good coping skills are dealing with a lot of chit. Which is ultimately blamed on my boomer generation.

Its truly the butterfly effect it all snowballs as the meme above so eloquently put.

a reply to: Crosswinds

Because it's a completely new strain to us humans. No one in the population has any resistance or immunity to it (except the very few who will always exist who are naturally immune), so it can easily find new people to infect. With our regular strains of corona virus, rhinovirus, and influenza, they're just mutated strains of past infections. There are plenty of people in the populations who have varying degrees of immunity and resistance to being infected by them.

So the virus has to "look" a little bit to find new hosts to infect where this new strain just jumps easily from person to person without running into people it cannot infect. That's why it spreads to easily.

a reply to: Edumakated

Great flippin question I'm really not seeing an answer for.

a reply to: Edumakated

Because China did not contain the epidemic. It’s also very contagious, google Italy corona virus, or iran that what happens when it over runs your healthcare system. Ya know they are just reporting corona fatalities but of course people are not getting fatalities from other illnesses or other health cases being effected by an overwhelmed healthcare system in these negatively effected regions. Wonder how many people passed away needing emergency care not related to corona in wuhan during the height of that pandemic., when all the beds were being taken by corona patients. I am sure those facts will never come to light. Maybe we will see lawsuits if it comes to that in the states years from now or a documentary if it gets that bad. That’s what is bad about pandemics.