The Politics of Disease and Coronavirus

I do have limited training in public health since I spent over a decade as a medic. Mind you, it hardly makes me an expert. It provides me with enough knowledge to detect unnecessary fear when I watch media coverage. It also makes me follow the experts. These would be the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control.

At this point, both expect a global pandemic with COVID-19. This is hardly a recipe for panic, though that is happening. Why? Partly this is a new virus that crossed from animals to humans. It is a zoonotic virus, and these happen from time to time. However, it is far less deadly than either SARS or MERS. It is also less lethal than the common flu.

In fact, it has some similarities as well:

Symptoms

* Both cause fever, cough, body aches, fatigue; sometimes vomiting and diarrhea.

* Can be mild or severe, even fatal in rare cases.

* Can result in pneumonia.

Transmission

* Both can be spread from person to person through droplets in the air from an infected person coughing, sneezing or talking.

* A possible difference: COVID-19 might be spread through the airborne route (see details below under Differences).

* Flu can be spread by an infected person for several days before their symptoms appear, and COVID-19 is believed to be spread in the same manner, but we don’t yet know for sure.