berchman Loc: South Central PA

(Copied)

"Chicken pox is a virus. Lots of people have had it, and probably don't think about it much once the initial illness has passed. But it stays in your body and lives there forever, and maybe when you're older, you have debilitatingly painful outbreaks of shingles. You don't just get over this virus in a few weeks, never to have another health effect. We know this because it's been around for years, and has been studied medically for years.
Herpes is also a virus. And once someone has it, it stays in your body and lives there forever, and anytime they get a little run down or stressed-out they're going to have an outbreak. Maybe every time you have a big event coming up (school pictures, job interview, big date) you're going to get a cold sore. For the rest of your life. You don't just get over it in a few weeks. We know this because it's been around for years, and been studied medically for years.
HIV is a virus. It attacks the immune system, and makes the carrier far more vulnerable to other illnesses. It has a list of symptoms and negative health impacts that goes on and on. It was decades before viable treatments were developed that allowed people to live with a reasonable quality of life. Once you have it, it lives in your body forever and there is no cure. Over time, that takes a toll on the body, putting people living with HIV at greater risk for health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes, bone disease, liver disease, cognitive disorders, and some types of cancer. We know this because it has been around for years, and had been studied medically for years.
Now with COVID-19, we have a novel virus that spreads rapidly and easily. The full spectrum of symptoms and health effects is only just beginning to be cataloged, much less understood.
So far the symptoms may include:
Fever
Fatigue
Coughing
Pneumonia
Chills/Trembling
Acute respiratory distress
Lung damage (potentially permanent)
Loss of taste (a neurological symptom)
Sore throat
Headaches
Difficulty breathing
Mental confusion
Diarrhea
Nausea or vomiting
Loss of appetite
Strokes have also been reported in some people who have COVID-19 (even in the relatively young)
Swollen eyes
Blood clots
Seizures
Liver damage
Kidney damage
Rash
COVID toes (weird, right?)
People testing positive for COVID-19 have been documented to be sick even after 60 days. Many people are sick for weeks, get better, and then experience a rapid and sudden flare up and get sick all over again. A man in Seattle was hospitalized for 62 days, and while well enough to be released, still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Not to mention a $1.1 million medical bill.
Then there is MIS-C. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired. While rare, it has caused deaths.
This disease has not been around for years. It has basically been 6 months. No one knows yet the long-term health effects, or how it may present itself years down the road for people who have been exposed. We literally *do not know* what we do not know.
For those in our society who suggest that people being cautious are cowards, for people who refuse to take even the simplest of precautions to protect themselves and those around them, I want to ask, without hyperbole and in all sincerity:
How dare you?
How dare you risk the lives of others so cavalierly. How dare you decide for others that they should welcome exposure as "getting it over with", when literally no one knows who will be the lucky "mild symptoms" case, and who may fall ill and die. Because while we know that some people are more susceptible to suffering a more serious case, we also know that 20 and 30 year olds have died, marathon runners and fitness nuts have died, children and infants have died.
How dare you behave as though you know more than medical experts, when those same experts acknowledge that there is so much we don't yet know, but with what we DO know, are smart enough to be scared of how easily this is spread, and recommend baseline precautions such as:
Frequent hand-washing
Physical distancing
Reduced social/public contact or interaction
Mask wearing
Covering your cough or sneeze
Avoiding touching your face
Sanitizing frequently touched surfaces
The more things we can all do to mitigate our risk of exposure, the better off we all are, in my opinion. Not only does it flatten the curve and allow health care providers to maintain levels of service that aren't immediately and catastrophically overwhelmed; it also reduces unnecessary suffering and deaths, and buys time for the scientific community to study the virus in order to come to a more full understanding of the breadth of its impacts in both the short and long term.
I reject the notion that it's "just a virus" and we'll all get it eventually. What a careless, lazy, heartless stance."

rplain1 Loc: Dayton, Oh.

If you want to get a point across to people, try not insulting your readers in the title.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

This seemed to overlook one disturbing aspect. Hospitals are getting money for each Covid 19 diagnosis, more money for hospitalization, more money for each procedure. It seems to make sense that diagnosis are up.

Just google are hospitals getting paid for diagnosing covid 19

Do you think that fact might skew the curve a bit?

Another disturbing aspect is your cell phone is spying on you. Yup, some time in the near past, an app was installed on your phone which can track your movement. It's blatantly called Covid 19.
--Bob

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

And that is a fact.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

If it is an issue to you then stay in your basement.
Did you stay home every time the flu or other virus you mentioned flared up?
Did you wear a mask every time?
Those getting sick now I saw on the news are still only the fat, diabetic, old with weak immune systems or some other severe problem and they are barely alive anyway.
Why are these people out in public anyway?
I see more geezers at Walmart and about at all other venues than any other demographic.
What the hell are they doing out on the street, stay home in your basement.
If you are fat, diabetic or otherwise in ill health STAY HOME IN YOUR BASEMENT and t]let the rest of us have normal lives.
Why should your sick ass dictate to a majority of Americans how to suffer.
Yes we might catch the Chinese flu and then we will recover just like any other flu.
I have many friends who had it, got a runny nose and then it was gone. DID NOT DIE.

gsmith051 Loc: Fairfield Glade, TN

I sure hope they are getting paid. You think their service should be free? We have had several hospitals close.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

Got your point but, scanned most of it, too long but thanks

gsmith051 Loc: Fairfield Glade, TN

You left out Polio which came back as post polio syndrome.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

George, nowhere in my post did I even suggest that hospitals should not get paid. You missed the point.
--Bob

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

There are always outliers.
--Bob

berchman Loc: South Central PA

Some people are not into playing Russian roulette. I guess they are the "cowards" hiding in their basement.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I'm not into playing Russian roulette either. I'm thinking more along the lines of sheep hiding basements.
--Bob

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

The OP laid it out straight. The opponents have nothing but their imaginations for support, especially the inference that hospitals report COVID because they get more money for that. Of course they get money specifically to fight the pandemic. It’s victims can push out other needed health care services when the hospitalizations reach the crisis level as they are doing in some states right now. Our privatized medical system is geared to serve a predictable number of intakes. COVID has destroyed that business model. Hospitals can’t do things like knee replacements and they sure as hell cant say that COVID caused the knee to fail so they can get more money. Now you deniers out there can have fun with my opinions and observations.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

You just said "old with weak immune systems or some other severe problem and they are barely alive anyway"
I just dare not say to you what I would like to. Just remember - probably more than half our members are "old with weak immune systems" I think the title of this topic was appropriately addressed to you if no-one else.