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That makes an assumpton that a radiologist was even used or needed. How many people don't have insurance and don't even go to the doctor uness they are near death? A LOT! Distinct, yes, but we have been told (by CDC etc.) the majority, especially younger may have minor to moderate symptoms and not know they have it. In additon, if outbreaks have occurred in various pockets of contagion flow and in those pockets there are not a sizeable amount of immuno-compromised or elderly w/compromised then the stats are going to be way different than in an area, with say, a lot of "snowbirds" which Washington State is most definitely a snowbird haven, as an example. An area with very few elderly, much less those, with compromised immune systems, would not show a high mortality rate.
And since there was no testing even available for Covid-19 how could they have known what caused a presumed flu death when they did occurr? Not only that but look at the difficulty poeple have had who felt they needed the test but would not be tested unless admitted to a hospital? (i.e. Goldman and his wife)
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Doing these diagnostics is one of the reasons we pay doctors and pay them so much. Im not so sure it absolutely takes the medical training to distinguish this Wuhan coronavirus from the varieties regular flu, but it at least takes a lot of confirmed examples to do it the rote way. Members of the populace at large dont get that experience. Not a lot of doctors/RNs/Practitioners/midwives have it in this case.
First of all, see above answer. In addition, no one was expecting it. So who would look for it? Until very recently,there are a lot of radiologists who may want to go back and re examine some cases that they may recall some anomoly that they didn't think much of at the time. Its a busy business. I will have to assume you must understand radiology to some degree for you to make that statement. The average person would not know that much info. But unless you confess to be a radiology expert of sorts, how could you know this?
When asked if you have been out of the country in the last 30 days... that is not a solid indicator. What if you say no because it was 35 days but dont further elaborate? Intake RNs are simply asking required questions. If you say, "no" its the end of the discussion. If you say "yes", but it was 40 days ago and offer to explain, you will get shooed away as wasting their time, when they could have, for future sake of any possibility, especially knowing that there IS the possibility of a deadly virus, chart the answer, in case it needed to be referenced in the future for tracing purposes.
A lot of healthcare people are understaffed and dead tired at the end of 12 hour shifts which often turn into 14 or 16 hour shifts with no f---ing break. So, if you live in some ideal world where everthing works like the textbook, then sure, have it your way. But that is not reality. And how long does the average doctor stay in the room with the patient? Oh, I can tell you, in many cases it is for less than 3 minutes.
I could go on... And add to that that a lot of docs are complete arrogant a-holes who always think they know more than they do (and they criticize nurses for doing the same?? LOL)
But one point being, I have seen in my household before - flu pass person to person over a period of 45 days with 2 to 17 day increments between infection symptoms. Identifiably the same flu, in case you suggest it is/was different.
Remember the original infection patient 0 date when the travel ban was issued was NOT a Nov. date. That makes a huge difference from a Dec date. Why is no one talking about that except here? Explain.
If as many as a thousand people had it in Wuhan, even then, the chance of anyone with it was on a plane to the US was pretty small - and thats a bit more than a few days to get to the thousand even there.
Again, the original preusmption was a Dec date. Even the Nov date is not a solid as the JPost article states. As my point above about going undetected until it hits the right vulnerable community - it could have lasted months, with few deaths that would have been written off as simple normal flu deaths before notice was taken of a higher mortality rate. As for the chance you mention.
One sneeze in a crowded airport is all it takes to disperse. One sneeze with droplets in the air for 3 hours could potentially infect how many people? Isn't that what we were taught?
Yes, there are a lot of people sharing their experience and that is a good thing. Most don't have a key indicators. My example did , and I can trace it pretty far back. Why would you take so much time to address every single post and poo poo any possibility of any type of pockets of immunity. Why is that important to you? No one, not even Adam Housley is suggesting letting down our guard. But toilet paper panic?? Ludicrous! His twitter feed is long and it is very obvious he is clear headed and cautious, but he is being attacked left and right. Sad.
The greatest experiment in immunology could occurr with all the money that is being used. 8 billion! Large nationwide serological testing could be done to test for immunity. This would alleviate panic. Why does anyone want panic? I can only think of ONE reason. Well, maybe more than one.
OTOH, that all/winter flu outbreak was widespread enough that research hospitals would have seen the x-rays and CAT scans, and the COVID pattern is distinctive enough that even normal radiologists would have begun picking up on it.