Posted on 02/29/2020 8:15:18 AM PST by datura
More than a month after Hong Kong reacted to the coronavirus and closed its border to neighboring China, the overall damage of the virus is not nearly as severe as originally feared, and compared to the common flu, it is minuscule.
As reported yesterday:
News of the coronavirus reached Hong Kong and the world in early January. Hong Kong citizens were curious at first and then almost hyper-reactive. The Wuhan coronavirus was a big unknown and still is. Hong Kong did very little at first other than observe the actions of the Chinese government in Hubei in response to the newly discovered coronavirus.
By the end of January right before the Chinese New Year, the government of China took the unprecedented move and shut everything down in Hubei Province in China. Road blocks were erected and people were forced to stay home in Hubei Province. After the Monday and Tuesday holidays, all businesses were shut down in Hong Kong and throughout China.
Schools were closed until the end of February in Hong Kong and the following week businesses opened but with the option to work from home. Most companies followed the Hong Kong government’s practices with civil servants and kept their employees home. This has continued throughout the month of February and schools in Hong Kong next announced they would be closed till mid-March and then until April 20th.
Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas on earth with a population of around 8 million people. As of this morning there are 94 coronavirus cases confirmed and two deaths in Hong Kong. The percent of confirmed cases to total population is minuscule at 0.001%. Deaths as a percent of the population are thus far at 2 deaths in 8 million.
China has a population of around 1.4 billion. The number of coronavirus confirmed cases stands at 79,251 with around 2,700 confirmed deaths. The percent of confirmed cases to the population is also minuscule at 0.0056%. Deaths as a percent of the population are basically nil. These numbers are based on reported cases which may or may not be accurate.
The US has reported 64 confirmed cases to date of the coronavirus and no fatalities. With 350 million Americans the number of confirmed cases is also at amounts almost nil with no deaths.
Since the beginning of the year the flu in Hong Kong has been much more consequential than the coronavirus:
The Centre for Health Protection announced today that the winter flu season has ended. During this period, 113 adults died of influenza and no deaths from children were recorded. The Centre reminds the public that although the winter flu peak period has ended, citizens should continue to maintain personal and environmental hygiene to prevent respiratory diseases.
So far, the new coronavirus, dubbed COVID-19, has led to more than 75,000 illnesses and 2,000 deaths, primarily in mainland China. But that’s nothing compared with the flu, also called influenza. In the U.S. alone, the flu has already caused an estimated 26 million illnesses, 250,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Of course, the MSM will continue to parrot Democrat talking points that the coronavirus is the worst crisis since World War II. The data simply doesn’t show this and to date the common flu is much, much more deadly.
I know this disease is horrible if you catch it, and I pray the number of cases remains small (it will), and that those who do catch it recover.
The US is not China or Europe. Six months from now we will look at the numbers and investigate who started this bullshit. Soros, the Chinese, or the Deep State? Wait, they are all the same.
Last year in the US 80,000 died of the flu.
The hype over this is ridiculous!
Sucks if you get it but it sucks to be hit by lightning too!
A virus is a virus is a virus. Do what you should have been doing right along. Wash your hands. Wipe your counters with a disinfectant. And if you’re sick...stay home.
I think the people of China are more vulnerable because of a couple of decades of exposure to air pollution from coal-fired power plants and the fact many Chinese are notorious heavy smokers of cigarettes.
Very true. Most people there have compromised lungs from those things, plus bad hygiene habits. No one covers their mouth when they cough or sneeze there - helping spread any virus.
In before getting again causes a heart attack.
In before the R0 numbers that never came true.
In before "the exponential" spreadsheet posting.
What is the R0 number by the way?
Eating (sick)dogs and bats doesn’t help.
[I think the people of China are more vulnerable because of a couple of decades of exposure to air pollution from coal-fired power plants and the fact many Chinese are notorious heavy smokers of cigarettes.]
China and their eating habits need to be quarantined from the world.
Thanks for posting this.
Put on your flak jacket and helmet.
As diseases go, this one is a wimp compared to other recent ones. Also consider Ebola, sars, etcc., were all news items in political election years.
Let’s break those numbers of flu patients down between Americans and illegal aliens.
Great news! Homeland Virus cops are coming to lock you and your family up!
It is amazing how many so called conservatives want the Feds to take over our lives due to this so called emergency.
That type of bs is how we ended up with Homeland Security and TSA. They make air travel miserable 24/7, and probably have eliminated zero air tragedies.
If you want Homeland Virus or whatever to be able to quarantine you and your family:
You are an idiot and not a conservative.
Then, to Mass Quarantinofornias !!!.. Sanctuary States in rapid decline!!!.. Norm’s Revenge
Ebola was much scarier. Your intestines liquify and you bleed to death internally
also SARS “recovered” patients had all sorts of problems:
“Schools were closed until the end of February in Hong Kong”
But it’s just the flu!
The hysteria was here well before the mainstream jumped on the hysteria bandwagon.
I don't accept the truthfulness/accuracy of anything coming out of China (and yes,despite what some might claim,Hong Kong is *absolutely* part of China).
The only figures I'd be inclined to believe are those coming from Japan,South Korea,the EU countries and the United States.
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