Just Wash Your Hands
Check out this map of a few of the first cases of Coronavirus in the United States
2020 just started and I think I can speak for most people and say that we should just cancel it. Just during the first couple of days of 2020, we (the United States) thought we were going to war with Iran and possibly starting World War III. Then, the world was made aware of the fact that almost the ENTIRE continent of Australia was on fire.
And last but definitely not least, at the tail end of January, there was the tragic death of NBA legend and humanitarian Kobe Bryant, his daughter Giana, and the seven others whose lives were taken from us too soon. In my opinion, even if a person didn’t watch the NBA or cared about Kobe, I think his death hit everybody hard because it really makes a person look at their own mortality and realize that, “If Kobe could die, then I can too.” But with all of these tragic events, NONE of them (in my opinion) outweigh the Pandemic that is not just affecting lives in South East Asia, but worldwide, called the Coronavirus, or COVID-19.
Just in about two short months after the outbreak in Wuhan, China, according to the Washington Post, as of Tuesday, February 2020, there are 77,658 confirmed cases with 2663 deaths. If you go from the first of January to when this article was written, that's an average of 1386 new cases a day, with an average of 47 deaths per day. This is about a 30% fatality rate, and while it doesn’t seem like a lot, but to put that into perspective, the bubonic (or black plague) killed about 30-60% of Europe's population. Furthermore, these are just the cases that have been confirmed and reported by China, who has a history of suppressing data to the public. The most recent (and infamous) example of this was when the Chinese government told the doctor who was trying to warn the public of the upcoming epidemic, but was instead met with death threats and told to keep quiet and stop spreading “False comments” and was punished by the police for “rumor mongering” just a mere weeks before the outbreak. I haven’t even mentioned the other countries that have been affected by the virus as well, South Korea having the most cases right after China with just having confirmed 144 new cases, bringing its total to 977.
For those of us in the U.S., if you think there is nothing to worry about, you are gravely mistaken. Two weeks ago, there were a total of 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (most of them in California), but just in the last few days, that number has increased by 460% (60 confirmed cases), as of February 27th, 2020. Just the day before (February 26th), in NY, it was revealed that there are 83 suspected cases of the virus in Nassau county. Mayor De Blasio said that they have over 1200 beds available to fight corona. 1200 beds in one of the most active cities (in terms of transportation) in a city with a population of over 8 million people...
According to health officials from the WHO (World Health Organization), the thing that will help people the MOST from catching the virus, is just from simply washing your hands!!! NOT from buy medical mask in a panic way to protect yourself, but from simply doing something that should already be doing.