PANDEMIC
300,000 is Not Just a Random Number — It’s Deaths from COVID-19
This coronavirus is not a joke
Imagine all the people in the crowd above dead.
Looks to be at least 1500 people.
Now multiply that by 200.
That would be about 300 HUNDRED THOUSAND people — DEAD.
Sobering isn’t it.
That’s how many people have died from coronavirus/COVID-19 — so far, in the United States (as of the time I’m writing this story).
And even more, people will have died by the time this gets published.
Multiply the 300,000 by 5.5 and you get the number of calculated deaths so far worldwide— over 1.6 MILLION (as of the time of this writing).
People. Dead.
Each number represents the life of someone that has ended due to COVID-19.
Just numbers?
It’s easy to just see the numbers on the TV or computer screen and not feel the full magnitude of the reality of it all, especially if none of your loved ones have died from this virus.
And it’s easy to dismiss the numbers. It’s easy to be complacent, nonchalant, oblivious, in denial, or dismissive when you don’t actually see the people dropping dead.
We’ve all done it.
But the reality is that every one of the numbers represents a person, someone’s loved one.
Currently 300,000 — and counting by the day and by the hour.
Victims I know personally
People that I know who have been infected with COVID-19, as of the time of this writing:
- 3 members of my church (2 recovered, 1 on a ventilator)
- 1 former church member (dead)
- A neighbor (recovered)
- One of my best friends (fighting bi-lateral COVID pneumonia, almost had to go on a ventilator, she can hardly breathe, doctors say her lungs look like shattered glass)
- My best friend’s sister (recovered but having serious and ongoing breathing complications)
- 2 people, I went to school with (one was on a ventilator, came off, has permanent health problems from complications; the other recovered)
- My niece (recovered)
So, that’s 10 people that I know personally who’s had coronavirus, and I’m just one person.
That’s pretty scary.
And, I know many other people who know someone who has caught the disease.
Chances are that you too know someone or have knowledge of someone else knowing of someone who has been infected with the coronavirus.
And who knows what silent long-term effects may crop up in the future for those who have “recovered”.
Compare COVID-19 to the seasonal flu
From day one, many people have said that COVID-19 is no worse than the flu that comes around every year, and there are people who still say this.
Here’s why that’s not so.
CDC estimates for the flu during the 2019–2020 influenza season:
38 million illnesses, 18 million medical visits, 405,000 hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths
Now, compare 22,000 flu deaths out of 38 million cases to 300,000 COVID-19 deaths out of 16 million cases.
The stats show — COVID-19 is almost 14 times more deadly than the flu, even with just under one-half the cases.
Please understand that this is not to trivialize the flu deaths because they are someone’s loved ones as well.
My purpose is to illustrate how dangerous the coronavirus pandemic has become and continues to be. So much so that it took the top spot for the leading cause of US deaths, pushing past heart disease and lung cancer!
Leading cause of death in the US
The article above highlights information from a research study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine with almost 12,000 deaths in one week.
Not a joke
A medically reviewed article on WebMD explains that coronavirus attacks the body by invading healthy cells to copy itself and multiply throughout the body. When it does this, it latches onto healthy cells with its spiky proteins, particularly cells in the lungs, which could lead to dangerous acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Some people end up being placed on a ventilator when they lose their ability to breathe on their own due to ARDS.
The coronavirus proteins break into healthy cells through ACE2 receptors in the body, hijack the cells, and start giving orders to begin killing healthy cells and replacing them with themselves.
Sounds like what the Borg did to assimilate people on Star Trek the Next Generation!
Scary stuff.
How the disease travels through the body
A person can contract COVID-19 through droplets from the cough, sneeze, or breath of an infected person or possibly from touching a surface contaminated with COVID-19 and then touching the mouth, eyes, or nose.
This gives the virus away into mucous membranes in the throat. And, this triggers an immune system response to attempt to fight it. The person will develop symptoms within 2 to 14 days, which may include any of the following:
- Persistent cough
- Fever
- Shortness of breath
- Chills
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Body aches
- Sore throat
- Congestion
- Runny nose
- Loss of taste or smell
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
- No symptoms at all
These are not the only possible symptoms so beware of generalizing. I would seek medical attention for anything that seems out of the ordinary.
Once the virus gets in the respiratory tract, it moves deeper into the body and in serious and severe cases inflames the lungs, resulting in COVID pneumonia showing what is called ground-glass opacity on CT scans.
Thus, why my friend says doctors said that her lungs look like shattered glass and why it’s a struggle for her to breathe now
Think it won’t happen to you?
Everybody has the tendency to think that things like COVID-19 happen to somebody else.
We’ve all done it.
You see what happened to somebody else while watching the news or reading about it online. You may even know of somebody that has been infected.
But you wave it away and say that they must not have been careful, and you’re taking all the precautions.
Or, maybe you’re one of the ones who think this is all a hoax and not real.
Or, maybe you think it’s only risky for people who are old, or overweight or a certain race, or have a certain job, or go out in public more often than you do, or other reasons.
Who’s at risk
Everybody.
- Older people, millennials, teenagers, younger children, babies: Although studies show that people over a certain age are most at risk, younger people have not been exempt from infection, dying, or long-term complications. Small children and babies can contract Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) from COVID-19, which can be deadly.
- Pets: Yes your cat or dog could get coronavirus.
- People with existing health conditions: Pre-existing health problems that have been highlighted as putting people at the most risk include heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, lung disease, pregnancy, liver disease, compromised immune system, high blood pressure, and BMI of 30 or higher.
- People who do not take these proper precautions: Wearing a face covering or mask, keeping a distance from others of at least 6 feet, regular handwashing, using hand sanitizer, and staying away from crowds and gatherings.
Light at the end of the tunnel
The good news is that as of the time of this writing, scientists have developed vaccines for COVID-19 that have done well in research studies, showing some 90–95% effectiveness. They are currently being administered to the first group of takers in various countries, including the US.
I would say the goal is to get COVID-19 under control. It may not be completely eradicated, but we should be able to get it to where it’s not killing so many people and get it to where it is no longer a pandemic, hopefully, some time by mid-2021.
I certainly hope so.
Disclaimer:
I am not a medical professional. Information in this article was sourced from research and based on my own personal experience and observation. The article is not medical advice and should not be looked at as such.
More COVID-19 stories by Audrey Malone that may interest you
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