Dublin Core
Title
17273 - ...ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘CORONAVIRUS Q&AðŸ‘ðŸ‘👠...
Publisher
Dear Blueno
Date
March 8, 2020
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
17273 - topics: coronavirus
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ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘CORONAVIRUS Q&AðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘
Tl;dr Take actions because we shall be responsible for preventing a huge pandemic; Mixed results on whether face masks are effective or not; Your Chinese international friends might be going crazy oof
âï¸ã€How is it different from the flu? Shall I be more cautious?】 âï¸
The known symptoms for the flu and COVID-19 are nearly identical: fever, cough, body aches and fatigue. However, there are a couple of important differences:
1ï¸âƒ£The average incubation period for the flu is two days, but for for COVID-19 it's â—ï¸2-14 daysâ—ï¸. This is exactly why the outbreak in China was so bad. People without apparent symptoms traveling around the country, later causing a sudden increase in reported cases.
2ï¸âƒ£The coronavirus seems to be more deadly than the flu so far. The global case fatality rate for people infected with coronavirus was 3.4 percent according to the WHO, where as the death rate from seasonal flu is typically around 0.1% in the U.S.
3ï¸âƒ£How contagious it is. Each person with the coronavirus appears to infect 2.2 other people, comparing to roughly 1.3 for the flu.
You SHOULD be cautious. The death rate for a young and healthy person is low, and yes, it might not be too much worse than a flu. But the terrifying thing about a pandemic is the spreading. COVID-19 can be very deadly for older people or people with underlying conditions. If there's an outbreak at Brown, the most impacted could be faculty and staff with older/immunosuppressed family members who live together with them, and your own family members if you travel back home for spring break. Taking action is our responsibility as a community member.
âï¸ã€Why are my Chinese international friends so stressed and cautious?】âï¸
Because we are watching the same process happening again, in the exact same way. About two months ago when I was back in Beijing, the situation of the outbreak, the government's actions, and the public reaction were strikingly similar to how the US was responding in the past two weeks. Government thinking that the outbreak would be under control, people believing that the cases would be limited to a few locations, testing not being distributed widely so confirmed cases were artificially low, large gatherings still going on with no precautions. But then all of a sudden the number of cases skyrocketed, mostly community spread. Seeing the exact same process developing again in the US has been extremely frustrating and hopeless, especially when we know that the US had a chance to avoid an outbreak by learning from what has happened in China, Korea, Italy, etc.
âï¸ã€Why are some people wearing masks? 】âï¸
In some places/cultures, such as where I'm from, wearing a mask is not associated with being sick. Some people are used to seeing people on the street wearing masks for pollution and flu prevention etc etc. Research on the effectiveness of mask in preventing flu infection shows mixed results. In fact, both WHO and the US CDC suggest that healthy individuals don't need to wear a mask. However, with regards to the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese public health/medical officials have been suggesting (or even enforcing) mask wearing for several reasons (that might be unique to the situation in China) - extremely high traffic load around the Chinese New Year (around 3 billion travels across the entire nation), high population density making hand-washing in public areas not that accessible, and most importantly, the 2-14 days incubation period of the coronavirus leading to many potential asymptomatic virus-carriers that could lead to uncontrollable spreading in urban areas with dense population. Thus, some Chinese students might bring this mindset and decide to wear a mask to protect themselves and OTHERS AROUND THEM. They are on the more cautious side, but definitely not unreasonable considering the long incubation period making a lot of people potential virus carriers. It's everybody's personal choice, and since the research is showing mixed results, everybody has a valid reason.
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ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘CORONAVIRUS Q&AðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘
Tl;dr Take actions because we shall be responsible for preventing a huge pandemic; Mixed results on whether face masks are effective or not; Your Chinese international friends might be going crazy oof
âï¸ã€How is it different from the flu? Shall I be more cautious?】 âï¸
The known symptoms for the flu and COVID-19 are nearly identical: fever, cough, body aches and fatigue. However, there are a couple of important differences:
1ï¸âƒ£The average incubation period for the flu is two days, but for for COVID-19 it's â—ï¸2-14 daysâ—ï¸. This is exactly why the outbreak in China was so bad. People without apparent symptoms traveling around the country, later causing a sudden increase in reported cases.
2ï¸âƒ£The coronavirus seems to be more deadly than the flu so far. The global case fatality rate for people infected with coronavirus was 3.4 percent according to the WHO, where as the death rate from seasonal flu is typically around 0.1% in the U.S.
3ï¸âƒ£How contagious it is. Each person with the coronavirus appears to infect 2.2 other people, comparing to roughly 1.3 for the flu.
You SHOULD be cautious. The death rate for a young and healthy person is low, and yes, it might not be too much worse than a flu. But the terrifying thing about a pandemic is the spreading. COVID-19 can be very deadly for older people or people with underlying conditions. If there's an outbreak at Brown, the most impacted could be faculty and staff with older/immunosuppressed family members who live together with them, and your own family members if you travel back home for spring break. Taking action is our responsibility as a community member.
âï¸ã€Why are my Chinese international friends so stressed and cautious?】âï¸
Because we are watching the same process happening again, in the exact same way. About two months ago when I was back in Beijing, the situation of the outbreak, the government's actions, and the public reaction were strikingly similar to how the US was responding in the past two weeks. Government thinking that the outbreak would be under control, people believing that the cases would be limited to a few locations, testing not being distributed widely so confirmed cases were artificially low, large gatherings still going on with no precautions. But then all of a sudden the number of cases skyrocketed, mostly community spread. Seeing the exact same process developing again in the US has been extremely frustrating and hopeless, especially when we know that the US had a chance to avoid an outbreak by learning from what has happened in China, Korea, Italy, etc.
âï¸ã€Why are some people wearing masks? 】âï¸
In some places/cultures, such as where I'm from, wearing a mask is not associated with being sick. Some people are used to seeing people on the street wearing masks for pollution and flu prevention etc etc. Research on the effectiveness of mask in preventing flu infection shows mixed results. In fact, both WHO and the US CDC suggest that healthy individuals don't need to wear a mask. However, with regards to the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese public health/medical officials have been suggesting (or even enforcing) mask wearing for several reasons (that might be unique to the situation in China) - extremely high traffic load around the Chinese New Year (around 3 billion travels across the entire nation), high population density making hand-washing in public areas not that accessible, and most importantly, the 2-14 days incubation period of the coronavirus leading to many potential asymptomatic virus-carriers that could lead to uncontrollable spreading in urban areas with dense population. Thus, some Chinese students might bring this mindset and decide to wear a mask to protect themselves and OTHERS AROUND THEM. They are on the more cautious side, but definitely not unreasonable considering the long incubation period making a lot of people potential virus carriers. It's everybody's personal choice, and since the research is showing mixed results, everybody has a valid reason.
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