It’s not the flu. Any more than Ebola is not the flu. Chicken pox isn’t the flu. Pneumonia is not the flu. Tuberculosis is not the flu.
But, the President compares it to the flu.
So, we waste time talking about how it’s not the flu.
If there were 80,000 increase in TB on top of the flu you could be shit sure that people would be acting.
This is not an either/or situation. It’s concurrent. Can Americans not grasp that?
Also, Trump is probably 100% correct that this fades away in April. We don't know for sure, but it's very likely. It will stay endemic where it has spread, but it will be easier to track outside of flu season.
OK, smartypants, this Corona virus strain is like the common cold, since strains of the coronavirus are the common cold.
“Can Americans not grasp that?”
Do you need to ask. Americans can’t even grasp the implications of China being shutdown, even though nearly half of their consumer items say “Made in China” and much (maybe most) of the other half of their items (domestic and imported) have now non-available Chinese content.
“ It’s not the flu. Any more than Ebola is not the flu. Chicken pox isn’t the flu. Pneumonia is not the flu. Tuberculosis is not the flu.”
It’s a whole heck of a lot closer to the flu than any of those other diseases you mention.
It’s a viral attack on the respiratory system and the symptoms and treatments are exactly the same as the flu.
But don’t let me disturb your panic. Here....I’ll help:
BOO!
It is a virus that is likely to spread widely through our population, making many sick for a time and killing some.
The flu is among a family of other viruses that already do that, though perhaps more mildly both in spread and mortality.
Avoidance procedures are therefore to some degree similar, and the analogy will likely make some apprehend it more quickly.
So the comparison is normal and to some degree useful.
Is it also detrimental in that it might lull some people into a dangerous complacency? I don’t think we can know that yet.
......”This is not an either/or situation. It’s concurrent. Can Americans not grasp that?”......
It appears you have difficulty understanding Americans do have a pretty good handle on this both medically and people being informed....most just want to know the best preventatives they can do to avoid this virus just as they do the flu. And that appears to be similar in preventive measures.
......”This is not an either/or situation. It’s concurrent. Can Americans not grasp that?”......
It appears you have difficulty understanding Americans do have a pretty good handle on this both medically and people being informed....most just want to know the best preventatives they can do to avoid this virus just as they do the flu. And that appears to be similar in preventive measures.
“It’s not the flu.”
no,it’s not the flu, but its clinical symptoms and course of progression are indistinguishable from the flu. only specialized testing can make the distinction.
furthermore, it’s spread like the flu, infects the upper respiratory tract like the flu, and it’s starting to look like the morbidity and mortality are similar to the flu, that is, almost all healthy people who contract coronavirus fully recover after a brief illness, and those most likely to succumb are the aged who also have one or more co-morbid conditions, the very same population most likely to succumb to the flu ...
the above was explained yesterday at Trump’s coronavirus press conference by Antony Fauci, world renowned infectious disease expert, who heads the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ... he also explained that no “mutated” variants have been seen and that a person who recovers has immunity from being reinfected ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/coronavirus-flu.html
the purpose of comparing it to the flu is so regular folks can better understand what coronavirus is and is not, and indicate that, though many more infections are likely, that there is no reason for panic, something that too many Freepers are loath to accept because they revel in spreading fear, uncertainly, doubt, panic, misinformation, and just plain ‘ol garden variety boolshite ...
flu causes pneumonia, it’s a kind of flu