I don't think anyone reasonable is saying Covid19 is nothing to worry
about, but I do think there's plenty of room to worry that there's
been plenty of gross overreaction, and there's always someone ready to
make a quick profit when large groups of people start freaking out and
panicking.
And while I'm not familiar with the death statistics for Spain,
assuming that figure of 4,000-some deaths in three months is accurate,
rounding that figure up to 5,000, rounding Spain's population to 50
million, the world population to 8 billion and assuming Spain is
representative of the whole world and that people will continue to die
at the same rate, that gives an estimated annual death toll of 3.2
million. Nothing to sneeze at, but a Drop in the bucket compared to
the Flu pandemic of 1918's estimated 100 million, and I'm pretty sure
H1N1 claimed over a million lives in the US alone.
Also, considering that the most vulnerable population is the elderly
and how much life expectancy in developed nations has risen in the
last 120 years or so, I think it's fair to say many of Covid19's
victims probably would've already been dead if the outbreak had
occurred prior to the advent of modern medicine and sanitation
standards(in this regard, Spain probably has a higher Covid19-related
death toll than most of the world, simply by having an older
population than say, most of Africa).
Again, this isn't the first outbreak of it's kind that's happened in
my lifetime, but the reaction has been more extreme than every other
outbreak I've lived through combined, and even if this is the worst
outbreak in living memory, I'm not sure this level of panic and
paranoia is warranted. People are acting like this is the second
coming of smallpox or the Black Death, not a particularly nasty strain
of the common cold.
Wash your hands, cough or sneeze into your upper arm, avoid
unnecessary human contact, especially with the sick or elderly, and
don't leave the house while sick if at all possible, but try to keep a
level head and don't let the sensationalist media that cares more
about click baiting for ad revenue than reporting the facts in their
proper context work you into a worry. Besides, unless you're part of a
vulnerable population, chronic worrying about covid19 might take more
years off your life than the virus itself if you do end up infected.
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