The CDC defines a pandemic as "an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people."
There is so much noise going on around the virus. There is a lot of fear mongering to the point where It is hard to get an accurate view of the situation. We put together this post to gain some insight on the virus that seems to be the source of major anxiety in our global and neighborhood community. This a basic informational post. We will keep it updated as we discover more about the virus. We are working on an energy reading for the virus, and a holistic prevention guide to help supercharge your well - being and lower your chances of getting a serious case of the virus, so please stay tuned!
Image via tricitynews.com
The outbreak first was discovered back in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and now It has been reported in 100 other countries, including the United States. In the United States, as of March 13, there has been at least 2,340 cases, 49 recovered and 51 reported deaths. Nevertheless, the immediate health risk to most people in the United States remains low. In Louisiana, there are only 2 confirmed positive cases and there are no reported deaths.
What is the Coronavirus - COVID-19? COVID-19 — “co” and “vi” for coronavirus, “d” for disease, and “19” for the year when the disease emerged. It is a group of viruses including the newly identified form of the virus, COVID-19, there are a total of seven coronaviruses that can infect humans. There are other well-known coronaviruses which include SARS and MERS.
What are the symptoms? It affects the respiratory and causes pneumonia. There are a total of seven coronaviruses that can infect humans. The most noted symptoms are fever, cough and shortness of breath. It can also cause body aches, runny nose, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea. Some cases are mild, such as the common cold, while others are more likely to lead to pneumonia. They're usually spread through direct contact with an infected person.
How does it spread? The coronavirus can spreads when a sick person coughs or sneezes. People within 6 feet of an infected individual are most at risk for getting sick
What’s the severity of the impact?
There have been more than 120,000 cases of the virus. Around 80% of people who are infected have mild or moderate illness. 15 % of people had severe illness which required hospitalization. 5 % of people are considered critical and go into respiratory or organ failure. Around 3%, of people with confirmed cases (4,600)of the infection in China died since January . Nevertheless, more than 62,000 people have recovered.
Image Credit: Abcnews.com
Who does it affect? The World Health Organization mission to China found that 78% of the cases reported as of Feb. 20 were in people ages 30 to 69. The elderly who are 60+ are at a higher risk of developing a severe illness. Even more so at 80+ who have the highest death rate. People with chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, kidney disease, cancer, or diabetes are more likely to develop a serious case. Around 9 percent of people with diabetes and 8 percent of people with high blood pressure have died. Children and young fairly healthy people who may get only develop mild cases. Children, don’t appear to get as sick and very few develop severe cases, and if they do, they don’t died. However, if your kid has a comprised immune system then they may be at risk of getting amore serious case. No children under 10 have died. Even cases among children and teens aged 10 to 19 are rare. As of Feb. 11 there were 549 cases in that age group, 1.2% of the total, China CDC found. Only one had died. Nevertheless, children could be carriers of the virus and possibly pass it between each other where their parents and caregivers may then contact it. Even through there is no guarantee this is true, kids should still wash their hands as much as adults. Pregnant women and healthy women are generally not at risk of developing serious cases, however, men have higher chances.
Photo of the live-animal market in Wuhan, China image via straitstimes.com
How did it originate? There are many theories to where the COVID-19 could have originate from. Most are conspiracy theories, but here are four we found to be of interest:
It was from a virology laboratory in Wuhan, China. ("Myth"?)
It was a leaked has a bioweapon. ("Myth"?)
It originated at a live-animal market in Wuhan, China. (Possible)
It resembles a known coronavirus harbored in horseshoe bats. (Probable)
Many coronaviruses are zoonotic diseases; they spread from animals to people. A study out of China, suggests that the endangered pangolins, a scaly anteater, could be the link between how the coronavirus moved from the bats to humans. The virus was likely passed from bats to the pangolin before infecting humans. The Pangolin which is an illegal animal could have been at the live animal market in Wuhan, China where the virus supposedly originated. Nevertheless, there is precedent for coronavirus outbreaks that originate in bats that spills over through another intermediate animal. There were 2 previous coronaviruses having a connection to bats which were the SARS and the MARS. SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) was realized back in 2003. It was the first human coronavirus to cause severe diseases. It was thought to have spread from bats to civet cats before the first human patient was infected. The MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome is another type of coronavirus, which was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, most likely passed from bats into dromedary camels before spilling over into humans.
As previously stated, little is known about the origins of the virus and where it begin.Nothing has been confirmed yet by any peer-reviewed scientific research, global public health agency or academic expert.
Updates:
March 14, 2020
1:24 a.m. House passes stimulus package for COVID-19 aid
With a 363 to 40 vote, the House of Representatives passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday. The bill, which is an economic aid package designed to help ease the financial pain of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be considered by the Senate on Monday. "Senators will need to carefully review the version just passed by the House," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Saturday. "But I believe the vast majority of Senators in both parties will agree we should act swiftly to secure relief for American workers, families, and small businesses."The cost of the bill is unknown, however, the bill includes $1 billion for National Disaster Medical System to reimburse people without health insurance, $82 million for Defense beneficiaries, $64 million for Indian Health Service and $60 million for veterans. "This Bill will follow my direction for free CoronaVirus tests, and paid sick leave for our impacted American workers," Trump tweeted Monday prior to the vote. "I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations that will provide flexibility so that in no way will Small Businesses be hurt.
- via Abcnews.com
We will be updating this post with corrections and more details.
Last update March 14, 2020 at11:44am
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