Coronavirus (COVID-19): What Your Need to Know and How to Protect Yourself
Coronavirus (COVID-19): What Your Need to Know and How to Protect Yourself
By now, you have heard about the Coronavirus, that originated in Wuhan, China.
In late January, 2020, the
World health Organization (WHO), declared Coronavirus as a Global Health Emergency.
Here's what you need to know about it, the latest news, and how to protect
yourself and your family.
See this page for summer 2021 COVID developments.
See this page for reported COVID-19 vaccine side effects
If you are looking for OSHA guidance about CoronaVirus
for your business, see this page.
Overview - the virus started in and spread from China
Coronavirus (now officially called COVID-19) is an airborne respiratory illness that appears to have originated in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Chinese authorities
identified the new variant of coronavirus. By late January, 2020, there were over 1,000 confirmed cases in China, including cases outside
Wuhan City. By the end of February the number was 82,000 worldwide. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating, testing and monitoring as additional cases have been identified in
a growing number of other international locations, including the United States. There are already more than 100 deaths, all in China. New evidence
suggests that China was aware of the virus as early as November 2019, and used government force to suppress reports and jail doctors, media and even
victims. China has since claimed that the virus started in Italy and later claimed it was brought to China by the U.S. These claims are easily
disproven, see the charts of the spread below. .
The official name for the virus is the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV. Learn about Novel Coronavirus from the CDC.
The World Health Organization says:
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV)
and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV)
. A novel coronavirus (nCoV)
is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.
On February 11, 2020 the World Health Organization announced they
have given an official name for the disease that is causing the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19.
Symptoms
In confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, the reported symptoms and related illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms in most otherwise healthy
people to severe illness and death in elderly and those with other health issues, particularly respiratory issues. Typical symptoms usually include:
- Fever
- Cough
- Shortness of breath
The CDC believes at this time that symptoms of COVID-19 may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after exposure. This is based on
what has been seen previously as the incubation period of MERS-CoV viruses and what they are learning from the current COVID-19 cases.
If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19
get medical attention immediately. Emergency warning signs
include*:
- Trouble breathing
- Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
- New confusion or inability to arouse
- Bluish lips or face
*This list is not all inclusive. Please consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning.
Mortality
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Despite the rapid spread of the virus, it's mortality rate is very, very low among normal people given decent health care. Yes, people with
compromised health and living in countries with poor health systems will have a high death rate. Even there, the rate is under 2%. In America,
there have been no deaths and are unlikely to very many. By comparison, the ordinary flu (did you get your flu vaccination shot?) has already killed 187 children in America since January 1st.
See this page for a compassion of COVID-19, the flu and automobile accidents
See this new page for a
state by state analysis of factors that lead to a high mortality
rate (age, obesity, population density)
Coronavirus Timeline
Following the spread of the virus is an important way to assess the risk of the virus to you. Keep in mind that it appears that China has known
about the virus for weeks or months and has been actively suppressing and downplaying the true numbers, including reports of suppressing it's own
citizens who attempt to report on it. This suggests that the numbers inside China may be far higher, even double those reported.
You can see the spread on a mapping tool on this website.
The World Health Organization daily situation reports
are here.
- February 1, 2020 - 10,000 reported infected (all but 20 are inside China, 11 cases in the US), 160 dead (all in China) Source Fox News
- February 3, 2020 - 20,000 reported infected (all but 50 in China), 425 dead (all but 1 are in China)
11 confirmed cases in the U.S., six
are in California, one is in Washington state, one is in Arizona, two are in Illinois, and one is in Massachusetts.
- source, CBS News
- February 5, 2020 - 25,000 reported infected (all but 50 in China), 493 dead (all but 1 are in China, including Hong
Kong) and over 1,000 have
recovered already
11 confirmed cases in the U.S., six
are in California, one is in Washington state, one is in Arizona, two are in Illinois, and one is in Massachusetts. A 39-year-old man died in
Hong Kong from coronavirus. Officials said the man, who had a preexisting condition, had traveled to Wuhan last month and was hospitalized
Friday
- source, CBS News
- February 7, 2020 - 35,000 cases reported; 722 dead, all but one are in China (including Hong Kong)
See this NY Times report. A Cruise ship
docked in Bayoone, NJ with several cases infected taken off into isolation and the others released.
It should be pointed out that most
sources reporting agree that the Chinese government is likely greatly underreporting the number of actual cases.
The BBC reports that
Dr Li, the Chinese doctor who warned others to
protect themselves. died from the virus. He had been investigated ( more like persecuted) by Chinese authorities for "making false comments" and
"spreading rumors"
- February 11, 2020 - 43,000 cases reported; Worldwide: 43 103 confirmed (2560 new)
In China; 42 708 confirmed
(2484 new), 7333 severe (849 new), 1017 deaths (108 new).
Outside of China - 395 confirmed (76 new), 24 countries, 1 death outside of China
- February 13, 2020 - 60,000 cases reported; There was an overnight spike in new cases and deaths from the virus in
China, plus one death in Japan.
See the CNN News Story about the spike in cases here.
- February 24, 2020 - Worldwide cases at approximately 80,000. But only 715 new cases outside of China. Of the 80,000 total
cases, Cina accounts for the vast majority: 77 262 confirmed (415 new)
2595 deaths (150 new)
- February 25, 2020 - In the "you just can't make this up" category; the
Iranian Deputy Health Minister tested positive for COVID-19, best guesses are that Iran has a major outbreak of COVID-19, but of course, having a oppressive
Islamic dictatorship government, there's no way to know what the real facts there are. Al Jazeera reports "Iran's deputy health minister has
tested positive for the new coronavirus amid a major outbreak in the country which has seen 15 people die as a result. Iraj Harirchi coughed
occasionally and appeared to be sweating during a news conference in Tehran on Monday with government spokesman Ali Rabiei."
- March 3, 2020 - 9 total fatalities, in the U.S., after 3 elderly people in a nursing home in Washington died. All
fatalities in the U.S. were in Washington State and were to elderly or persons with other health issues
- March 6, 2020 - US deaths total 19, infected is 390. CDC estimates death rate is well below 1% and seems limited to the
elderly and those with other health conditions, especially respiratory. Children appear to be the least affected group. Global infections
are close to 100,000 and around 3,000 fatalities.
- March 12, 2020 - The US government added a website www.coronavirus.gov to the
CDC's website to provide information about COVID-19.
Total worldwide cases: 118,000.
U.S. numbers: Total cases: 1215, Total deaths: 36,
42 states and District of Columbia report cases. No children have died from COVID-19.
On March 11, 2020 WHO publicly characterized
COVID-19 as a pandemic.
President Trump shutdown travel from Europe.
In South Korea no one under the age of 30 has died and in Japan no
one under the age of 50 has died
Only about 10 percent of cases are in people under 30, and just two percent are under 20., No one under age
10 has died anywhere in the world.
The Death Rate From Coronavirus Is Plunging In China - March 13, 2020 - The CoronaVirus has not had much impact on human health in America but the panic and business shutdowns
may do far more harm to millions, as public events are cancelled, businesses will feel the impact. All pro sports have shut down, schools are
closing, all public gatherings are ending...
CNBC reports "Europe is now the 'epicenter' of the coronavirus pandemic, WHO says"
US: total cases = 1,832. Total fatalities = 41. That's 1 fatality per 8 million people
in the United States... Think about that, you are more likely to win the state lottery...
According to the World Health Organization, people
with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
President Trump
declares a national state of emergency.
- March 17, 2020 - The numbers continue to grow, some states are mandating that bars and restaurants close.
Total U.S.
cases: 4,226
Total U.S. deaths: 75
Globally:
198,422 cases (total, includes recovered)
7,987 Deaths:
82,762 Recovered so far.
- March 21, 2020 - testing has greatly increased, as kits became avail, this explains the big rise in case numbers.
Total U.S. cases: 15,219
Total U.S. deaths: 201
Reporting cases: 54 (50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and US Virgin
Islands)
Globally:
184,708 active cases
11,953 deaths
93,618 Recovered:
- April 5, 2020 - Covid19 has exploded in NY City, Michigan and ne NJ. Reports are considerable that China and Brazil are
both greatly underreporting the number of cases in their countries. Over half of reported fatalities occur in obese people (obese people
typically also have diabetes, heart problems, respiratory problems, etc.). Lose weight, eat right and exercise!!!
Nitric oxide, a colorless,
odorless gas, inhaled through a mask is now being tested as an experimental treatment for COVID-19.
Fox News reports "After repeatedly mocking President Trump for suggesting on March 19 that hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) could be an effective treatment for coronavirus, media organizations have begun acknowledging
that the drug, now approved for emergency use to treat coronavirus by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), may be useful after all."
Total U.S. cases: 312,000
Total U.S. deaths: 8,500
Reporting cases: 54 (50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and US Virgin
Islands)
Globally:
1,226,000 active cases
66,559 deaths
235,000 Recovered:
- April 15, 2020 -
More information leaks out ever day about the origins of the Wuhan virus from a lab. Fox News reports
"coronavirus originated in Wuhan lab as part of China's efforts to compete with US see the story here.
The United States accused the World Health Organization of basic incompetence
and/or collusion with China in hiding the true facts about COVID-19 early on, and thus causing the pandemic. As a consequence, the United States
has withheld it's over $400 million subsidies to W.H.O.. In response, the reported corrupt head of W.H.O. is furious and making his own
counteraccusations.
Total U.S. Cases: 638,111
U.S. Recovered: 52,196
U.S. Deaths: 28,399
---
Globally: 2,063,161 Confirmed
Cases
Global deaths: 136,938.
Recovered 511,356
- April 27, 2020 -
Georgia re-opens (mostly) today. Georgia reopened hair salons, gyms and tattoo parlors on April 24th,
although many of these, especially the chains, remained closed Great Clips, Sport Clips, Lifetime Fitness, LA Fitness, etc. all remained closed.
Florida beaches effectively remain closed (unless you consider 6 am to 9 am and 5 pm to 8 pm, "open"... which is truly imbecilic, since they
closed the beaches when UV radiation is strongest.
Deaths continue to decline or at least plateau almost everywhere. As
predicted, warmer temperatures and stronger sunshine are correlated to reduced viral activity. Most evidence now indicates that the lockdowns
had little effect in most areas (exceptions being highly congested hotspots, like NYC).
We have dropped the "total cases" because the number
is meaningless. So many, many people are asymptomatic and not tested. Even the total deaths is becoming meaning less because they count all
fatalities as coronavirus deaths if the "virus was present in the victims body at the time of death"... even if there were co-morbidities that
actually caused the death. This is like saying that f someone had a cold and was struck and killed by a car while crossing the street,
that person died of a cold. Obviously, this approach to coding the deaths is greatly inflating the coronavirus death numbers.
Total
Global deaths: 207,583
Total U.S. Deaths: 55,118
- May 3, 2020 - States are slowly re-opening
Georgia was the first to re-open and as the data is coming in, it is looking
good. Deaths from Coronavirus are plummeting.
The US's Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has authorized emergency use of the Ebola drug remdesivir for treating the coronavirus for people who are hospitalized with severe Covid-19. It appears to help shorten the recovery time for people who were
seriously ill, but it did not significantly improve survival rates. The drug was originally developed to treat Ebola, and is produced by Gilead
pharmaceutical company in California.
- May 6, 2020 - Both new cases and fatalities are continuing to decline in Georgia after opening.
Governor Cuomo of NY
announced today that 66% of COVID-19 fatalities are happening to people who have remained locked down at home. See
CNBC news. And 18% are to residents of nursing homes, the same nursing homes he forced to take the sick patients,
infecting others;
see Cuomo ordered Nursing homes to take actively contagious elderly patients who were in hospitals. See
video of Cuomo ordering nursing homes to take these contagious patients here.
- May 17, 2020 -
Rate of New U.S. Coronavirus Cases Is Declining, According to The New York Times, in New York state the figure has dropped over the last month, and case counts
have also plunged in hard-hit Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Some states, including Vermont, Hawaii and Alaska, are seeing hardly any new cases
at all, the newspaper said.
- May 19, 2020 - Coronavirus task force coordinator
Dr. Deborah Birx said on Tuesday that she is encouraged by the latest data showing declines in new cases of the virus, hospitalizations and
deaths across all but a few areas of the United States. Birx told a group of reporters at the White House that clinical, laboratory data and
surveillance data from across the country shows that new hospitalizations have dropped by 50% in the last 30 days, and deaths continue to
decrease week over week. "All states have dropped under 20% test positive, and New York has gone from over 45% test positive just 30 days ago,
to under 10% test positive," Birx said. "These types of declines are being seen across the board except in a few areas."
- May 26, 2020 - The U.S. death toll (the official count,
which some argue is over-counted, due to the way they assign a cause of death) is approaching
100,000, but clearly the rates are declining throughout America. Meanwhile, the Governor of California, Newsom, is refusing to relinquish
much of his iron-fisted control of the state,
claiming, in direct opposition to experts like Dr. Birx, that "It's just a reminder to everybody that we are not even out of the first wave
of this pandemic. People are talking about the second wave. That is many, many months off. The reality is that this pandemic has just begun,
hasn't ended, "
Face mask wearing continues to spark debate.
See this page for more information about non-medical face coverings.
And for more about medical grade face masks.
- June 9, 2020 - Coronavirus spread by asymptomatic people 'appears to be rare,' WHO official says. "From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an
asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual," Van Kerkhove said. And then
the next day, she was forced to "walk back" the statement. Any guess which was the true statement?
- June 16, 2020 - Dr. Fauci Made the Coronavirus Pandemic Worse by Lying About Masks
- June 17, 2020 - Death rates continue to fall in opened states like Georgia, even as the number of cases increases. (see
the GA stats page click on the "deaths" over the chart to compare cases to fatalities) If this seems confusing, it's due to the greater availability of testing, so as so many more people find out they have or
had COVID but were largely asymptomatic, the number of reported cases increases, but not hospitalizations or fatalities - and this a good thing!
Dr. Fauci admits that he lied when he told the public not to buy N95 masks, saying he mislead the general public in order to keep the masks available for medical professionals.
"Well, the
reason for that is that we were concerned the public health community, and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time
when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply. And we wanted to make sure that
the people namely, the health care workers, who were brave enough to put themselves in a harm way, to take care of people who you know were
infected with the coronavirus and the danger of them getting infected."
That brings up an interesting question... when can we trust that he's
telling us the truth about anything?
- June 24, 2020 - There is a spike in cases detected in 7 states (Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee and Texas ), but not a spike in deaths. Much of this can be attributed to increased testing. Most of the cases appearing in
younger people (30's - 40's) appear to be in obese people.
- June 30, 2020 -Dr. Fauci Warns New COVID-19 Cases
Could Hit 100,000 a Day. In his appearance before the Senate
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Fauci warns
that while the current daily number of new cases in the United
States is hovering around 40,000, that could reach as high as
100,000 new cases per day given the outbreak's current
trajectory.
- July 7, 2020: The U.S. EPA created a list of consumer products that kill Coronavirus, including Lysol.
Click here to see the list.
- July 18, 2020: in the past few weeks cases have greatly increased in the U.S., attributed to much more testing finding
cases that were simply unknown before, and younger people (20's - 30's) disregarding advice and gathering close together in bars and parties.
As a consequence (or retaliation?) some states have locked down again, even though lockdowns in New York resulted in increased cases. COVID
spread at a greater rate among those locked down, than those who were going out of the house in NY. (see
"Cuomo says it's 'shocking' most new coronavirus hospitalizations are people who had been staying home"
and "New Survey Suggests 66 Percent of All New Hospitalizations Statewide Are From People Sheltering at Home"
- August 4, 2020 - The University of Minnesota reports "The average daily case count for new COVID-19 cases each day in the past week has been just over 60,000
cases, which is a 9% decline from the previous week, according to a new analysis from the New York Times."
The CDC says "Based on death certificate data, the
percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia, influenza or COVID-19 (PIC) increased from week 26 to week 29 (June 27 to July 18) for the first
time since mid-April. The percentage for week 31 is 7.8% and currently lower than the percentage during week 30 (12.6%); however, the percentage
remains above the epidemic threshold."
- August 10, 2020 - After a spike in cases and fatalities in July, ABC News (and others) report "As
coronavirus fatalities decline nationwide, viral deaths persist in America's nursing homes, data shows - Nursing homes have accounted for about
40% of virus-related deaths, data shows."
- August 26, 2020 - After the late summer spike (mid to
late July throughout most of the U.S.), the cases appear to be
declining again. See the CDC chart and map at right.
Global Cases:
23,992,899
Cases in the United States:
approximately 5,800,000
Johns
Hopkins has a comparison by country of the mortality rates:
Initial spread of Coronavirus by country
In descending order, most cases to least (as of February 5, 2020), country then number of cases. Note: it is
likely that there are also many cases in North Korea, but of course, they aren't saying anything!
- China 24,800
- Japan 35
- Singapore 28
- Thailand 25
- Hong Kong 21
- South Korea 19
- Australia 14
- Malaysia 12
- Germany 12
- USA 11 as of Feb 5, 2020, 445 as of Feb 27, 2020)
- Taiwan 11
- Macao 10
- Vietnam 10
- France 6
- Canada 5
Most recent spread map
You'll notice
there has been a spike in South Korea and Italy and later the UK. These countries are alarmed and acted quickly to contain the spread, but still had
a huge spike. .
How is coronavirus spread?
This virus probably originally started from an animal source (some Chinese eat wild animals, such as snakes, bats, rats, etc, which carry new
forms of viruses). Coronaviruses are common in many different species of animals, including camels and bats. Rarely, these coronaviruses can evolve
and infect humans and then spread between humans. Recent examples of this include SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. The
SARS-CoV-2 virus is a betacoronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. All three of these viruses have their origins in bats. The sequences from U.S.
patients are similar to the one that China initially posted, suggesting a likely single, recent emergence of this virus from an animal reservoir.
Early on, many of the patients at the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China had some link to a large seafood and live animal
market, suggesting animal-to-person spread. Detailed investigations found that
SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in
animals that have not yet infected humans. When humans eat these animals, sometimes the viruses in the animal mutate and become able to infect humans. The
Coronavirus
appears to have done this, starting in bats in the market in Wuhan, China and is spreading from person-to-person.
Relationship to other viruses
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some causing illness in people and others that circulate among animals, including camels, cats and
bats. SARS is another form of coronavirus that emerged to infect people, came from civet cats. MERS, another coronavirus variant, came from
camels.
Chinese military weapon?
There is discussion in the media about whether the virus originated in a Chinese military lab. At present this could be either a conspiracy
theory... or the truth. We simply don't know. We Do know that the Chinese government habitually lies and seeks to protect its image and
power. The NY Post supports the
theory; while the New York Times is dismissive of
it. Given the NY Times horrendous track record of bias reporting and journalists caught in made up news stories... we would lean toward the NY
Post's position. Time will tell who's right. And we will report it here when the facts do come out, as they inevitably will!
How the virus is transmitted
It appears that this virus is airborne, being spread but droplets from a respiratory tract, such as sneezes, coughs, mucus, saliva, etc.
Touching the droplets and then rubbing your eyes, face, mouth, etc. is the most likely form of infection. The droplets containing the virus
could be left on surfaces like doorknobs, tables, cellphones, etc. Or being close to an infected person (6 - 8 ft) could also result in infection.
The CDC has since said that the virus is rarely transmitted by contamainated surfaces.
Note: the World Health Organization says
"people receiving packages from China are not at risk of contracting the new coronavirus. From previous analysis, we know coronaviruses do not
survive long on objects, such as letters or packages."
What are the risks?
This is a rapidly evolving situation and the CDC's risk assessment is also changing rapidly. The latest updates are available on CDC's 2019 Novel Coronavirus website.
At the start of the spread, there were very, very few people in the U.S showing infection (3 or 4, in the whole United States). See the current U.S. case count of infection with 2019-nCoV. At present, the risk for those in the U.S. is very low. By comparison, each year there are
about 12,000 to 61,000 deaths annually in the U.S. caused by the flu; this changed ovefr the following months, as COVID-19 proved to be highly
contagious..
According to The Atlantic, last week, (3rd week in February
2020), "14 Americans tested positive on a cruise ship in Japan despite feeling fine - the new virus may be most dangerous because, it seems, it may
sometimes cause no symptoms at all."
How are businesses, events and organizations responding?
We've got a list, which we update frequently, of businesses, events and organizations, and their policies regarding opening and conducting their business or events here.
Preventing infection and treating COVID-19
See this page for prevention and treatment information for Coronavirus.
All about masks - types and what they do, and do not do!
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More information about the source and spread of 2019-nCoV
- CDC 2019-nCoV Situation Summary: Source and Spread of the Virus.
- U.S. Department of State China Travel Advisory
- World Health Organization, Coronavirus
- Know the Facts About COVID-19 and Help Stop the Spread of Rumors - WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020
-
Coronavirus Disease 2019 Information for Travel (New Travel Alerts)MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
-
CDC in Action: Preparing Communities for Potential Spread of COVID-19SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2020
-
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers: Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) and ChildrenSUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2020
-
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and PregnancyFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020