The Corona virus (COVID-19) is all over the news, with plenty of fear-mongering spread among the analysis and good information. Because of that, I don’t think there’s a lot for me to write about this without spending a ton of time digging into it or coming up with conspiracy theories.
That said, I do think the tendency of some I know to dismiss the seriousness of the threat is misguided. It seems COVID-19 has a longer symptom-free period where the carrier is contagious, can last longer on solid surfaces, and may or may not have a higher mortality rate than the ‘normal’ flu. There is a lot of contradictory information out there.
That said, it seems as if medical professionals are expanding their screening for potential carriers. I went to the urgent care because I had the flu that turned into bronchitis, and one of the screening questions was “have you traveled outside the country within the past 30 days?”
I answered ‘no’ since I haven’t, but I wonder if they have any follow up questions if someone answers yes. I think I’ll ask some medical field friends about that.
In the meantime, I’ve come across two good websites where you can track the disease’s spread and infection and mortality rates.
The first one is from Worldometers.com/coronavirus. It gives the number of cases, active cases, deaths, recovered, and much more. It breaks the information down by country and gives ages of the infected where it can. Worldometer.com was voted as one of the best free reference websites by the American Library Association.
The second tracking site is from John Hopkins via the geolocation and mapping company, ESRI. This one shows the sources where its data comes from, and allows you to click on the location indicators to get specific data about the area. I don’t believe it’s live, but seems to be regularly updated.
For some background on the Corona Virus, the World Health Organization has a Q&A section on it that might be helpful.
Stay safe.
source : Pat Henry