How Dangerous is COVID-19? | SciShow News

You may have heard several different projections about the fatality rate of COVID-19. How do different health organizations come up with these figures, and why do the numbers seem so fluid?
#COVID19 #Coronavirus #FlattenTheCurve

Hosted by: Olivia Gordon

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[SciShow]

This is a reupload from earlier today. Thanks to those of you who pointed out our math mix up!

[TrainfanJanathan]

I wish people would stop emptying out the store shelves.

[Sciencerely]

Being a human biologist, I think it is fascinating how quickly research can progress once enough funding is provided. Just within the last days, a potential new drug has successfully blocked the entry of the virus into lung cells (it's called camostat mesilate), the first vaccine trial in the US has started to recruit people and other provisional treatments (such as tamiflu) have been established (I made a video describing other important coronavirus studies a while ago). Despite being a quite devastating outbreak, I really believe that we will come up with a promising treatment soon! Stay safe, people!

[wizardtim]

In short "Stop panicking, we don't know everything yet, stay healthy and for the love of god STOP KILLING EACHOTHER FOR TOILET PAPER!!!".

[GamerForLife]

There a problem that no one mentions, People still need to go to work to pay their Bills and the majority workplaces here in the United States do not pay Sick Leave.

[HistoryNerd]

A global pandemic is a great time to be an introvert

[giapchin]

Covid-19 helping people realize that meetings can be emails.

[fitfogey]

I’ve noticed anti-vaxers have been awfully quiet lately.

[MrGlennJohnsen]

With the current world population, 7.8 billion, and WHO estimating between 40% and 70% of the world population getting the virus you can easily calculate the total number of fatalities and compare it to the seasonal flu (influenza).
40% at 0.5% fatality rate (low estimates) = 15.5 million deaths.
70% at 6.4% fatality rate (high estimates) = 327m+ deaths.
The seasonal flu (influenza) kills between 250.000 and 500.000 per year, although we do have vaccines for that which is a mitigating factor. Also the seasonal flu isn't nearly as contageous as the COVID-19 virus seems to be, but time will tell.


What we need to do for now is to listen to the experts (not politicians and media), if experts tell you to self quarantine for 14 days if you "feel under the weather" then do so... if you don't have it- great! but if you have it and don't quarantine you're spreading it to others and one of those you infect could end up with serious problems or even die.


Another thing that is overlooked so far is that the Corona virus isn't new, it was first "branded" in the 1960s in livestock and has since then been found to mutate into strands that could infect humans (like the SARS and MERS viruses). COVID-19 or other Corona viruses could become seasonal or period viruses like the flu (influenza) and if those (potential) future strands of Corona virus is anything like this... well holy crap are we in need for vaccines!

[cyrene]

Please everyone stop buying up all the toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Old people who really need to stay home can't stock up because of this crazy behaviour.

[cpob]

hard to stay home when sick if you live paycheck to paycheck and will be fired if you dont show up for work

[Dee-jpek]

It’s really sad how all the suggestions to prevent this are things we really should be doing anyway. Wash your hands people, disease or not!

[TS]

Again, greetings from quarantined Italy.

Interesting fact: the term "quarantine" derives from "quaranta" which is the Italian word for "forty". The first ever quarantines were meant to last 40 days.

From Wikipedia:
"The word "quarantine" comes from a seventeenth-century Venetian variant of the Italian "quaranta giorni",  meaning "forty days", the period that all ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during the Black Death plague epidemic."

[sweepingtime]

When SciShow comes out with actual information about current problems, I feel only relief.

[dgray]

Common sense: "Stay away from crowded places"
Non sense: "Storm the stores NOW, cough*"

[mooselove]

The rates are especially skewed because people here in the USA aren’t getting the test done! Insanely hard to get tested unless you are dying sick and hospitalized already. An RN said she was told if she wanted it it would be out of pocket cost because she wasn’t hospitalized (even w/ symptoms and reasons to suspect it).

[Reylaymon]

Why is everyone stocking up on toilet paper of all things??

[Mayhemzz]

My life of training as an introvert has lead me to this year.

[AkantorJojo]

That picture, "flattening the curve", is by far the best representation I've seen yet!
Thanks for that

[ToyKeeper]

"I was a hermit before it was cool", says the introvert. "All these 'special measures' are just daily life for me." But despite feeling smug, we're still concerned about everyone else.