The 'Kill Zone' for Wuhan China Coronavirus
Having had two very serious viral pneumonia infections about 30 and 20 years ago respectively and some scarred lung tissue that viruses just love to migrate to on the rare occasion I pick up something, I am pretty sure that I am in the “kill zone”, as is my wife, who is substantially older than me, and yet who gave me three beautiful daughters, bless her. No Lloyd L Chambers V!!! What a relief.
How does one assess risk? The statistics are junk, being based so far largely on sick people. Is the mortality rate 0.5% or 2% or 10% and is it really 10% for 80+? I don’t know, but based on past pulmonary viral infections and in spite of a strong immune system in general, it seems that I have as much to fear as older folks.
And yet... it is of no use living in fear. I have none, and if you do, please take stock: life is full of risks of all kinds and ironically worrying overmuch is sure to depress the immune system. Each person needs to step back and breathe deeply and realize that personal risk is low. As for me, I may hang out for a while in the Eastern Sierra in isolation, as I have two daughters living at home who work in places that bring in the public all day long. A Sprinter comes in handy and with a big storm due in a day or two, I am fully persuaded!
I have tried to add my insight into self-protection (see previous posts) and for the most part it is well received, but the hate mail calling me racist (isn’t Wuhan China a city?) for not toeing the line and using ONLY the proscribed term COVID-19 does get old, and marks the sender as a clueless mind-reading moron, unable to distinguish a city or a communist government from an individual. That such losers exist is a sad fact of reality, but who ever said that speaking out was without risk?
