Nit pick: COVID-19 is more accurately described as a
pandemic, even though it is an epidemic too.
And while it may not be your first pandemic, it is without question the deadliest you've ever had the risk of catching. Here's some global death tolls from some of the larger epidemics/pandemics in the last 60 years:
- Asian flu 1957-58: 1 million dead.
- Hong Kong flu 1968-70: 1 million dead.
- SARS 2002-04: 774 dead.
- Swine flu 2009-10: 284,000 dead.
- SARS 2012-ongoing: 935 dead
- MERS 2015: 935 dead.
- Ebola 2014-16: 11,000 dead.
- COVID-19 2019-ongoing: 1 million dead so far.
The only pandemic worse than COVID-19 since the 1918 flu (50 million dead) is HIV/AIDS (at over 32 million dead), and to get that you need to actively have sex with an infected person (or, rather more sadly, be born to a mother with HIV). With COVID-19, you just need to be
near an infected person if you're unlucky/sensitive.
Why is MERS and SARS on there with their sub-1,000 worldwide death tolls? Well, because:
- MERS is an acronym for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and was caused by a coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
- SARS is an acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and is caused by a coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1).
- COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 strain of the coronavirus.
So you see, COVID-19 is unlike our previous encounters with the coronavirus; those weren't that bad at all, globally speaking. This one is.
And to those who want to compare to the seasonal flu: 2017-18 was an exceptionally bad year for the seasonal flu, it killed about 61,000 people in the United States that season. COVID-19 has so far killed over 207,000 in the US alone. In half a year. That's over three times worse than the worst seasonal flu season in a long time.
For the record, we had a family friend go from a healthy, happy 80-year old to dead in two weeks due to COVID-19. I couldn't imagine living with the guilt had I been the one transmitting the disease to her. Or to my 80+ parents for that matter (who I haven't seen since February when we normally see each other every 1-2 months; we only live 300 kms apart).
All I'm saying is: Don't take risks. For your own sake, for your loved ones' sake, for strangers you meet on the subway's grandparent's sake, be careful. Keep social distance, wear a mask, and wash your hands frequently.