Hmmmm? Six people have died from Corona Virus in the United States. Last year approximately 30,000 Americans died from the flu.

Worldwide 58,000 folks died of RABIES last year - and nearly half-a-million died from malaria.

Do those statistics make the news? Nope.

If you get sick stay home. Rest. Drink fluids. Chicken soup? Absolutely. And quit listening to the mad media hyping up what will most likely be a short lived, respiratory illness that over fifty-percent (50%) of people who experience it will have ZERO symptoms.

Wash your hands. Drink chicken soup. Drink water. Wash your hands (but I repeat myself). And if you get sick stay home from work - EVEN if you work at McDonalds . . . stupid low wage jobs with zero sick days attached . . . grrrrrr

Last time I had the flu, I used the PAMF telemedicine app on my smartphone. The doctor was able to take down temperature and heart readings I took myself, look down my throat using the phone's internal camera, and then transmit a prescription to my pharmacy.


Soooo much better than sitting in hospital waiting room, surrounded by infectious people. Unless you're bleeding or have a broken bone, there's little reason to go to urgent care anymore.

Important to go to ER or urgent care when in doubt...could be pneumonia or coronavirus.

We told relatives to stay in China until the threat is over. Don't want them in our house or near our children. School too important to miss because of illness.

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What if you don't feel sick enough for the ER, but still want to know if you have COVID-19 so you don't spread the germs around? Mike Pence announced that there are no more restrictions on who can get tested.

A health-worker I heard on the radio said that currently Covid-19 testing kits cost
in the thousands of dollars apiece, ( what was said was ~$3,000.00 ) so don't be
frivolous or take that lightly. Whatever the cost there is little point to do that
anyway.

Masks can be helpful mostly for sick people to prevent them from spreading
germs. A mask will not necessarily do much to prevent one getting a cold, flu
or Coronavirus, though if a mask reduces touching of the fact maybe it is not
a bad idea, it just is not a necessity.

The biggest risk is for people who have close to severe flu-like symptoms and
other risk factors such as heart disease, high blood-pressure, diabetes, etc.

We have all heard and been told that this disease spreads much faster than
the flu, and the death rate is around 20 times worse than the flu so far - IN
CHINA, but it is still a small number affecting people in poor health or with
risk factors.

Let's focus on being thoughful and considerate and on the people who are at
risk. The rest of us do not have to go overboard or crazy.

That said there are two things I believe.

1. Donald Trump's attempts to cut costs in government buy getting rid of or
defunding departments that are meant to manage risks such as this was
very thoughtless and dangerous. Read Michael Lewis's "The Fifth Risk".

2. Like the idea or the cost or not, Universal Health Care For All is something
that like vaccinations or good teaching good hygiene would benefit all of
us. It is not wise or economic to roll out health care strategies at the last
minute for a few to try to turn around something that is a global pandemic.

TV news last night showed two big tents outside a San Jose hospital designed for those who think they might have the virus. In Scotland, there are drive through testing centers where people don't even get out the car to be tested.

Why are we not being told realistically what to do? We don't want covid 19 patients infecting everyone in the ER waiting rooms. They need to be kept away from general population since they could be spreading the virus.

Let's get these tents or drive through centers up and running.

>> Covid-19 testing kits cost in the thousands of dollars apiece, (what was said was ~$3,000.00)

^^So what.. just let the health insurance companies pay for the kits (less a $20.00 patient co=pay). The insurance companies have been ripping policy holders off for decades.

And tax-payers can fund the tests being administered via county social services or Medicaid.

It's money well spent...compared to military budgets.

Declare war on coronavirus instead.

> And tax-payers can fund the tests being administered via county social services or Medicaid.

In your haste to defend your wasteful and inefficient position that everyone should rush and be tested, I don't think you read or understood my comment.

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The CDC Coronavirus page is here:
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Summary - Web Link

Here is what the CDC has to say as regards testing:
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers - Web Link

Should I be tested for COVID-19?:
Call your healthcare professional if you feel sick with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing, and have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19, or if you live in or have recently traveled from an area with ongoing spread of COVID-19.

Your healthcare professional will work with your state’s public health department and CDC to determine if you need to be tested for COVID-19.

--

It is counter-productive to urge everyone to go get tested and bother health care worker who have a lot on their hands at this time.