COVID

 “What’s the big deal? 98% of everyone who has come down with COVID-19 has recovered.” 

More and more people are quoting this misinformation. Of course the 98% survival rate is accurate. The recovered part is misleading. They may have survived but many will never recover completely. However the real misleading part of the quote is what is missing — context.

98% of the people who have contracted COVID-19 have survived their first infection. The context is that all of them had access to a ventilator. If we all have access to a ventilator, that statistic should remain accurate. As long as we spread out the infection, we should be able to ensure everyone has access. However, if we do not respect the pandemic and allow the infection rate to climb, we will find ourselves in the same situation that Italy found itself in at the beginning of the pandemic —  not enough ventilators to go around. That is when we will see the survival rate drop.

The concern with a pandemic is about the number of lives it takes, not the number of people who survive. It is easy to gloss over the danger a pandemic poses for a population if you lose sight of the main issue. Finite resources + large percentage of population needing resources = death.

It is in your best interest to not get infected. However if you are going to get infected, it is in your best interest to not get infected at the same time as everyone else. There is a reason why wearing a mask and taking precautions help people survive the pandemic. Your actions today could impact your survival tomorrow.

“We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” - Donald Trump (February 2020)