www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Reading some of the posts on the previous coronavirus thread was pretty disturbing. It was a typical instance where some guys debate a topic and one guy quotes what he sees on the news and another guy tells him its not true and/or asks for their source. I guess it goes back to seeing is believing. I normally don't post much on this site but I felt the need to say my peace on a few issues.

First of all, hopefully by now at least most of you guys realize this is a very real issue. I ask that we leave politics out of this and just deal with the message rather than the messenger. Truth is the truth regardless who tells it.

I am one of the people who is on the frontline of this crisis. I too initially did not take things that seriously due to previous viral scares over the past decades but this one is different. I see real people requiring life saving measures after contracting this virus. Gentlemen, people are dying. I have personally seen someone in their 40's without any medical issues have to get a ET tube stuck down his airway to breath for him a week after becoming ill when I initially thought it would only affect our older population. The majority of healthcare dollars in the US are spent on the patients above 60 with multiple medical problems. We see people who are basically slowly dying but we continue to provide the same aggressive care in spite knowing we will see them again in a few weeks or months for the same or similar issues that will only get worse over time.

Numbers can be misleading. If you look at the total number of cases of the flu and the number of deaths compared to coronavirus it seems as though the bigger threat is the flu. The reality is the flu was discovered almost 100 years ago. We know much more about it and what to expect. There is a vaccine for it that can prevent most people from getting it or at least decrease its severity if someone still becomes infected. In contrast, we are just learning about coronavirus. We have no vaccine for it so no immunity to it and are basically learning on the fly on how it affects us. So back to the numbers game. Yes, far more people have the flu each year. Yes, far more people die because of the flu compared to coronavirus. Now imagine if there were similar numbers of cases of coronavirus as the flu with a much higher death rate. You would be looking at millions of deaths worldwide not around 600,000 like the flu. Hence the importance of aggressively taking measures to combat the spread.

The trickle down effect of this virus is it overwhelming the healthcare system. People flooding ERs due to illness and yes some due to panic. People dying who didn't have to due to lack of resources or delay in care due to an overwhelmed system.

There is frequent talk of the impact of the Ticas in CR and I get it but what about the people here in the US who no longer have a job due to them being let go because they work in an industry who can no longer do business because of widespread closures.

People can chose to ignore the truth and gravity of the situation and focus more on the inconvenience it's caused. Just please stay away from me, my family and friends.

Well said. My granddaughter came back from working in a hospital in Europe. She saw bodies in the hallways, people on ventilators from this virus...and the body count climbing.

This is no flu. At the worst flu affects maybe 20% of the world population due to many people having immunity. And about 1/10th of 1% die.

This Covid 19 thing has not come close yet to affecting 20% of the world yet. But ...there is no known immunity to it. So if, when, it affects the whole world, and it is progressing to that...that up to 70% of the human race may get it...and the fatality is about 10 times higher than flu. Countries that stop it...and some have...can hope that a vaccine is developed to stop the 2nd and 3rd waves of this.

Thanks T4Place. Stay well.