Nobody wants the reminder. I certainly don't
want there to be pandemics. It's more a reminder on a personal level of how really small and not in control of everything we all are (including our self-important government). How quickly things can change. I've spent more time with my parents and enjoyed watching them with my kids more now than ever before. It's nice to get the reminder that life is finite and to enjoy those you love for as long as you can. They seem to appreciate it more as well.
I don't think things will change on a national level, except maybe going to war with China (or someone else) once more information is gathered about its origination. But I hope I'm wrong on both counts.
No, I was referring to the media and certain politicians. They love to report on the most sensational, least rational, and greatest money generating points of view they can find.
Valid point. There are definitely differences between the seasonal flu and cov19. But there are similarities as well. The quote below from health.com shows how many people die (estimated) of flu each year according to the CDC and there is a range associated with the numbers as well, they are giving the estmate, while the CDC's website shows the whole range.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html
I definitely think the number for cov-19 will be higher than the seasonal flu, for reasons you mentioned (no vaccine, treatments). But it is not going to be catastrophic. As Andrew pointed out, it disproportionately affects the elderly just like the flu. Especially those with pre-existing conditions. If there has to be a silver lining, it looks like cov-19 might be less deadly to children than the flu.
All valid points. We are still learning about this. But don't let the "permanent damage" fear take hold yet. It could be true, we don't know. It's only been a few months. And it might only be in like .05% of cases if there is permanent damage... or it could be in 10% of cases. We don't know.
But as someone who has had walking pneumonia for a year without knowing (I have really large lungs and it took that long to progress and fill up with fluid enough to affect my breathing) and developed scar tissue in my lungs. With therapy and exercise, it does heal. My last set of films showed my lungs nice and clear again and I no longer wheeze on deep breaths. Smokers are also able to clear their lungs from years of damage after they quit. My sister was a lifelong smoker and would hack and gag all the time. She quit about a year ago, sounds like a totally different person.
^Now that above paragraph is unrelated to cov-19 per se, but the human body can repair itself to an amazing degree.