The Courtesy of the Chinese Will Save Us From the Coronavirus.
Have faith in humanity — it may just surprise you.
In every outbreak story ever told, there is a rising degree of panic. Things unfold quickly. There is very rarely a focus on the people doing the spreading. This is of course if you ignore the wild west style zombie flicks where people soaking in blood hurdle themselves through the streets.
Starting in the 20th century, the Chinese developed a custom based on courtesy. This concept of courtesy towards others is well ingrained and it continued into the world of health. One of the most obvious examples of this is the idea that they should wear a mask if they are sick. This is truly a wonderful example of kindness and one that I wish more cultures would embrace.
Currently, there is a raging epidemic on our hands. The new Coronavirus from Wuhan is infected thousands and killing an unknown percentage. As a person who vastly overestimates their risk to possible health issues — this is a concern of mine.
So after days, of ridiculous research and far too much searching and escalation of my concerns — I’ve made a decision that it will be alright for the rest of the world. This is of course, because the Chinese as a whole are concerned about hurting others when they can.
The obvious caveat here is that this disease can spread without symptoms.
But for those who are also concerned, and who happen to live in America — this is my analysis. It’s good and bad, but I hope — filled with warranted positivity.
First the bad.
There are currently about 10,000 reported cases in the world. Due to the difficulty of getting a test kit — https://www.businessinsider.sg/wuhan-coronavirus-china-shortage-test-kits-lottery-2020-1/ this is likely a vast underestimate.
The death rate has been predicted at 2.2%. This seems horrible to guess at this stage due to the high number of new cases in the last week — under a 1000 on the 23rd. People have just not had time to die — this was a horrible sentence to to write.
It can take up to 14 days to become sick. This means, we are only eight days past the point Wuhan cut off travel. This by the way was a remarkable feat by the Chinese. The world will forever be in debt to them. I realize some here may say, “it was their markets that caused it”. I would say the virus came from a select few bad apples. The possible step towards a solution was from their culture. In America there would be far more riots if a city was put on lock down. Well, maybe. I guess I don’t know and I hope I never find out.
Now the Good… if you aren’t in China.
There have been no deaths outside of China and the cases I’ve read about have been mild. The best example has been in Germany. Best if relative, but still. Two people were infected by a woman who had no symptoms. Then one of those two infected two more before he had symptoms. This isn’t good news, but the good news is that he recovered in a matter of days. He still tested positive for the virus after feeling better, so I don’t know how bad this might be, but he seems to have recovered in a short period. The others who have been infected in the same situation show the same mild ailment. The cases in the US seem to be similar. This is wonderful news and points towards the possibility that the negativity surrounding the cases in Wuhan come from other medical conditions and/or horrible air quality. On thing to keep in mind here is that each of these cases developed in a matter of 2–3 days. So perhaps 14 days happens, they were all much quicker. This seems positive as well.
And now, onward towards why I am commending the Chinese. On January 23rd Wuhan was closed. Just under 1000 were confirmed at the time. Now, there were still flights to the US from China before and after this. But my hope is that these entering individuals would stay home if they’d been sick. In a culture that goes out of their way to protect others, I have to believe that the only people traveling to the US, and who were sick, would be people that didn’t know they were sick. Hell, they may have even stayed anyway if others around them were.
I write this because I’ve been concerned by the numbers on the CDC site. They seem to move so slowly. I don’t know why I am fully expecting an explosion in cases, but perhaps this is just how my mind works. So, I’ve had a choice. Believe there is some kind of controlled release of information to prepare us for something insurmountable. Or, to have faith in the Chinese that they stayed home and very few traveled far from home.
Only time will tell, but I’m fighting to have faith in humanity. I’m also extremely hopeful that we all get to move on from this concern.
