From what I understand, people can be carriers and not have symptoms. Also, it is speculated that people in the U.S. had it as soon as November but since the healthcare system knew nothing about it, diagnosed it as respiratory stress and other things.
That’s a very valuable comment pointing to the complexity of the situation. What we are currently doing in trying not to replicate what is happening in Italy as we "speak". They’re experiencing the effects of inactivity at a critical time.
Let me just say that I am not a virologist like Redfield from the CDC or an immunologist like Fauci from the NIAID or even an epidemiologist. These are the people we should be listening to!!!
I have been doing life science research since 1985 and this is unprecedented. What people don’t understand is that this is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Other recent COVID outbreaks like SARS and MERS or the H1N1 variants that caused the 1918 and swine event have been much more virulent and showed quickly while this seems to fester in asymptomatic individuals and then shows itself in the vulnerable population or generation. What we are currently doing is trying to essentially save a generation. That’s pretty blunt but it’s the truth. While it may not affect “you”, you may pass it to someone who passes it to someone etc who eventually passes it on to someone you love and who can’t fight it. I can hope we didn’t wait too long. It seems our "leaders" were more concerned about the economy that the people.
I would much rather look back a year or two from now and say, “wow, we probably got a little carried away with all the precautions”, than to look back and say “wow, if we only did more…”
Peace and health to everyone.