Covid-19 crisis Death from pneumonia
Each year, 3 million people die from pneumonia world wide. Most of the deceased were elderly people who suffered lung infection by a germ.

The covid-19 virus may be a new strain of the virus, but even if it does not appear, many people who still have died from pneumonia.

Even though there is vaccine for the common flu and other known virus, it does not stop the 3 million deaths in a year. 

The covid-19 virus has caused 11,000 deaths over the past three months. This is not an alarming figure, compared to the 3 million that die yearly from pneumonia. It is likely that the deaths from the covid-19 virus came from the 3 million. Most of them would have died from the other virus, if not from covid-19.

There is a fear that the covid-19 is contagious. But this is also the case of some of the other virus. The contagion and deaths is not exceptional.

I suspect that there are many strains of germs causing pneumonia leading to deaths over the past years. The population lived with the fatalities and accepted them as being part of life. 

The covid-19 virus received special attention due to the action taken by the China government to lock down the city of Wuhan. If this action was not taken, the covid-19 virus could be treated like many of its cousins and are ignored as being a part of life.

Some people said that if China did not take strong action, the epidemic could have become much worse. 

We can look at the western countries. They now suffer large numbers of infections and deaths. This can be blamed to their lack of action and preparation in the early days.

But the total number of 7,000 deaths outside of China is not a staggering number, when it is compared to the 3 million that die from pneumonia each year. 

The measures taken by many countries, to lock down its population and confined them in their homes for several weeks may be rather extreme. It may not be necessary.

I support the hygiene habits and social distancing. This is sensible and does not cause much harm to the economy.

But I do not support the extreme measures, such as banning of international travel or the panic and fear that has caused a lot of avoidable harm.

Nevertheless, the lockdown actions have been taken. I hope that they help to eliminate the virus significantly. If not, we can wait for the vaccine and cure to be ready.

In the worse case, we can accept the deaths from covid-19 as being part of the 3 million deaths that have become a part of our lives. 

Tan Kin Lian




 

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