Comments About Coronavirus

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If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen some tweets sent to me that played down the threat of the coronavirus. I'd like to make some comments here because I believe this is an important topic.
  • As meteorologists know better than anyone, forecasting the future is hard. We are in just the first ten days of this in the United States. Whether it is a "big deal" will not be known for at least another 2 to 4 weeks. 
  • Depending on the source, coronavirus appears to be 10 to 25 times more lethal than influenza. That is a huge difference and makes corona highly dangerous, especially for those above the age of 60 or who have other medical issues. 
  • No, coronavirus is not a minor problem because influenza killed 38,000 so far this year. Again, we don't know how many cornonavirus is going to kill. But, regardless, that contention misses the point. The people who died had the option of getting a flu shot. While the flu shot is not completely effective, it offers some protection. That option is not available with coronavirus.
So, please, take the coronavirus seriously. You can find some interesting information here.

And, if you wish to follow me on Twitter, it is @usweatherexpert. 

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