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        general >> psychology >> Why do people afraid of Corona?
        
(Message started by: jordan on Feb 29^th, 2020, 12:32pm)

Title: Why do people afraid of Corona?
Post by jordan on Feb 29^th, 2020, 12:32pm

Casual flu kills more people every year than Corona. So why do people are so afraid of this virus?

Title: Re: Why do people afraid of Corona?
Post by towr on Mar 3^rd, 2020, 10:44pm

There is still a lot of uncertainty about the corona virus / covid-19. And the fatality rate is one such unknown. The latest estimate I've seen is still in the 1-3% range, while for seasonal flu it's 0.1% (in the US). Now, of course a lot of mild covid-19 cases might not have been counted, so the fatality rate might be as low as flu, or even lower. But we don't actually know.
In addition, covid-19 is a new virus in the human population; unlike flu, nobody has immunity from exposure to similar strains. That means in a full-blown pandemic, up to 5 times as many people may get the virus. So even if the fatality rate were half that of flu, 2.5 times as many people might die from it.
Those are two of the reasons the World Health Organization is so caution about this virus (and other new unknown viruses when they crop up). In all likelihood things won't be the worst-case scenario, but you will only find that out in retrospect.

Of course the real reason people are afraid, is because of the non-stop media-coverage and the lack of perspective people have. The same reason some people are afraid of flying even though it's the safest form of transport. Every plane-crash makes the news, and barely a fraction of car-crashes do.

Title: Re: Why do people afraid of Corona?
Post by Grimbal on Mar 5^th, 2020, 2:42am

The other problem is that there is no specific treatment against covid-19.

Normally when you get flu, you have good chances to heal naturally. Doctors would just treat the symptoms.

In some cases, especially with elderly people, this is not enough. Doctors must treat the virus itself. For common flu treatments are available.
For covid-19 ther is no treatment yet. If you get covid-19 and your body can't deal with it then there is no second line of defense.