[Taxacom] Coronavirus

[Draney, Michael]

HI Ken,



Well, so far not many deaths....but among the detected cases so far, the mortality rate is on the rate of 2-4%, much higher than most influenza strains.   Admittedly, many Chinese cases are surely uncounted, and many of the less severe cases don't present at hospitals.  But there's definitely pandemic possibility here.



Mike D.



Michael L. Draney

Barbara Hauxhurst Cofrin Professor of Natural Sciences

............................................................................................

Chair, Department of Natural & Applied Sciences

Laboratory Sciences Room 461

UW-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311

tel: 920-465-2270  |  email: draneym at uwgb.edu


Dear All,

      The news media seems to be overly hyping the threat of the new coronovirus.  However, the threat might not be any more than the related SARS virus (which killed about 800 people worldwide).  Furthermore, the threat of the flu is far greater (well over 8,000 deaths in the U.S. so far this season and probably hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide).  Hysteria like this could needlessly divert resources from detecting something even more deadly (which could cause a real pandemic).

       Quote:  "When we think about the relative danger of this new coronavirus and influenza, there's just no comparison," William Schaffner, a vaccine expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Kaiser Health News (KHN)<https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fkhn.org%2Fnews%2Fflu-far-deadlier-than-wuhan-virus%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cdraneym%40uwgb.edu%7Cd16896b3d8804e648cc508d7a2d2cfdf%7C7fc34f9d1f754f96b5b33cdcaab03aea%7C0&sdata=zcvI%2F%2FjkpUCs4KrR%2Ba0X4WSJIxyxJlBe2sGybAO7p68%3D&reserved=0>. "Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison."

                                 --------------Ken Kinman



Source of quotes from William Schaffner:    https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fwuhan-coronavirus-lesser-threat-to-americans-than-flu-2020-1&data=01%7C01%7Cdraneym%40uwgb.edu%7Cd16896b3d8804e648cc508d7a2d2cfdf%7C7fc34f9d1f754f96b5b33cdcaab03aea%7C0&sdata=f11FHJerN38KgpKo33e2jmuuMuR71dZUT3nj7oGHIhA%3D&reserved=0