COVID-19 caught many —but not everyone— off guard. Bill Gates not only feared an influenza outbreak, he also warned about how ill-prepared we are in the event we were to experience such an outbreak. Today we can safely conclude his fears were justified. Watch his 2015 TED talk and be amazed by his foresight…
A special note for the ones kicking and screaming COVID-19 cannot be compared to influenza or the common cold:
COVID-19 is similar to the common cold in terms of it’s infectiousness and symptoms. The common cold is actually caused in 15% of cases by the coronavirus and in 10-15% of cases by the influenza virus.
There are differences of course. We are not sure of it’s mortality rate (current data suggests anywhere between 0.5 and 5.9%) as COVID-19 was only discovered in 2019. We also don’t have a vaccine yet.
The common cold is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. The most commonly implicated virus is a rhinovirus (30–80%), a type of picornavirus with 99 known serotypes. Other commonly implicated viruses include human coronavirus (≈ 15%), influenza viruses (10–15%), adenoviruses (5%), human respiratory syncytial virus (orthopneumovirus), enteroviruses other than rhinoviruses, human parainfluenza viruses, and human metapneumovirus. Frequently more than one virus is present. In total, more than 200 viral types are associated with colds. Wikipedia
What is Coronavirus according to the World Health Organisation?
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recently discovered coronavirus causes coronavirus disease COVID-19. WHO
Of course the above information doesn’t tell the whole story, yet, hopefully it brings in some perspective. The virus is bad but our preparedness is worse. I encourage everyone to do their own research and draw their own conclusions.