There is a lot of confusion about how to best survive the COVID-19 pandemic. This need not be. There is a rational way of analyzing the situation that leads to a best course of action for individual people as well as for entire nations. It’s really not that hard to determine what course of action leads to the best result.
Sometimes a picture can bring reality into focus in an instant. The snapshot accompanying this article expresses the undeniable facts about the current COVID-19 pandemic. The key takeaways are:
- The epidemic started in Wuhan, China. After initially downplaying the problem, the Chinese government clamped down hard, essentially shutting down the country. After a couple of months, this started to work and the exponentially rising confirmed death curve started to flatten out. By late March, new deaths have dropped precipitously.
- South Korea saw what was happening in China and immediately started a massive testing program to halt the disease before it could establish itself in their country. This worked. The disease has been controlled.
- Italy is suffering a horrendous death toll and the disease continues to accelerate exponentially.
- Spain is following on the same trajectory as Italy, a couple of weeks delayed.
- The death toll in the United States is ramping up exponentially, like that of Italy and Spain.
More than ten percent of Italy’s confirmed cases have already died. Almost seven and a half percent of Spain’s cases have already died. The United States appears to be on a path to follow Italy and Spain.
What is the rational course of action?
Social distancing.
You cannot acquire the virus unless you are near enough to an infected person for the virus to fly through the air and land on you, or unless you touch something that an infected person has touched within the past few days.
You know the drill. Act on it.
- Stay home
- Wash hands thoroughly and often
- Disinfect surfaces
- Don’t touch you face
- Don’t shake hands. Perhaps a slight bow or a Vulcan salute is a good alternative.
- It’s okay to go out for a walk or a jog, but stay at least six feet away from anyone you encounter
- Isolate yourself if you feel sick
- Cough into your elbow rather than into the air
- Be ready for the long haul. This disease is not going to miraculously disappear after 15 days. If everyone practices social distancing and businesses stay shut down, we may be able to follow China out of our national shutdown. For them, it has taken a couple of months, before they have cautiously started to open things up. It will probably take longer for the USA, where people are still receiving mixed messages from government pronouncements.
BIO:
Allen G. Taylor is a 40-year veteran of the computer industry and the author of over 40 books, including Develop Microsoft HoloLens Apps Now, Get Fit with Apple Watch, Cruise for Free, SQL For Dummies, 9th Edition, Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies, Database Development For Dummies, Access Power Programming with VBA, and SQL All-In-One For Dummies, Third Edition. He lectures internationally on astronomy, databases, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He also teaches database development and Crystal Reports through a leading online education provider. For the latest news on Allen’s activities, check out his blog at wwwallengtaylor.com or contact him at allen.taylor@ieee.org.