COVID-19 Coronavirus and Lung Health: What can you do?

this reply is for the general Mayo public and no one specifically. I apologize upfront for any offense I will cause in stating my passionate.beliefs. I'm 65 with stage 3 COPD. Therefore, I'm one of the enhanced risk of death people (from the coronavirus) virus. Nonetheless, I believe that our fear of contagion and serious health consequences, has resulted in unjustified and substantial damage to the majority of our population, specifically the younger (under 50) healthy population. Our fear however justified, (of contagion) has resulted in the following: shutting down many privately owned businesses throughout the country. It has resulted in the loss of employment for millions of young working people, many have young children to support. It has resulted in the loss of 30% of the wealth of those invested in the stock markets. It will result in hundreds of billions in payouts to various industries to stave off bankruptcies that would probably plunge the country into a depression. And economics aside, It has significantly eroded the quality of life for many younger people by shutting down: night clubs, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, museums, hotels, casinos, health clubs, family gatherings, even ocean front beaches. Is it self-centered to force our younger population to pay that price for our fears? Realize, the chance of dying from the coronavirus is .02% for those 40 and under and .04% for those 40-50.. By comparison, the risk of death for those 20 and under from "regular" influenza is .41%. Therefore, this panic response is not about them but us. And is it a rational response? The, admittedly scant, data concludes casual contact will not result in contagion. Medical experts have consistently stated they either don't believe or have no proof to conclude that just touching surfaces touched by infected people will cause contagion-especially if we practice proper hand cleaning before touching our face. If we are that scared couldn't we choose self-isolation and refuse direct contact with others instead of demanding that all others make substantial quality of life sacrifices? Further, I thought the way a community builds up immunity or resistance to a "novel" virus is through interaction (assuming the virus isn't deadly). Even for the group at enhanced risk, like me, we have the right to live as we did before the virus if we are willing to assume the risks and don't force others to assume those same risks. It is a quality of life issue, and as such as adults we have the obligation to make informed choices. Here, the State has once again made those choices for us. If they are so wise, why didn't they do more to preempt this virus? I appreciate any objective criticisms. I'm biased and therefore, prone to make logical errors in my arguments. And again, I apologize for any appearance of disrespect to anyone on this site.

What we're doing to our younger people may be less important than what we are teaching them. We're teaching them, to panic, be fearful, suspicious, reactionary and mostly self absorbed. When it's over, the virus (which is probably less dangerous than sars or even h1n1) will be less damaging than the lesson we left them.

I have to respectfully disagree. What my kids are learning from this is that as a country, we can band together to protect our weakest citizens and make small personal sacrifices for the greater good. Yes, some people are panicking but my kids are not. They are figuring out how to adapt to an unpredictable situation and take care of each other and their neighbors. As parents, I think that the example we set is important. The example that I am setting is to be calm and follow the advice of experts. Of course, it helps that my kids are all college educated and my daughter could explain the micro biology of coronaviruses to us.

this reply is for the general Mayo public and no one specifically. I apologize upfront for any offense I will cause in stating my passionate.beliefs. I'm 65 with stage 3 COPD. Therefore, I'm one of the enhanced risk of death people (from the coronavirus) virus. Nonetheless, I believe that our fear of contagion and serious health consequences, has resulted in unjustified and substantial damage to the majority of our population, specifically the younger (under 50) healthy population. Our fear however justified, (of contagion) has resulted in the following: shutting down many privately owned businesses throughout the country. It has resulted in the loss of employment for millions of young working people, many have young children to support. It has resulted in the loss of 30% of the wealth of those invested in the stock markets. It will result in hundreds of billions in payouts to various industries to stave off bankruptcies that would probably plunge the country into a depression. And economics aside, It has significantly eroded the quality of life for many younger people by shutting down: night clubs, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, museums, hotels, casinos, health clubs, family gatherings, even ocean front beaches. Is it self-centered to force our younger population to pay that price for our fears? Realize, the chance of dying from the coronavirus is .02% for those 40 and under and .04% for those 40-50.. By comparison, the risk of death for those 20 and under from "regular" influenza is .41%. Therefore, this panic response is not about them but us. And is it a rational response? The, admittedly scant, data concludes casual contact will not result in contagion. Medical experts have consistently stated they either don't believe or have no proof to conclude that just touching surfaces touched by infected people will cause contagion-especially if we practice proper hand cleaning before touching our face. If we are that scared couldn't we choose self-isolation and refuse direct contact with others instead of demanding that all others make substantial quality of life sacrifices? Further, I thought the way a community builds up immunity or resistance to a "novel" virus is through interaction (assuming the virus isn't deadly). Even for the group at enhanced risk, like me, we have the right to live as we did before the virus if we are willing to assume the risks and don't force others to assume those same risks. It is a quality of life issue, and as such as adults we have the obligation to make informed choices. Here, the State has once again made those choices for us. If they are so wise, why didn't they do more to preempt this virus? I appreciate any objective criticisms. I'm biased and therefore, prone to make logical errors in my arguments. And again, I apologize for any appearance of disrespect to anyone on this site.

@joelars, I think I can understand why you feel passionate about this, although I will admit that we probably won't agree on the facts of the situation. I have minimal underlying conditions myself, so I suspect that I would survive a case of covid-19 but having had Influenza in the past, I don't relish the thought. I spent last weekend with my 20-something children and they are remarkably calm about this and okay with sacrificing some social life for the common good. Yes, there will be economic impacts to all of this but we have lived through difficult times before and we can get through this. The goal of shutting down public life is to "flatten the curve" of people going into our hospitals so that we don't have a huge surge of patients and run out of bed space or ventilators. In Italy, people are stacked in hallways and doctors are having to decide who gets treated and who does not. If we can slow down the spread of the virus, hopefully we can avoid that happening here and there will be care for everyone who needs it.

So true, love thy neighbors! Before this whole thing exploded, I have been taking my 80 years old neighbor to the doctors and grocery store or just need to because she no longer drive. Uber is expensive! She lives alone and her siblings are far away. Since my son will do my grocery shopping if necessary, I told her to start making a list too and my son will get them for her. My children are worried about me and we stayed informed from the right sources, there are so much misinformation out there. Just because it's on the internet doesn't make it true.

this reply is for the general Mayo public and no one specifically. I apologize upfront for any offense I will cause in stating my passionate.beliefs. I'm 65 with stage 3 COPD. Therefore, I'm one of the enhanced risk of death people (from the coronavirus) virus. Nonetheless, I believe that our fear of contagion and serious health consequences, has resulted in unjustified and substantial damage to the majority of our population, specifically the younger (under 50) healthy population. Our fear however justified, (of contagion) has resulted in the following: shutting down many privately owned businesses throughout the country. It has resulted in the loss of employment for millions of young working people, many have young children to support. It has resulted in the loss of 30% of the wealth of those invested in the stock markets. It will result in hundreds of billions in payouts to various industries to stave off bankruptcies that would probably plunge the country into a depression. And economics aside, It has significantly eroded the quality of life for many younger people by shutting down: night clubs, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, museums, hotels, casinos, health clubs, family gatherings, even ocean front beaches. Is it self-centered to force our younger population to pay that price for our fears? Realize, the chance of dying from the coronavirus is .02% for those 40 and under and .04% for those 40-50.. By comparison, the risk of death for those 20 and under from "regular" influenza is .41%. Therefore, this panic response is not about them but us. And is it a rational response? The, admittedly scant, data concludes casual contact will not result in contagion. Medical experts have consistently stated they either don't believe or have no proof to conclude that just touching surfaces touched by infected people will cause contagion-especially if we practice proper hand cleaning before touching our face. If we are that scared couldn't we choose self-isolation and refuse direct contact with others instead of demanding that all others make substantial quality of life sacrifices? Further, I thought the way a community builds up immunity or resistance to a "novel" virus is through interaction (assuming the virus isn't deadly). Even for the group at enhanced risk, like me, we have the right to live as we did before the virus if we are willing to assume the risks and don't force others to assume those same risks. It is a quality of life issue, and as such as adults we have the obligation to make informed choices. Here, the State has once again made those choices for us. If they are so wise, why didn't they do more to preempt this virus? I appreciate any objective criticisms. I'm biased and therefore, prone to make logical errors in my arguments. And again, I apologize for any appearance of disrespect to anyone on this site.

In Italy Nobody are stacked in hallways and all the people gets treated. We have public health system, rich and poor get the same attention. We don't pay for health.