Is FEAR MORE HARMFUL than WUFLU? - Andrew Strom
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
by Andrew Strom
As I wrote 2 weeks ago, I have been carefully monitoring the best
information that I can find on this fast-spreading illness. I continue
to believe that it is FEAR and PANIC that will ultimately do far
more damage than the thing itself.
What happens when everything shuts down? Entire livelihoods and
economies are lost. If it goes on long enough, the losses become
permanent - and people are hit enormously hard. Many of them
may never recover. Entire regions are drastically affected. And
what is it that is doing this damage? Mostly it is FEAR and PANIC -
more than the thing itself.
As I said 2 weeks ago, all signs point to this illness being highly
contagious - yet low-fatality. The vast majority of people will
experience it simply as a "cold" or sniffle. Only if it gets deep in
the lungs can it become dangerous.
A few facts that may be new to you-
(1) Most of the victims are older men. (70% male).
(2) Half of all men in China have a smoking habit. (Is this proven
to make the disease worse? - YES!)
(3) Like SARS, this disease attaches onto the "ACE-2" receptor
cells in the lungs. This makes it worse for smokers and also
(sadly) worse for Asian males - who have up to 5 TIMES the
number of ACE-2 cells in their lungs.
(4) This is a tragedy for Asia (which is a part of the world that
I love) - but is NOT YET proven to be a tragedy for the rest of
the world.
(5) PLEASE NOTE that there have been very few fatalities
outside China.
(6) Deaths from SARS were (tragically) 96% Asian.
I personally love Asia - and I also recognize that if Asia shuts
down, the economy of the rest of the world will go into a tailspin.
In fact, the ECONOMIC destruction from this thing could end up
killing more people worldwide than the illness itself. And a lot of
that is down to FEAR.
It is fear that shuts down schools and offices and businesses
and everything else. Could such a "shut-down" happen where
you are? YES. Which is why stocking up on some food and
water may be a good idea. (BTW - Hand-washing is the best
preventative measure by far).
But at the end of the day - since this thing is so contagious - it
would not surprise me if it goes everywhere and infects everyone.
Only a small fraction are at actual risk of death. In fact, this may
simply become a yearly part of the winter-illness cycle. Would
not surprise me at all. But FEAR can make all of this much,
much worse.
Already, some people are behaving HALF-CRAZY over this thing.
Don't be one of them, my friends.
Be calm, stay safe, and God bless you all.
Andrew Strom.