Cruise ship case provides COVID data
There are all sorts of scare stories about the COVID-19 virus. As a retired biology major, I would like to point out some relevant facts that anyone with a computer can check out on their own.
We had an excellent test case with the Diamond Princess Cruise ship and all of the stats about that case are available on Wikipedia. There were 3,700 passengers and crew who were isolated on that boat. No one got off, and no one got on. A perfect test environment! A total of 696 people were infected, which is only 20 per cent of the population. Of the 696 who were infected, only seven died, and they were in their 70s or 80s. That is a one per cent death rate. And remember that the elderly are over-represented on cruise ships.
So there is no reason to panic over this variation of the flu. It is variation No. 19 of the standard and well-known Coronavirus.
Ian Cairns
Youbou