I'm not trying to be the bearer of bad news and I certainly have no love for Xi "Pooh" Jingping, but after reading the WHO China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Report once Dictator Pooh put out the order for everyone to contain and control the virus they implemented operations on a scale and tenacity that no other country will be able to reproduce.
The U.S. has still done absolutely nothing but close borders and claim it is a foreign virus. It has spread to all parts of the U.S. and there is no possible way to contain and control it without governments at all levels assuming full control and enforcing very strict restrictions which most Americans will never go for.
COVID-19 is not the flu, it does not spread through children the same way and in fact, hardly affects them whatsoever. The elderly, in turn, are inversely affected when it comes to degree of symptoms and casualty rate. The casualty rate for people with preexisting conditions is also higher.
These statistics are ONLY for CHINA through February 11th. There were 0 deaths for children under 10 and only 1 for ages 10-19, but a nearly 15% death rate for people aged 80+. In terms of preexisting conditions Cardiovascular disease leads the case fatality rate at 10%.
! | Baseline characteristics | Confirmed cases,
N (%) | Deaths,
N (%) | Case fatality
rate, % | Observed time,
PD | Mortality,
per 10 PD |
| Overall | 44,672 | 1,023 | 2.3 | 661,609 | 0.015 |
| Age, years | | | | | |
| 0–9 | 416 (0.9) | − | − | 4,383 | − |
| 10–19 | 549 (1.2) | 1 (0.1) | 0.2 | 6,625 | 0.002 |
| 20–29 | 3,619 (8.1) | 7 (0.7) | 0.2 | 53,953 | 0.001 |
| 30–39 | 7,600 (17.0) | 18 (1.8) | 0.2 | 114,550 | 0.002 |
| 40–49 | 8,571 (19.2) | 38 (3.7) | 0.4 | 128,448 | 0.003 |
| 50–59 | 10,008 (22.4) | 130 (12.7) | 1.3 | 151,059 | 0.009 |
| 60–69 | 8,583 (19.2) | 309 (30.2) | 3.6 | 128,088 | 0.024 |
| 70–79 | 3,918 (8.8) | 312 (30.5) | 8.0 | 55,832 | 0.056 |
| ≥80 | 1,408 (3.2) | 208 (20.3) | 14.8 | 18,671 | 0.111 |
| Sex | | | | | |
| Male | 22,981 (51.4) | 653 (63.8) | 2.8 | 342,063 | 0.019 |
| Female | 21,691 (48.6) | 370 (36.2) | 1.7 | 319,546 | 0.012 |
| Occupation | | | | | |
| Service industry | 3,449 (7.7) | 23 (2.2) | 0.7 | 54,484 | 0.004 |
| Farmer/laborer | 9,811 (22.0) | 139 (13.6) | 1.4 | 137,992 | 0.010 |
| Health worker | 1,716 (3.8) | 5 (0.5) | 0.3 | 28,069 | 0.002 |
| Retiree | 9,193 (20.6) | 472 (46.1) | 5.1 | 137,118 | 0.034 |
| Other/none | 20,503 (45.9) | 384 (37.5) | 1.9 | 303,946 | 0.013 |
| Province | | | | | |
| Hubei | 33,367 (74.7) | 979 (95.7) | 2.9 | 496,523 | 0.020 |
| Other | 11,305 (25.3) | 44 (4.3) | 0.4 | 165,086 | 0.003 |
| Wuhan-related exposure* | | | | | |
| Yes | 31,974 (85.8) | 853 (92.8) | 2.7 | 486,612 | 0.018 |
| No | 5,295 (14.2) | 66 (7.2) | 1.2 | 71,201 | 0.009 |
| Missing | 7,403 | 104 | 2.8 | 103,796 | 0.010 |
| Comorbid condition† | | | | | |
| Hypertension | 2,683 (12.8) | 161 (39.7) | 6.0 | 42,603 | 0.038 |
| Diabetes | 1,102 (5.3) | 80 (19.7) | 7.3 | 17,940 | 0.045 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 873 (4.2) | 92 (22.7) | 10.5 | 13,533 | 0.068 |
| Chronic respiratory disease | 511 (2.4) | 32 (7.9) | 6.3 | 8,083 | 0.040 |
| Cancer (any) | 107 (0.5) | 6 (1.5) | 5.6 | 1,690 | 0.036 |
| None | 15,536 (74.0) | 133 (32.8) | 0.9 | 242,948 | 0.005 |
| Missing | 23,690 (53.0) | 617 (60.3) | 2.6 | 331,843 | 0.019 |
| Case severity§ | | | | | |
| Mild | 36,160 (80.9) | − | − | − | − |
| Severe | 6,168 (13.8) | − | − | − | − |
| Critical | 2,087 (4.7) | 1,023 (100) | 49.0 | 31,456 | 0.325 |
| Missing | 257 (0.6) | − | − | − | − |
| Period (by date of onset) | | | | | |
| Before Dec 31, 2019 | 104 (0.2) | 15 (1.5) | 14.4 | 5,142 | 0.029 |
| Jan 1–10, 2020 | 653 (1.5) | 102 (10.0) | 15.6 | 21,687 | 0.047 |
| Jan 11–20, 2020 | 5,417 (12.1) | 310 (30.3) | 5.7 | 130,972 | 0.024 |
| Jan 21–31, 2020 | 26,468 (59.2) | 494 (48.3) | 1.9 | 416,009 | 0.012 |
| After Feb 1, 2020 | 12,030 (26.9) | 102 (10.0) | 0.8 | 87,799 | 0.012 |
Unfortunately Italy's elderly population accounts for a much larger portion of their total population compared to other countries so the number of deaths will be proportionally higher. Communities with large elderly populations will be the worst hit so require the most extreme restrictions and precautions when working to protect them.
I know people don't understand why self isolation for perfectly healthy individuals is required as my parents were complaining about it and I had to explain it to them. Just because you are healthy now does not mean you will not contract the virus from someone else and continue to pass it to others before you even realize you have it. Every time the virus jumps to a new person it extends its lifespan and you might not personally come into contact with an elderly person or someone with preexisting conditions, but what of the person you infect who has a grandparent at home they help care for. My grandmother is 96 and lives with my uncle's family, who is a dentist, who literally sticks his hands in peoples' mouths everyday. This isn't some plot to inconvenience your daily lives, it is literally about not propagating a virus that could kill people.