“But this is not a flu virus it is a corona virus;”
Coronavirus is a flu virus. Flu is just a catch-all term for about 100 viruses that live ‘in the wild,’ causing seasonal illnesses. Many but not all of them have been identified. Glasgow University has been tracking about 10 of the ones they have tests for, recording their fluctuations year to year. Variations of coronavirus have constituted about 10% of the flu viruses for as long as they have been testing. Covid-19 is just one of many variants of coronavirus.
“The major differences is that SARS-cov2 presents classically with a dry cough and after a period of time of 5-7 days, may progress in some individuals to a severe form of what is called interstitial pneumonia, which is different from what happens in flu.”
All flus are liable to cause respiratory problems. The virus lives in the lungs. “one-third of pneumonia cases develop from a respiratory virus, with the flu the most common of those.”
“Not all Flu viruses necessarily cause pandemics or for that matter not all viruses or other infectious agents. A pandemic is an epidemiological definition and it occurs when a highly contagious disease spreads quickly across the world. ”
All viruses spread easily. Depending on the type and symptoms, many will be pandemics, but we don’t usually bother labeling them as such because it is such a common occurrence.
“For example, we have had cholera, or bubonic plague localised outbreaks, but these did not evolve into pandemics.”
Cholera spreads through bacteria not virus, usually through contact with infected feces, it is not airborne. Bubonic plague is also a bacteria, but can be spread through coughs and sneezes – it caused one of the worst pandemics in human history.
I’ve been reading your answer and responding as I go, but now I have reached a point where you are just saying “Covid is not flu therefore I discount Node’s opinion,” and then you become insulting and sarcastic. You stop responding to what I actually said, and instead imagine what a ‘conspiracy theorist’ might believe and respond to that. So much for polite discourse. I’ll leave it there.