Real horror
Plague is often the basis of the horror films we watch. In the scripts, it usually moves from a bite or other contact with a carrier, which is a zombie, a mysterious animal, or an ordinary, asymptomatic person. Most often, three quarters of the film is devoted to the search for a vaccine, which is usually discovered by the main character by accident, saving the world from catastrophe.
And what is the scenario of our real plague that we are witnessing these days, or more precisely, participants in? The media and governments of our countries have written in the scenario of our plague that one particle of the virus is enough to get infected, and infection is equivalent to a death sentence, which is why you are not allowed to leave your home, because you want to live.
I know. After this previous sentence, most of you will condemn me for my honor and faith and say that I have lost my mind for criticizing the ban on leaving homes.
Despite this, I don't give up and continue writing.
Coronavirus is not an identically harmless virus like the flu. It kills, or perhaps a better word would be it accelerates death, much more than ordinary flu. However, we have come to believe that it is deadly to everyone - and this is not true. On TV, you can see cases of tragic deaths of young and healthy people. But does this mean that coronavirus kills young and healthy people? There are cases that it does. But if a doctor says on TV that coronavirus also kills young people and does not add that this does not apply to even a per mille of cases, then this is extremely irresponsible misleading and even manipulation. The death of a young, healthy, 21-year-old girl infected with coronavirus is a great tragedy, but if it is talked about, it is the speaker's duty to provide context, scale, numbers - otherwise, instead of describing the world, providing information, explaining what is happening, he arouses irrational, unnecessary, unhelpful fear.
The Italians have made statistics of deaths of people who died while infected with coronavirus at the time of death. It shows that the average age of these people is 79 years. Only one percent of these people were under 50, and of this one percent, most had other, serious diseases that could have caused their death. It follows that coronavirus does not kill young and healthy people. I do not want to say that there are no cases of deaths of young and healthy people caused by coronavirus - there are. But it is important that their number is small. It is not greater than the number of people who die as a result of car accidents or from the flu. And we do not stay at home because we are at risk of an accident or the flu.
I am not criticizing the stay-at-home orders, nor am I encouraging people to ignore them. These prohibitions, at the current stage of the epidemic, are necessary to contain the epidemic as much as possible. Whatever can be done to contain the epidemic - must be done. However, I believe that we need to approach matters completely differently.
A few days ago, I was traveling in Warsaw by metro and bus. It was about ten in the morning. On the metro, about every fifth seat was occupied, on the bus - every third. What is interesting, however, is that the vast majority of people were over sixty. Yes, stay-at-home orders are working, but based on observations of passengers of Warsaw public transport, it must be added that they work more on younger than older people. And this is where the problem lies. The coronavirus is a huge threat to the elderly and sick, and at the same time it is not, or is a very small threat to young and healthy people. That is why we, young and healthy people (I happen to fall into this group only partially), should stay at home, but only when we do not have loved ones who are elderly and sick. And it is not just about helping them with errands. The point is to isolate them from the world for the next few weeks, for the sake of their safety, and ensure that they do not leave home at all. In short, instead of the slogan "stay at home", I would rather hear the slogan "stay at home, but if you have elderly or sick relatives, do not stay at home and do not be afraid of the virus, because it is not dangerous to you, just ensure that your loved ones stay at home, because you will help them in this".
There is one more important issue. The Chinese defeated the coronavirus by isolating and locking people in their homes, closing not only pubs, cinemas, parks, schools but also factories. European countries are following a similar path. However, there is one country - Sweden - that has approached the matter differently. They are not closing factories there, or even schools or pubs. They prohibit gatherings of more than 500 people, and are isolating only the elderly and sick, but more thoroughly than we are. I do not know if this is a good idea at this stage of the epidemic and I do not encourage the rest of Europe to adopt the Swedish approach, at this stage of the epidemic. However, I know one thing, if the epidemic does not subside in the coming weeks, the world will have no choice but to adopt this Swedish model, otherwise we will die, but not because of the coronavirus, but because of a much more dangerous monster - the lack of means of subsistence.
