THE BEAST

"Everyone should watch at least the first 10 minutes of this. First 30 minutes is even better.
Joe Rogan hardly says a word during this, so if you're hung up about him, you're good. The expert he has on talking about Covid-19 is one of the world's leading infectious disease experts and researchers. His team has accurately predicted the timeline so far with Covid-19 and many other past outbreaks and pandemics.
Here's his credentials:
"Michael Osterholm is an internationally recognized expert in infectious disease epidemiology. He is Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, a professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota."
tl;dr cliffnotes:
– This is NOT like the seasonal flu.
– Seasonal flu mortality rate is ~1.6%. Covid-19 is over 3% now. Spanish Flu was 3.2-3.8% mortality rate. It won't be the same as Spanish Flu because we have better public health now, but this is what it looks like.
– This thing is gonna be around with us for at least the next 6 months.
– We are currently at the very beginning of the pandemic's explosion where the exponential nature of the infection rate goes global and impossible to ignore.
– It wasn't bio-engineered. That is conspiracy theory - fortunately. TIL scientists can absolutely tell a virus' origin (and it's pretty awesome science). Covid-19 lept from animal to human around last November. Likely animal to blame is the pangolin.
– It affects the elderly and the unhealthy most. Unhealthy also includes smokers and obesity in addition to immuno-compromised.
– It barely affects kids, unlike seasonal flu. Infection rate among kiddos is less than 2%. Closing schools is actually not helping at all because it is keeping healthcare workers that are parents at home and not where they are needed. Not much we can do about this one, though. Also, this will come back up in the upcoming months as we figure out how to manage this.
– Best preventative measure you can take if you fall into the unhealthy category is: STAY HOME
– Masks and gloves aren't gonna do a thing.
– The next couple of months are gonna be hairy. LOTS of folks are gonna get this.
– Conservative estimates currently predict (remember this is from the team that has accurately predicted all kinds of past outbreaks): 48 million hospitalizations in the US, 480k dead in the US by the end of its run
– 60 million folks are on lock down in Italy right now, and in a hospital in Milan they are currently having to basically decide who dies and who gets a treatment because they can't handle the patient volume timely enough. This is kind of a big deal.
– It is predicted to be 10-15 times worse than seasonal flu. NOTE: that is not apocalyptic by any means...but is certainly very disruptive, and given the current climate and timing, a little worrisome, but ultimately we should make it if we don't purposefully decide to cosplay walking dead.
– You're probably gonna get it. Have a nice day."