The View From Ground Zero in the Coronavirus War, Part 2
Kevin Renner
Helping emerging leaders make their next move with clarity, confidence, and courage. Leadership and Management Coach, Growth Catalyst and Consultant. Author. Business School Instructor. Partner on Purpose.
As I work in the midst of this public health crisis, Washington has 23 of the 26 U.S. coronavirus deaths to date. The chart below is one I created from numbers I track every day from the state Department of Health. (I don’t speak for the health department, my employer, or any other organization on this.)
This is not a time for hysteria. This will pass. It’s always darkest before the dawn. Most people who contract the virus will recover on their own by drinking plenty of fluids, resting, and taking pain and fever medications to manage the symptoms.
Just as this isn’t a time for hysteria, it’s not a time for denial of reality either.
Some COVID-19 cases develop pneumonia and require medical care or hospitalization. There are no medications that cure the coronavirus.
During the earliest days of the virus here (that is, a week ago), 23 percent of the confirmed cases resulted in fatalities. In the last five days, including today, that’s fallen to 12 percent.
Those numbers are high, because we still have no idea how many people have actually contracted the virus. There hasn’t been enough testing available in the U.S. to know. In South Korea, where testing has been more readily accessible, the fatality rate has been below 1 percent.
Washington in general, and the Seattle area in particular, is a COVID-19 hotspot. There are going to be more hotspots. Soon.
This isn’t a time for political BS. It’s a time to be smart, honest, and resourceful. Lives are on the line. Someone you know and love is going to die from this virus.