Coronavirus was initially just the flu for most people. It wasn’t anything that needed to be regarded seriously. But now as people begin to see how consequential the cases were in Italy and China, they begin to realize that this is something that needs to be stopped.

As of right now, students and parents alike are worried about the potential terrors of the Coronavirus, and how they could die if they do happen to get the disease. However, that should not be the main concern. The mortality of Coronavirus is an estimated 3.4% as of March 3 and there is only a 0.4% mortality rate for a person under the age of 50 according to World Meters Info. 

In my opinion, the world should be more concerned that we will not have enough resources to handle the number of cases that may arise. Currently, there are over 1,000 cases in the United States and that number will keep growing.

The United States needs to learn and grow from what happened in Italy and China and take action. All schools need to be shut down. Workplaces need to be shut down. Everything must be shut down.

According to The Atlantic, in Italy, “those who are too old to have a high likelihood of recovery, or who have too low a number of ‘life-years’ left even if they should survive, will be left to die.”

One week ago, Italy had 2,502 cases of Coronavirus. As of yesterday, March 11th, there were 10,149 cases of COVID-19. The virus is spreading quickly and resources are dwindling in Italy. Resources will also begin dwindling in the United States as the number of cases increases.

Not only are hospitals starting to not treat the elderly,  The Atlantic says that in Italy, “doctors and nurses are also advised to take a patient’s overall state of health into account: ‘The presence of comorbidities needs to be carefully evaluated.'”

Those who have a lower chance of survival will begin to be turned away, in an effort to save the most people.

People are being triaged. They are being sorted into those who can be saved, and those who can’t be. Triaging is something that is typically used when a country is at war. We are fighting a war against the spread of Coronavirus, and if we don’t start fighting it now, it might defeat us.

If we aren’t left with the resources to treat the virus, more people will end up dying. People are not being isolated, allowing the virus to spread too quickly for hospitals to handle. If we continue down the path we are on right now, the Coronavirus will spread so much faster then it would if we were isolated. So, many more people would get sick because it spreads so fast. Then, as everyone goes to the hospitals to seek treatment, they will overflow. There won’t be enough hospital beds, or materials to fight this virus. The US hospitals will begin turning away sicker and older people like they are doing in Italy. So, many more people will die because we are neglecting to see the actual problem in the virus.

People won’t die from solely getting the virus. People will die because they can’t get treatment.

Corona isn’t scary because of the death toll, it’s terrifying because we’ve never seen it before. It’s terrifying because it will rid our hospitals for supplies. It’s terrifying because, without these resources, so many more people will die.

Some do believe that people should only be concerned about getting the disease, and that is a true concern but the issue people need to be worried about is stopping the spread of the virus.

People need to stop worrying about fighting the Coronavirus itself and start worrying about stopping the spread of it if we want to save the most amount of people’s lives.