Isn't it amazing how the media hype goes absolutely nuts trying to instill fear in people with something they know the average person has absolutely no control over the situation. When I was working in the media world, the old saying was "If it bleeds - it leads."
Keep in mind that over my lifespan there have been far more infections diseases that got little of no press coverage to speak of. For example, there is nothing more contagious than TB, and Baltimore held the title of have the highest rate of TB than anyplace on the planet back in the 1960s when I was first married and working in the medical field. Once a week, I traveled to one of Baltimore's TB Sanitariums to draw blood and do blood gas analysis on TB Patients in Mount Wilson Hospital. The mortality rate at that time was horrendous, patients spend on average at lest a year in the hospital and some, including one of my aunts, spent 2 years there. She managed to survive.
When I went to draw blood at Mount Wilson, I wore a scrub suit, gloves, special mask, hat, booties, gown and changed gloves between each and every patient contact. After doing all the bloodwork, I then went into a decontamination room, stripped down, took a hot shower and all my work clothes were bagged and incinerated. Then I walked into another room where my street clothes were in a locker with an ultra-violet light inside it. Yes, TB is that contagious.
Keep in mind that in the history of this nation we have lived through yellow fever, typhoid, TB, swine flu, mad cow disease, Ebola virus, you name it, it has been here, and for the most part, managed to survive pretty much unscathed. Eventually, someone comes up with a vaccine and the virus is pretty much eliminated until it morphs into a new and more deadly virus.
Nursing homes in my part of the world usually close for a couple weeks every year, mainly because of another highly contagious disease - C-Diff. C-Differential is a highly contagious infection of the colon that kills thousands of elderly people ever year. It is very, very contagious, most people that contract this disease are placed in isolation rooms where they go through the most horrendous bout of dysentery for up to a month, loose enormous amounts of weight and dehydrate. It's a horrendous disease - I should know, I've been through it. I had enough music jobs though that loosing one or two a month just didn't amount to a hill of beans.
This virus is contagious, but not nearly as contagious as others we've experienced. Just use a common sense approach, wash your hands and face frequently, and stay away from individuals that have symptoms of a URI and you will likely go unscathed with this one as well.
Good luck,
Gary
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