The COVID-19 Pandemic is an Apocalyptic Event. Just Not in the Way You Think. The word “apocalypse” conjures up images of burning buildings, panicked masses, and the end of the world. This isn’t a particularly new development. Since the beginning of time, people have been
preparing for the end of time.

Volcano eruptions, meteor showers, and virulent plagues were all once perceived as harbingers of Armageddon.

But, in the original Greek, “Apokalypsis” meant something completely different.
The Greek word Apokalypsis actually means “to uncover and unveil,” “to make known what was once hidden,” or “the disclosure of truth.”

Instead of “end of the world,” a better English equivalent would be “exposé.”
Therefore, an “apocalyptic event” is an occurrence that should change our perception of reality and force us to grapple with our new understanding of the world.

And this is why the COVID-19 pandemic should be viewed as an apocalypse.
Just not for the reasons you expect.
The Coronavirus (or COVID-19) is a result of a “Spillover,” or a cross-species jump from an animal to a human. A spillover virus is a near-perfect example of evolution. A spillover event occurs when a virus mutates just enough to survive inside a human host.
This form of interspecies leap is common, not rare; about 60 percent of all human infectious diseases currently known either cross routinely or have recently crossed between other animals and us.
Following a cross-species transmission, the virus begins rapidly reproducing within its new host. Sometimes, this can make the host very sick. Fever, sweating, sneezing, coughing, and diarrhea are all ways in which the human body attempts to combat and expel the virus.
At this point, the “goal” of the virus shifts. It needs to acquire a new host. A lot of people think a “good virus” is one that keeps its host alive. This isn’t necessarily true. A better metric for what makes a successful virus is whether or not it spreads before the host dies.
The health and safety of a host are irrelevant to a virus. In true evolutionary fashion, the goal becomes simple: Survival.
Different viruses have different modus operandi for spreading. Bodily fluids tend to be the most popular. Blood, sweat, mucus, stool, salvia, and the tiny water droplets you expel when you cough or sneeze are pretty good vehicles for infectious particles.
Based on the available data (admittedly, not much), a person with Coronavirus will probably infect 2–3 other people. (This is called the “R naught” or R0 number: Seasonal Flu: R1.8; Ebola: R2; Measles: R15).
Within the lifecycle of a pandemic, a virus will mutate multiple times (often just one genetic letter at a time). These tiny mutations are often meaningless. But, occasionally, it can make the virus deadlier and more resistant to treatment.
And, when these mutations stack up over time, you end up with a new strain. This is the reason you have to get a flu shot every year.

(For the record, COVID-19 has already mutated into a different strain at least once since the first cases were reported.
Multiply this process across a few dozen hosts, and you have an epidemic. Multiply it a few hundred times and mix in international air travel, and you have a recipe for a pandemic.
Sometimes a spillover virus is innocuous; other times, it can be incredibly deadly. The so-called Spanish Influenza of 1918 infected one third of the world’s population and killed between 50 million and 100 million people.
Some other infamous spillover events include SARS, Bird Flu, Ebola, and HIV/AIDS.

Because of their high rate of mutation, spillover viruses sometimes burn out and disappear for a while (like Ebola), or they can hit the genetic mutation jackpot and become a constant
presence in our virosphere (like H1N1 or HIV/AIDS).

In the midst of an epidemic, it’s not always clear how a virus will adapt and spread in a new environment.

Within the next year, it’s likely you’ll catch COVID-19. However, 80% of those who catch the virus only experience mild
flu-like symptoms. It’s totally possible to catch COVID-19 and not realize you even have it.

And, yes, more people are killed by the flu every year than have been killed by COVID-19. However, comparing the flu and COVID-19 in this way ignores a lot of very important information.
The mortality rate of seasonal flu is about 0.1%. Currently, exponentially more people catch the flu, so more people die from the flu. The mortality rate of COVID-19 is estimated to be between 2% and 3% – or 20 to 30 times more deadly than the flu.
But here’s the deal, this thing is contagious. Most of us struggle to comprehend the concept of exponential growth (as opposed to linear growth) – it took 3 months for us to reach 100,000 cases worldwide;
it only took 12 days for us to reach the second 100,000. And the fact that so many cases are mild creates a different sort of public health risk, in that people may have it (and spread it) without even knowing they’re infected.
In New York, 50 cases were traced back to ONE attorney. The epicenter of the South Korean epidemic was ONE religious gathering. And most of the deaths in Washington state are linked to ONE nursing home facility.
Yes, the odds are overwhelming in your favor that you’ll survive the COVID-19 pandemic – even if you happen to catch it.
BUT IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU!!

It’s about your grandparents.

It’s about other people’s grandparents.

It’s about your co-worker’s children who have compromised immune systems.
You can follow @SpockResists.
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