The Phantom Coronavirus Disease

The world is in a pandemic. The Corona Virus disease is swiftly doing a world tour and everyone is a target. While last December the world was reporting that a ‘strange kind of pneumonia’ was killing people in China, today we know the problem, and worse, we have too much information about the novel corona virus disease.

Familiar Symptoms

It is called Covid-19. The symptoms are familiar; fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. The prevention is easy: wash hands, touch not your face, stay home, sanitize.

And there lies the problem. As soon as people learnt of the symptoms of the disease, everybody realized that they possibly 40% positive. The innocent cough that had been going on for days has become a red alert. We are now very conscious of people who sneeze and we can see when everyone touches their face.

Phantom Covid-19

From many conversations I have had with people, so many people have already self-diagnosed with Covid-19. One wore a mask and would not stop sweating, thus assuming that a Covid-19 fever had set in. Another one went to the hospital for mild chest pain which he had ignored for a long time, and the medics tried to stay far from them. Another one had a headache that would not go away and she almost drafted her will.

Ignorance is bliss, and unfortunately, we are no longer ignorant of Covid-19. The symptoms keep showing up and scaring everybody. This is the phantom corona virus disease. As someone joked, fear of corona virus might kill more people than the disease itself.

It happens that we keep self-diagnosing with Covid-19 because the symptoms are very common. I can remember that at one point last year, I had all the symptoms of Covid-19, including the pneumonia, and was treated for a viral infection. Had it happened today, I would already be in quarantine or hooked up on a ventilator because it would be obvious that I have the disease.

But it was not Covid-19 since it did not exist then, and if you are not aware, I am still alive.

Fear

The endless news cycle about Covid-19, the growing numbers of those who are dead that are updated every minute, and the panic we see around helps make our fear of Covid-19 become a reality. When you expected a gunshot, the sound of someone clapping will startle you. This is why so many people fear that they have the virus and just the government does not know.

I would not want anyone to assume that they do not have the disease while they are not, but that running nose you have is just a common cold. Do not let fear kill you while the virus does not know that you exist. Stay at home, wash hands, do not touch your face, sanitize.