The initial scientific name is similar, but it is still a different virus with very different characteristics. As I said: it is less lethal than SARS but MUCH more contagious, plus a much longer incubation time and possibility of asymptomatic spread. Sars cannot be spread asymptomatically. About the only things similar are that they are both coronaviruses, and the symptoms. I am not being pedantic at all, these characteristics are key.
Sars 2 is to Sars 1 as Mario 2 is to Mario 1. About the only thing similar is the characters.
How many times have we seen another variant of bird flu in the past 15 years? I lost count. Some of them even jumped to humans. But when that happened, we didn't immediately raise alarms of an upcoming pandemic: a virus jumping to humans does not always mean human to human transmission is possible.
I don't agree. SARS-1 and SARS-2 are both highly contagious and had similar effects on decimating hospital staff.
You can read the effect on Toronto hospitals in 2002 by SARS-1 to get an idea of the panic it caused, wiping out whole ICU teams. Just like SARS-2 (Covid-19.)
Wiping out ICU teams is a property of lethality, not so much contagiousness. Only 8000 people was infected by sars 1 and China didn’t even have lockdown at the time. The contagiousness and long incubation times are key this time. Otherwise you may as well compare it to Ebola.
You've been posting a bunch of flamewar comments to HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22823753 was particularly shameful. That's easily a bannable offense. The reason I'm not banning you is that you've been here a long time and made many good contributions, which we really appreciate. But please don't post like this again.
It doesn't matter how wrong other people are or how bad some thing some people do in some country is. Two wrongs don't make a right and you can't vandalize HN like this. If you want to trash-talk, there are other places to do it.
How is that 'making excuses'? I gave an argument, and instead of making your own logical argument you are dismissing it out of hand as 'excuse'. Maybe you just want to believe in a cover-up so badly that you don't want to think logically about it anymore.
In early December, nobody had any idea this virus existed. The earliest patient checked into Wuhan Central Hospital on 16 December 2019, and doctors treated the patient with flu drugs. They only ordered lab tests in late December, and the first test results came back on 27 December 2019. That was the first moment that anyone had any evidence of a new virus.
This is an important issue, so please be careful about verifying your claims before you make them.
COVID-19 is not SARS. It's less lethal but far more contagious. SARS would not have been such a big issue because it doesn't spread as easily.