https://twitter.com/Veronic87482…/status/1235287755393032195
“The risk is low”. Jeebus, I must have read that dozens of times in the last few weeks, even being stated by political and health officials as recently as 2 days ago, and repeated by many. But what does it mean? It means that the number of KNOWN (tested) infected persons is still fairly low. But that does NOT mean “I don’t have to do anything”.
The reason that “the risk is low” turns into “the risk is high” is for three reasons (very simplified model): (1) any exponential function such as R(n)=R0^n starts small but grows very quickly. (2) there are many untested and undiagnosed cases out there, meaning that likely both R0 and n are already much higher than people think it is. (3) Because so few tests have been made (CDC bungled the test kits), the actual number of infections is much higher than the test numbers indicate, lulling people into a false sense of “it is not so bad”.
The only action that helps is an action that reduces R0 (how many each infected person infects) and n (how quickly new infecting contacts take place).
To put it plainly: Those who follow the mantra “the risk is low” and do not practice good prevention are exactly the group of people responsible of bringing the risk from the low level to the high level. Slowing down the spread of SAR-Cov2 / Covid19 is everybody’s responsibility.
Prevention: Reduce mobility and contacts. Increase distance (“social spacing”) and hygiene.