By Emily Woodbury
Last Wednesday, March 25th, we asked if you know anyone who got the coronavirus. But, before I get started, let me write a comment left by reader Greg H. Greg: “Your poll question today is a little misleading. Since we haven’t done extensive testing for COVID-19 in this country, those who answered ‘no’ really have no idea if they know anyone with the virus. They currently predict that for anyone diagnosed, there are probably 10 who are infected but are not yet having symptoms.” Yes! Thank you for saying this, Greg. It’s true. You may have had COVID-19 and didn’t even know it, a family member might have, a friend, etc. Some (in fact many) people are asymptomatic. OK, now with that being said…
Let’s walk through the over 4,000 results here… Fortunately, 84 percent of you replied no, no one you know got the coronavirus (which you know, at least, as we just talked about). But 10 percent of you know someone who knows someone who did. About 4 percent of you have an acquaintance who has or has had the virus, and 2 percent of you have someone around you who had the virus. Finally, there were 17 of you (although the percentage was 0) who said you had the virus or currently have it. Yikes! I hope you get well and recovered!
Since we asked this question more than a week ago, we’ll probably ask again soon to see if your answers have changed, so keep an eye on that. While I can hope that the percentages will not rise, I can only imagine that they will.
Take care of yourself, and as editor Chuck Woodbury would say, “Go wash your hands!”