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    Novel Coronavirus Mutation: The COVID-19 COVID-20 Apocalypse
    Novel Coronavirus Mutation: The COVID-19 COVID-20 Apocalypse
    Novel Coronavirus Mutation: The COVID-19 COVID-20 Apocalypse
    Ebook31 pages26 minutes

    Novel Coronavirus Mutation: The COVID-19 COVID-20 Apocalypse

    By Frances Mason

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    About this ebook

    Marcus has locked himself in his flat as the mutated Coronavirus rages, and talking heads warn him not to panic. But food is running out. His medication too, though he doesn't believe he needs it. What will he do? Will he prove himself the hero he has always believed he is? Will he confront the madness of the world?

    Warning to fools: this work is entirely fictional, and as far as I am aware there is no such deadly mutation of the Coronavirus to date, although the existence of S and L strains mentioned in the story is in fact theorised by some health professionals.

    Warning to rational readers: As of publication the mortality rate of COVID-19, as reported by the World Health Organisation, WHO, is 3.4%, which is certainly high, but nothing like the figures I have suggested in this story. To put this in perspective the legendary Spanish Flu of 1918 had a mortality rate of 1% and common seasonal flu has a mortality rate of 0.1%, so COVID-19 is 3.4 times more deadly than the Spanish Flu and 34 times more deadly than the common flu. It is right for governments to take extreme action to prevent its spread, but if you are young and healthy, the chances of dying from it are negligible, 0% for 0-10 year olds, and 0.2% for all decadal age cohorts from 10 up to 40, after which mortality gradually rises. However, if you are young and healthy, do NOT be complacent about the spread of this virus, and consider the safety of others more vulnerable than yourself, especially the aged and those with underlying health conditions. The Spanish Flu killed 50 million people globally. Given the global population now is 4.3 times that in 1918, if this spread like that did there would be nearly three quarters of a billion deaths globally (4.3*3.4 =14.62, so we get 50*14.62 = 731 million deaths). I would add that, contrary to some uninformed statements I have heard by complacent people, this IS VERY INFECTIOUS; its spread has only been limited by governments across the world taking extreme action. So take all recommended precautions and listen to your local health authorities.

    Finally: If you are concerned about COVID-19 seek information from reputable sources, not a short story or conspiracy websites.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFrances Mason
    Release dateMar 6, 2020
    ISBN9780463310700
    Novel Coronavirus Mutation: The COVID-19 COVID-20 Apocalypse
    Author

    Frances Mason

    Alright, before my usual paragraph I have to say something current and coviddy. Today is Sunday 5 April 2020. Coronavirus is sweeping its scythe across the world. More than a million infections worldwide, and that's only the ones we know about. I'm hiding in my home as much as I can (the more things change the more they stay the same - don't you love cliches?). When I have to go out I'm holding my breath whenever I walk past other people, walking in wide loops around them, looking suspiciously whenever I hear a cough and glaring when someone wanders too close to me. Phrase of the year, 2020: social distancing. Learn it. Do it. Live (or at very least don't kill me - you see how altruistic I am?). When I come home I'm taking my shoes off at the door, and washing my hands more than I ever have in my life. Am I nuts? Probably. But at least I won't get COVID-19. Cough.Now follows my usual paragraph (mostly).Frances Mason is a resident of sunny Australia (consequently is too much i' the sun - ok, we're heading towards winter now, so not so much sun), loves great literature, especially Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Dawn Powell, Iris Murdoch, Anthony Burgess, James Joyce and Joyce Cary, and is currently writing a fictional life of Shakespeare, fictional lives of a number of other Elizabethan playwrights, a collection of Elizabethan picaresque tales, a fictional memoir (based very loosely on a much loved brother, who's recently deceased and therefore can't sue for libel), and too many short stories to list. Recent hobbies include, avoiding quality time with relatives (successfully), solving the Rubik's cube (slowly), juggling (poorly), and being paranoid about COVID-19 (without stocking up on toilet paper - don't you miss the days of the daily newspaper, when you always had a steady supply with which to print the day's headlines on your bum?).

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      Book preview

      Novel Coronavirus Mutation - Frances Mason

      NOVEL CORONAVIRUS MUTATION

      The COVID-19 COVID-20

      Apocalypse

      FRANCES MASON

      Copyright © 2020 Frances Mason

      All rights reserved.

      Table of Contents

      Disclaimer

      Preface

      Short Story: Novel Coronavirus Mutation

      If you liked this

      Getting Personal

      Disclaimer

      This story is entirely and necessarily the work of the author. It is a total fabrication. No events herein should be taken to be real, realistic or believable. Nor should any of the characters be taken to represent any person living, dead or existentially uncertain. Any place or property herein which seems to exist in the real world, whether by virtue of name or description, exists only in an alternate universe, and no correspondence between it and this world should be inferred by anyone of sound mind. The unsound of mind, whether psychiatrists, psychologists, literary critics, journalists, social commentators, or other professional or amateur lunatics, are permitted to entertain us with their hypotheses, none of which, we hope, will be sensible.

      Preface

      To all who have read the previous version, I will note that the short story that follows is unchanged this time. All that has changed is this preamble, now neatly contained in a preface instead of crammed in under the disclaimer. I primarily revise my work here to correct an error in my factual claims in the last version. There I stated that the Spanish Flu had a 1% mortality rate and total deaths numbered 50 million. From a quick mental calculation you can see that that would mean 100*50 million = 5 billion infected. Clearly this is impossible given a global population of 1.8 billion in 1918. It is estimated that the Spanish Flu in fact infected 500 million, and that it killed 50 million, which would give it a mortality rate of 10%. However, some estimates for its lethality are as low as a few per cent, which would put its mortality in the ball park of that for the current Coronavirus, but would clearly require that it had infected a much larger percentage of the global population than that 500 million figure implies or killed far fewer than that

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