Screaming headlines and breathless broadcasts about covid-19 scare many people.

Some are terrified to go to the grocery store or even their doctor.

Many experience psychological trauma and depression.

To make matters worse, misinformation and false claims are circulating.

Take comfort.

Your chances of dying from covid-19 are relatively small.

Evidence is growing that the virus has been with us longer than we knew.

Reports from California indicate it may have been in the US since December.

Doctors there saw patients with flu like symptoms, but tests revealed it was not flu.

Most people had mild or no symptoms.

Testing for covid-19 did not begin until February.

We have gone from zero tests to over 33 million now.

As of Tuesday, 553,315 tests have been done in SC alone.

CDC stats show that US health officials are doing 600,000 -700,000 tests a day.

In SC, 8,350 individuals were tested last Thursday.

SC health officials reported 10,042 cases in 7 Mid lands counties, as of July 14, including 3,012 in Lexington and 4,918 in Richland counties.

That’s 1.1% of the estimated population of 837,092.

The covid death rate of around 1% means we are doing a lot of things right.

SC hospitals report 1,488 covid patients out of the 7,662 beds in use.

3,009 beds are available.