I'll ask a question whose answer I find difficult to find on the Internet. It is about the covid-19. From the first symptoms, say tiredness, until the sickness is clearly visible, that is until the most serious symptoms arrive, how long does it take?

That is because it depends on the individual. There is not one size fits all answer.

The US CDC (Center for Disease Control) list the symptoms and emergency warning signs but is not all inconclusive.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019.../symptoms.html

Ah... it depends on the individual. Thanks, I like your signature.

Many people never have any discernible symptoms. That's part of what makes it so dangerous. People can have the virus, and be actively shedding it, without even knowing they have it. But although it doesn't really affect them, it can still be fatal to others. There is an extremely wide variance between individuals.

And that’s why we should wear masks and practice social distancing and frequent hand washing. As an old guy with compromised lungs* I appreciate folks doing that. 😷

*if you smoke tobacco, stop now!!

Of course we should, but there are those who refuse to do anything to help anyone else. Their freedumbs trump the lives of others. We just stay at home and shop online. As for smoking, I still resent my rich uncle, Sam, for getting me hooked on cigarettes by having them in every C ration, with enhanced nicotine content. I finally quit in 1983, but it was the hardest thing I ever tried to do. I had cravings for years, and still sometimes dream that I'm smoking. I know I shouldn't but I can't stop. Fortunately it's only a nightmare. But I can sympathize with those who can't quit. It's hard, maybe harder than quitting heroin.

Nicotine is seven times more addictive than heroine! Definitely hard to quit. I used gum and lozenges to taper off. If someone needs help talk to your doctor.
I quit in 2015 after my first stroke. Diagnosed with COPD after the second stroke. Lungs are “stable”, but am very paranoid about COVID...

I agree. It may not be the most immediately hazardous addiction, but it is the most tenacious.

I tried to quit many times and couldn't. I did succeed once, then I met a lady who smoked, to whom I was later wed two decades, and found myself smoking again.

Much later, when I (re)met my girlfriend (we were together in college many years ago), I was able to quit, but, and this is weird, I found there was a definite environmental factor. When I visited her in her city, I could resist smoking, but, when I went back to my city that had been my normal environment for the previous three decades, the urge was irresistible. It was only when I finally moved to her city that I was able to shake the habit.

Back to the original intent of this thread, I must say, I just don't get the folks who think that freedom means the right to infect others with a contagion.

But maybe that's just me.

I quit by shifting to snuff. It was far cheaper at the time. When I resigned my commission, I was paying $1.86 per carton at the commissary in Germany. Outside, they were around $8 per carton, and I couldn't afford that, so I looked for other options. Skoal/Copenhagen/whatever was ~75 cents per can, and that would last me for a week. I soon had no use for cigarettes, but I couldn't quit the snuff. For reasons I did not understand, my wife was hostile to it. Eventuallly, I decided I had to do something. I discovered mint snuff, which came in a can just like Skoal, same texture, but had no tobacco in it. I started gradually substituting mint for tobacco, and just kept increasing the mint. One day I realized I had gone two weeks without tobacco, so I said that's it, I quit. I tossed all of it. To counter the cravings I started sucking on hard candy, mostly peppermints, because oil of peppermint also increases alertness, which I needed help on without nicotine. I gained almost 50 pounds, but I never went back to tobacco. I'll never get back to the weight I carried in my early 30s, but I'm not so far off. My wife keeps cooking far too much for two old people, and nags me to eat. If she were a poor cook it would be easier, probably. But anyway, that's my story, FWIW. Quitting is possible, but it takes strong willpower. You have to just say no and stick with it, although it's very hard.

The inability to inhale without suffering wracking coughing spells definitely helped. I can’t even smoke pot anymore
I smoked tobacco for over 50 years. I’m now just grateful I don’t need to use oxygen, yet.

Pot is something I've honestly never tried. I was always in a job where I was subject to random drug tests on a regular basis, and couldn't take the chance. Now that I'm retired, I'm somewhat interested, but I won't smoke anything. I would try some edibles, but they're still throwing people into prison for life for simple possession down here, so they're not readily available, and I don't even know where to start looking. I have to get by on whiskey.

Even in those cases SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 still does affect them, the heart, pancreas, liver, or blood vessels get a lot of damage even if there are no other symptoms. It's not an illness which passes through a population and leaves healthy people behind.

This probably describes any virus which can be spread by coughing or sneezing etc.

What some may take away from the whole covid thing is that people are generally dirty, cough out over others, don't wash their hands,etc and that has been a long standing problem. So perhaps some of the practices need to remain, but companies also need to do more, such as investing in public transport to alleviate overcrowding. Nature controls overpopulation in any animal.

I watched my mother in law give smoking up after six decades. I wouldn't wish that on anybody.



Edit: clarification.

Is Baja a city?