Hey Bart, I appreciate posts discussing the medical aspects of the virus.
I've been studying brain surgery for the past 5 years, and have an earlier grounding in HIV. But only a vague general knowledge of pulmonary functions. Btw, pneumonia is also what often kills immuno-compromised HIV patients (though there are other opportunistic diseases lurking as well).
I probably should spend a month or so studying the lungs, then another for the liver, and on to kidneys. Been meaning to read up on the spleen as well. The human body and medical knowledge thereof is pretty absorbing.
Credentials and experience are useful, because it separates someone with some genuine knowledge from someone just googling around and perhaps not having a complete picture or not posting the most relevant info.
I'm not a doctor and have no formal medical training, but I have learned a good deal about cranial aneurysms and their treatment, and anything I posted here about such should/would hopefully have a good amount of validity (and I would be likely to double-check with my brain surgeon circle).
As far as I understand, the primary reason that the flu, coronavirus,the common cold and seasonal allergies have similar symptoms is that your body has a limited repertoire of responses -- fever, mucus production, lymph and white blood cell marshaling. that is, a lot of the symptoms are not caused by the pathogen itself, but by your body's response. Cough seems to be produced by the sickness itself as your throat becomes irritated. With the devilish invader causing you to expel viral particles to spread itself around.