The Corona outbreak: fact, myth and how we beat it:
Since my previous article, the panic and frenzy, whipped up by an irresponsible and greedy section of the media has sadly only increased. This has caused stock markets to fall sharply (costing people their pension and other income), riots and looting, often racist in origin, unnecessary stockpiling-leading to food shortages in Britain, the US and Spain. Fear has replaced reality and facts ignored.
It’s now more important than ever to put the COVID-19 into a proper context. First: It has not been declared a Pandemic because it isn’t one. There have been only 3 cases in the whole of Africa as of March 3rd. The media tell us experts are “baffled”. That’s fake news! Experts know why-these viruses become largely inactive in hot weather and the virus will decrease more as summer arrives.
Corona started around December 2019 in Wuhan City in the Chinese province of Hubei. That’s when the annual bug season normally begins. Action was taken quickly and the City and then the province sealed, with supplies being airlifted in or brought by sterilized trucks. Since then cases have peaked and are now starting to fall. Hong Kong has done something similar and suffered few cases. Austria has restricted traffic from Italy, where there has been a big outbreak. Austria now has only one case. It’s an old lesson from history
In March 1666 a bale of wool arrived from London in the Derbyshire village of Eyam. London was already in the grip of the Black Plague. The wool contained the fleas which spread the plague. They bit infected rats and then people. Eyam soon had an outbreak. Under the local Rector and with promises of help from the landowner, the villagers decided freely-with no government interference-to quarantine themselves: Nothing out, only supplies, left at the village gate, allowed in. By November the plague had finished. Nearly a third of the villagers died, but their selfless act prevented the disease spreading to the big towns, saving tens of thousands of lives.
To put COVID-19 into perspective: Since December 2019 the US has had 2 Corona deaths-and 10,000 Flu ones. As you read this, 15, 000 children die of starvation EACH day in poor, non-white countries around the world-but the media ignore it.
The majority of people who get Corona recover quickly with rest, fluids and paracetamol. Some Doctors advise high dose Vitamin C-6000mg+ per day and 40-60mg of Zinc supplement for the 3 weeks it usually lasts. For more serious cases needing hospital care a combination of the anti-retro-viral drug Ritonavir with Beta Interferon has proved effective. France has achieved a near 100% cure rate-so far.
There is more good news: The Cambridge-based Company, Moderna already has a potential vaccine in Faze 1 human trials. In Israel, researchers at the famous MIGEL institute say they “are only weeks away” from pre-clinical trials of their own vaccine and are confident it will work.
The average death-rate from Corona stands at 2.4%. But that figure doesn’t paint the full picture. Death rates are high in 2 main groups: The heroic doctors and nurses working in overcrowded hospitals. They have huge 24/7 exposure to the virus, little or no sleep, food or water because of their work overload. Their immune systems, under constant stress begin to weaken and they are more likely to fall sick.
Older males with pre-conditions, especially lung problems and diabetes aged 70-80 have a death rate of 8%. Those over 80, nearly 15%-as a balance figure, no child under 10 has died.
The Corona family of viruses usually causes only a nasty cold, often with vomiting among healthy people. The COVID-19 variant additionally attacks the lungs- that’s what makes it so dangerous to vulnerable patients.
It’s now spreading along the main trade and travel routes as plagues have for thousands of years, in a typical and accurately predictable way, so preparations can be made. To cut the risk, please follow the normal hygiene tips in the previous article.
Two more things:
The seasonal flu jab doesn’t protect against the Corona family.
Secondly most of us have had one or more Corona viruses, causing a cold and been fine.
A note of caution: COVID-19 will likely become a pandemic, and about a quarter to a third of us will have contact with it this year. Few of us will get ill. We should be on guard though; the world must act together as quickly as possible to contain outbreaks as they occur. Although action is being taken, we mustn’t get complacent. Action needs to increase and be more internationally coordinated. There are lessons and protocols to be learned because sometime there will be a really dangerous pandemic like the Flu of 1918-19 and we need a plan in place and be well-drilled for when that happens. This is a good opportunity to practice for that event. It’s not a question of “if” only of “when”.
© Ian Hale (2020) All rights reserved