Sometimes it's hard to see the light while we are consumed in darkness. Everywhere we look we are being led astray by fear-mongering pandemoniac words and actions. Rushing about trying to figure things out on the fly has become normal. All of this causes unnecessary anxiety and depression and feelings of hopelessness. I'd like to offer some sanity in the flurry of overwhelming abundance of information that is contributing to the problem of miscommunication.
In an article published online (March 20, 2020) from CalTech.edu, Trustee David Ho of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, Columbia University shared his perspectives of the virus and what he calls, "The tip of the iceberg." He believes the wave of exposure is moving toward the center of the United States as the highest cases currently are on both the east coast (New York) and west coast (California and Washington State). He is even more concerned about countries like "Africa and India where the healthcare system is less developed."
The reported pathology of the disease typically causes a fever and dry cough, body aches, and if sever enough, shortness of breath due to pneumonia. Gastrointestinal symptoms can also indicate other more sever disease. Ho says it's "...not very common to have a runny nose or the sniffles, and a sore throat is not common either." The incubation period from exposure to onset of symptoms is between four and six days, "95-98 percent of the cases is between three and 10 days. It's pretty rare to have an incubation period outside of that range."
The good news
Trustee Ho reports, "...central China accounts for 85 percent of the confirmed cases in China." He says that since they quarantined 50 million people, the epidemic peaked in early February with 4,000 newly diagnoses cases each day, "But since the lockdown and the various draconian measures applied, the number of new cases each day has been declining by half every week, and remarkably it's now down to about 20 per day." When we hear from the news, politicians, and medical professionals talking about "flattening the curve," this is what they are talking about. State officials hope that by taking the same "draconian measures" as China, already stretched medical services will be available to help people who have the most sever cases and decrease the mortality rate.
(Read the entire article at: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/tip-iceberg-virologist-david-ho-bs-74-speaks-about-covid-19).
The Future is filled with hope
New directives are being instituted with the hopes of flattening the curve as quickly as possible. The sooner that happens, the sooner we can get back to our daily routines and this epidemic will go down in the history books as another pandemic survived by the world and American people. How we want to be remembered is dependent upon every one of us. Personal responsibility begins with the individual and spreads to the family, the community we live in, the city, state, and the entire United States. Take care of yourself and you are taking care of the world around you.
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
John 1:5
Day 60: Shine