During this difficult time please spare some money to help the artists — the musicians, painters, chefs, actors, dancers, and comedians. They are the ones who showcase the good side of humanity — our creativity and richness. Many of these artists were already just barely getting by, and now their industries have stopped cold. Send some money to an entertainer who touches your heart. Not someone famous, but one of the hundreds of wonderful, creative people who are just getting by.
Secondly, build up your immune system. Take extra Vitamin C. Contrary to what you may hear, don't stay inside — your body needs sunlight to produce Vitamin D. If you smoke or drink excessively, now might be a good time to give those bad habits up. And exercise!
While the death rate of 2 percent may seem small, if left unchecked the virus would kill 200 million people, which is four time the total death toll of World War II. If no action is taken it would only take 60 days to infect the entire world. The risk of death increases based on your age. People who are in their 70s have an 8 percent chance of death and those 80 and above a 14 percent fatality rate. If the Coronavirus mutates, it could kill far more people.
A lockdown of the entire Western world may be necessary to stop the virus, and it could last 6 weeks. Even then, it only takes one infected person to start another flare up and restart the 60-day clock. So, it's essential that we develop good testing systems and quick response procedures. Every time there is an outbreak it will need to be isolated, and this will need to continue for at least a year when a vaccine is available.
If you get the virus, there is little anyone can do. If it goes into a secondary infection in your lungs, you can get antibiotics, assuming that supplies are available. If you are having trouble breathing, you can be put on a ventilator, assuming there's enough of them.
If you want to explain this pandemic with a conspiracy theory, well, it's unlikely. Viruses have existed for nearly as long as life on this planet. They've had plenty of time to mutate into their current state. Saying that some scientists created them in a lab is an insult to the little bastards.
Please don't describe this virus with a religious explanation unless you like irony. So, you are telling me that God made 8.7 million animal species in a single day, but he couldn't even stop a bat from drinking someone's soup? And now that this virus is spreading around the world, do you think God will say, "Oh, little Johnny is praying for me to protect him. I'll make sure that Uncle Eddie stops sneezing on him." I mean, come on, folks.
Oh, and please don't give me the "God is punishing us" explanation. He already drowned us once, and only one holy family survived. And they were a mighty strong family considering that they built a giant wooden ship that would be hard to build even by today's standards, and even with a shipyard, dry dock, and cranes.
I don't want to hear the prophesy stuff either. If the Coronavirus is a sign of the last days, then what was the Black Death of 1347 or the Spanish Flu of 1918? Was God just messing around with us a little? Heck, we're little shits and certainly deserve it, but the fact is that viruses just live with us. In fact, some of their DNA or RNA is even included in our genome, and their coding helped us to evolve into humans, in certain ways. Hey, if you don't believe me, find someone from the Genetics Society, buy them a drink and get them talking.
Now, on the one hand, we are packing the world with people and making the Earth warmer, which are two things that viruses like. But we're also getting better at identifying and killing them. It's like playing whack-a-mole, which I happen to be very good at playing. Viruses are one of the prices we must pay for being alive. We are fragile, organic creatures who live in a universe that doesn't seem to want us here. Sure, we killed or wiped out most of the large animals that ate us, especially those saber-toothed tigers, which scared the poop out of cavemen. Thank goodness my ancestors were fast at climbing trees. But, see, little Willie, all of us species living on the planet must deal with viruses.
And the strange thing about viruses is that they don't care if they kill their host, which would defy common sense. They don't really think or play poker with the boys, or do anything very productive. They just hijack cells and let you blast them to other creatures when you sneeze. I don't know why they are here — they just are.
For some reason, the 1982 music video below is stuck in my head. Every time there's a government press conference, the music below starts playing in my brain. It's about a scientist who checks into a center for deranged scientists, falls in love with a staff member, rebukes science, and then leaves. The song gives me comfort in a weird, sort of way. It's like when the orchestra played music as the Titanic sank.
Source:
Coronavirus: What If We Did Nothing?, Thunderf00t
Viruses Revealed To Be a Major Driver of Human Evolution, Genetics Society of America
Photo: Dimitri Karastelev
