You Don't Have to See it to Believe It

Photo by Flynt, I23RF

When you have bronchitis, do you call your city councilman? If you or your child fractures a bone, do you call your Senator? Why would you rely on local, regional or national politicians to advise and encourage you to participate in activities or go places where you can sow the seeds of your death or of those you love?  That is what many thousands of people are doing now in the US. 

I understand the economy is nearly failing and this is itself a danger. There was a desperate time in my life when poverty and I were roommates. Still, I would choose poverty over death. I think most people would. Before you entered a place of business, if you were shown a sign saying you could die as a consequence of entering, wouldn't you hesitate to go in? Would you still enter if the sign said something more specific, such as, shopping here may cause a heart attack? We now know that Covid-19 can cause just that.

If this partial re-opening results in a second wave of infections, then, indeed we will confront an economic disaster that has no timeline and no foreseeable possibility of  "bouncing back" because it will be worldwide and unprecedented. We literally will not know how to deal with it. It's clear how these first identifiable six to eight weeks of infection have affected our economy. Already so weakened, could that same economy withstand a second round? Food for thought.

Recommendations protect those who make them
and those who follow them

Recommendations for reopening businesses in Texas include wearing masks and practicing physical distancing. Last Saturday, a local hamburger "joint" in my city opened. A friend of mine drove there and looked in the door, but did not go in. The management did not limit customers or ask anyone to practice physical distancing. No customer wore a mask, though the employees did. The place was packed. Bear in mind that governments are making only recommendations, but most are not requiring anyone to do any specific thing, except limit the number of customers. Beware of places opening without following recommendations.

A Top Ten List for Going Out in Public Now

1) Call ahead to the place you plan to go and ask what they have done to disinfect their facility.

2) Ask if they are currently maintaining physical distancing between customers.

3) Ask them what their plan is if their customers do not maintain distancing as asked.

4) Find out if the staff and/or customers are asked or required to wear masks and/or gloves.

5) Wear a mask and be especially sure to cover your nostrils. According to Science Magazine, this is where the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the virus causing the illness Covid-19) is most successful at entering and taking hold in the body.

6) When you return home, take off your clothes as near the entrance door as possible. Avoid touching doorknobs, light switches, etc. until you shower, wash your hair, and dress in clean clothes. 

7) Wash the clothes you wore on your outing as soon as possible. Dry them in hot air if possible.

8) Keep wipes in the car, if you do not wear gloves. When you return to your car after shopping, dining, etc., wipe your hands, wipe down the steering wheel, and perhaps even your keys. Consider wiping your purse if you placed it on a surface in an establishment, especially if you place it on the floor near your chair or booth.*

9) Consider keeping your winter gloves in the car year-round. Disposable gloves are still hard to find. Use these to pump gas or even to drive. Wash them after each outing.

10) See below.

* If you don't have sanitizing wipes, spray paper towels with Lysol or antibacterial cleaner and pop them in a plastic bag. Use these as substitutes. Even if all you have is a dry paper towel, use that to wipe down the steering wheel, etc. At least, it disturbs the surface, which might help a little, if no other option is available.

Before going somewhere, please determine if the outing is necessary and consider the following:

• Covid-19 has now killed more Americans than died in 10 years during the Vietnam War. As I write these very words, close to 60,000 of our fellow citizens have already died. 

• More than 3.3 million people have tested positive for Covid-19 in 187 countries. The US alone accounts for close to one third of all infections in the world.  Yesterday, 1742 Americans died. There could have been others. Many at-home deaths of those infected, but who have not been tested, are hard to report. 

• We do not have enough tests and thus cannot accurately detect infections. This means we do not yet know the actual number of deaths caused by Covid-19, much less the number of people who are infected or carrying the virus. The decisions to reopen certain businesses are being made, of necessity, on guesswork.

• Covid-19 is much more than a respiratory illness. It attacks tissues, as well as the blood. Recent research has revealed that Covid-19 can infect both the brain and heart. It can thicken blood and cause heart attacks and strokes; it can affect the kidneys and even cause kidneys to fail. Survivors report dealing with long-term health problems, from having trouble walking and breathing to extreme physical fatigue, as well as new cardiac disease and memory problems. Others have reduced lung capacity from being on ventilators for extended periods of time. Every time you venture into a public place not closely following guidelines, or even those that are following them, you risk experiencing any one of the above, a combination, or death.

• There is no proof yet that antibodies in the bloodstream confer immunity. If by going out, you think you have a chance of catching a light version of Covid-19 and then building immunity, nothing confirms this as even a remote possibility.

As I wrote earlier, SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus. So is HIV. Covid-19 symptoms are already covering a wide a range of organs and symptoms. This reminds me of AIDS, because HIV causes such an unpredictable and wide-ranging combination of other illnesses and symptoms. After taking a wrecking ball to the immune system,  HIV (the virus) produces AIDS (the illness)--a lifelong, ever-changing condition. Although identified in the US in 1986, there is still no HIV vaccine. And it's not for lack of funding, research, or effort. 

I don't care whom you voted for in local or national elections right now. I do care whether you live or die. I care whether you endanger my life or not. People with pre-existing conditions cannot possibly go out yet without grave risk. The more of you who go out without thinking this through, the more you endanger an already fragile population. You also endanger the same people who are saving lives. If we have a second wave of infections hit our hospitals, I can't describe how this will affect us. It's a description I don't think you would even want to read.

Easy to identify with the desire; but

essential to understand the possible repercussions

I deeply identify with the need and desire to venture out. It's hard to thwart those needs and desires to fight an invisible virus and a disease that can begin with no symptoms and then go on unpredictable rampages through the entire body. 

It's the perfect moment, though, to not let our amygdala (our reptilian brain) rule the day and to honor our prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain that controls impulses and helps us process higher orders of information. Let's not ignore the best weapon we have: scientific research. It's easier now than ever to find and to review. The vast majority of research papers, reports, etc. creates one whole of many pieces. We are so fortunate to have the information. The more than 20 million people who died of the Spanish Flu a century ago did not have such access to the inner reality of their illness. 

We can learn large lessons from that pandemic,though. Ignoring advice to keep people indoors, the city of Philadelphia held a parade in September, 1918, which initiated an outbreak in the city. Like SARS-CoV-2, the Spanish flu virus was able to quickly mutate, which it did, resulting in a second wave of the pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 is equally, perhaps more likely, to mutate even as we try to "flatten the curve." Some countries are currently taking precautions to avoid a second wave.

Expand the idea of what you think of as real

You can't see the wind, though you can watch what it does in real time. Imagine a silent wind you can't feel or detect as it moves. You can determine what it has done only after it has swept through your yard, neighborhood, city, country.  We must abandon the outdated human outlook of thinking that the invisible is not also real. After all, we rely on the invisible with every stroke of our keyboards and every smart phone call. 

Now,  #10  for the instructions above: if you decide to dine in at your favorite restaurant this week, get your hair styled, or do any number of things that involve going into previously closed public places, be sure your will is up to date. There are thousands of people who would have done just that, had they known the full extent of the damage that could be done to them by that which is invisible--and real.

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See this article by Anna Wolfe in Mississippi Today to see the result of not having enough tests, and enough tests that provide results in a timely manner. It is a cautionary tale, and a stark reminder to advocate for our own health, tests or no tests.   

Sources for this post include:  Johns Hopkins; Science Magazine, Mississippi Today, NPR; Wikipedia; Worldometer; the History Channel;  first-hand reports.