Each of us must choose whom to believe, how much to read, and how to respond. We must weigh logic and emotion, time and trust. Everything is in motion.
I saw a joke calling it "Schrodinger's virus"--you have to act both as if you have it (isolate and wear a mask) and as if you don't (go shopping for yourself and others, stay home because you are not immune) . If you might have it, you also might not be able to get treatment nor a test, but you are supposed to go home rather than to the doctor or emergency room. What's not to love? You can easily feel confused, anxious, and threatened.
It is also quite possible to both believe that the virus is as dangerous as some say and refuse to lock yourself at home to avoid it. It is possible to NOT believe that it is dangerous and still find yourself not traveling and using tons of hand sanitizer. Because we DO know that some people, usually older folks (that's me), but MOST usually really older folks (my mother), and almost always with another condition, will get really ill and die. And that is sad. It is also something we find incomprehensible. A new virus against which we have no defense. There is no vaccine for this yet, and we have little experience to go by as far as what it will do.
On the other hand, this is not the first coronavirus to mosey through the populace. There is no reason to believe that it is SO different that people fail to develop antibodies (yep, some have said this and there was a fake report out of Korea to this effect, see reference 1 below). But, if there can be a vaccine, there ARE antibodies---that's how you make a vaccine. The problem with this virus, as with other coronaviruses and flu viruses, is that they mutate. They ALL mutate. But we also know that viruses have a sort of prime directive, to spread. If they keep killing their hosts, they fail to spread; so, as they mutate, the tendency is for them to spread better but be less deadly to fulfill the prime directive.
There have been lots of reports that this virus is easily and casually spread--like in a park or on a beach or even in the grocery store. There have been more recent, more researched reports that it does not. Importantly, whichever set of statistics you choose to believe, it is a fact that more get it than show signs of illness and that not everyone, even on a crowded cruise ship or naval vessel, even show antibodies (2). It is not that easily spread and not everyone who is exposed gets it and not everyone who gets it gets sick and not everyone who gets sick dies.
Most people get exposed casually--this is how immunity begins to form--you are challenged with a small dose of virus, and your body begins to work on isolating it. In closer, more intimate situations, you get a higher dose of virus and you are more likely to get sick. But the viruses that travel home on your plastic lettuce shell are attentuated--they exist, but it has been shown that they are no longer capable of invading your cells. (3)
The casual contact between you and the grocery clerk or a fellow hiker/jogger is NOT how
virus spreads (4). Some people feel better wearing a mask. It might limit the expulsion of some virus IF you are ill, but a cloth mask is highly unlikely to limit the entry of live virus to your eyes and nose. AND many people fidget with a mask or hang it over the chin when they are not around people, thus breathing on it. Then they touch it to move it onto the face, transferring moisture to their hands. Net result, MORE passage of moisture that contains virus. If you choose to wear a mask, please DO NOT TOUCH, and wash between uses.
I hate politics, and do not wish this blog to be come political, but I feel it is part of my commitment to mental health to remind my readers that the original plan to shut some things down to "flatten the curve" to avoid running out of hospital beds, ventilators, and protective equipment, has been changed. Now many places are demanding no new cases and no new deaths before they allow us all to get back to work. The problem, in addition to the deceit, is that it scares people. This virus is little if any, more dangerous than a flu. The spread is NOT "exponential" as has been said (5). But, we all will get exposed and some people will continue to fall ill. Unfortunately that is the reality of human life. Thankfully, we never did run out of hospital beds, and even in badly hit areas, the extra beds that they scrambled to create went almost entirely unused. These are reasons for hope, not fear. And NOT reasons to keep the economy closed. (6)
I know, I know, that runs the risk of becoming political. But what it is, is compassionate. People need to work--for money to live and for a sense of purpose. If we were truly saving lives with all of this hiding, it still might be wrong because an economy is people, too. And every one of us needs to make a personal choice about whether we feel at risk and wish to stay in or feel a stronger need to work and interact within an economic reality. I'll not judge anyone either way, but I, for one, will keep working.
My point is that this thing is confusing. It is normal to feel confused and not be certain about what to do.Take care of yourself and anyone you know who is at particular risk. Eat well and exercise. Be informed and do what feels best for you in this weirdest of weird times.
1) Coronavirus: Discovery of antibody to stop human cell infection | Daily Mail Online
2) Diamond Princess Mysteries | Watts Up With That?
3) Jennifer L Kasten, MD, MSc, MSc - Posts
4) RTL Today - Leading German virologist: “So far, no transmission of the virus in supermarkets, restaurants or hairdressers has been proved.”
5) The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Not Exponential – AIER
6) The data are in — stop the panic and end the total isolation | TheHill
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