So, the good news is that Mom got treated for what ails her, the bad news is she still has to get a bone marrow biopsy and she just may have leukemia. Or some other malady that would cause one's bones to stop making blood.
Further good news is that an 85 year old diabetic with high blood pressure and possibly leukemia kicked that Chinese Virus's ass into next week.
Apparently the average age of those (30 so far) who have died here in Minnesota of the virus is 86. It seems likely that the virus sped along their deaths but that they had conditions that were driving them in that direction anyway. I don't know. I do think if you are young and healthy, you probably don't have to be terrified of this Covid 19. As of today, I am pretty sure that at least 6 members of my family, other than Mom, have had it and are over it or getting over it. As far as I can tell, here in Minnesota, no one is getting tested unless they're in such dire straights that they go to the ER.
Unless I completely misread the report from our Governor's office, the projected deaths from this virus have been revised down from 75,000 to just under 700. Could that possibly be right? That's a 99% reduction. I must have read that wrong.
When we were ordered to close up shop and stay home, it was with the idea that it was necessary to flatten the curve of how many got sick so hospitals wouldn't be inundated with tens of thousands needing care at the same time. More patients would survive if hospitals had enough personnel and equipment to deal with the cases as they came in. Isn't that what 'flatten the curve' meant? But instead, we've cut the projected number of deaths from C19 by 99%?
Good for us, I guess... can we get back to work now?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, when addressing the nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor that the only thing to fear was fear itself.
Fear is driving us right now.
Fear is what made it so difficult to find home health care to help take care of my Dad while Mom was in the hospital.
Fear made it impossible for my Mom to get her bone marrow biopsy until she'd been out of isolation for 10 days. I don't think this delay will complicate her treatment but who knows?
Fear makes it impossible for anyone to be with my Mom while she has her biopsy.
Fear is what has caused millions across the country to lose their jobs.
With any luck at all, those jobs will return the moment we reopen the economy, which needs to be sooner rather than later. Every day that we stay in this economic stasis the harder it will be to bring it back, just like every day of inactivity makes it that much more work to get back into physical shape.
Fear has kept my Dad and every other resident in the Senior Living Facility in which he lives, stuck in their apartments, unable to walk the halls, use the gym, the restaurants, the movie theater or socialize with each other in any way. I understand this, since the residents are old, frail and many of them have serious health issues; they're the demographic most vulnerable to this particular pathogen. But my Dad, who doesn't have the virus, has been unable to get any exercise in three weeks and his rehabilitation since the fall that broke his neck is dependent on him exercising as often as possible. Three weeks of inactivity will set him back three months in his quest to walk again. He'll be 93 this summer. Dad is never going to get those months back. Are we saving lives with all this fear, or are we just redistributing months?
Most of the US is not New York City. We don't live like sardines in sky scrapers out here in flyover land. We breath fresh air, not the exhalations of eight million close neighbors.
I've been skeptical of pop science since the mid 80's, when for a few months, we were all told that oat bran was the key to eternal life and happiness. Yes, it was that stupid. Similar fads pop up every 9-12 months as to what must/must not be ingested, imbibed, participated in or shunned, the same things popping up in each category at different times. Coffee kills! Coffee prevents depression. Energy efficient homes are the key to environmental salvation! Energy efficient homes cause mold that may lead to asthma or worse. Bacon kills! Life without bacon isn't worth living. Sweets kill! Dark chocolate is filled with anti-oxidants. Alcohol kills! Red wine is actually good for you.
The best thing I ever heard about what to eat and drink is this; "Eat food, Not too much. Mostly plants"- Michael Pollen.
I remember when some space rover first got a good look at the rings of Saturn. Much to the surprise of physicists, it appeared that some of those rings were...braided. That seemed to fly in the face of known science. That's the thing about science: we don't really know much. We think we know a little about what we know but we have no idea how much we don't know. So those of you who worship 'Science' may as well be worshipping a dandelion that is thick and yellow today but will turn to fluff, dancing away on the wind tomorrow.
Or not. Nobody really knows.
As far as Zombie flu or C19, what worries me the most is that the political class will decide it's okay to use every bug that comes along as an excuse to exercise their power to boss us around, close our businesses and place us all under house arrest. We should never consent to giving them this kind of power. Fear is the oldest tool of power and a population prone to hysteria is one that is ripe for tyranny.
"Is life so dear or peace so sweet to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
If you don't know who said that, your teachers and parents owe you an apology.