The good news is that China reports no significant numbers of new cases of Covid-19. There are only 39 new cases reported in China, which has population of 1.386 Billion people.
Japan has found an effective treatments for Covid-19 named Avigan (favipiravir) , which China reports is effective against Covid-19.
Already being used around the world are, Hydroxychloroquine, Chloroquine drugs used to treat Malaria. Chloroquine treats cases of the virus in 3-6 days and if deployed quickly and strategically the drug could potentially help bend the pandemic’s “hockey stick” curve, reports the WSJ.
The world has been shut down by governments in an effort to “flatten the curve” to slow the number of new infections and buy time for drug companies to ramp up production and distribution of drugs.
So why the continued Fear and Panic? According to the US government the “Panic-Demic” could last months. To those now without income and told to isolate, this sounds worse than any risk associated with contracting Covid-19 and it creates Fear and Panic.
It is for this reason that the “shut-down” strategy is not sustainable beyond the next 2 weeks.
Governments have been ill equipped to handle this crisis and are fumbling with promises of providing financial relief to those who need it most. It is unlikely that governments will be able to logistically get cash into the hands of those in need immediately.
By mid April, when the numbers of new Covid-19 infections and deaths, do not support continuing strategy of isolation and do not justify allowing the world economy to collapse further, there will be a BIG push back by people around the world affected by this strategy.
Where the USA and Italy have been relying on testing for Covid-19, to make their case of isolation, other countries including the UK and Netherlands are proposing a different approach called “Herd Immunity” wherein the UK and Holland, will do nothing to stop the spread of Covid-19 and allow the population to get sick, in order to build up a natural immunity and anti-bodies against the disease.
This policy is a politically dangerous approach, but many argue that it maybe the most sensible and realistic. Doctors point out, that many of the population may have already been infected and are carrying the virus or the virus has already been spread to places where people are isolating. The virus may be hiding on door knobs, plastic bags, groceries, dishes, thereby rendering the current strategy of isolation ineffective and may result in many unnecessary secondary deaths.
What is important now is to “take a deep breath” and “relax” for the next 2 weeks. Those tasked with handling this “Panic-Demic” will have to defend their strategies against the numbers.
By mid-April the world will make an assessment of the numbers of new Covid-19 infections and deaths, and decide whether those numbers justify the government’s forced economic shut down. It is not likely that the world population will continue to support isolation strategies.
Before Covid-19 there were 25,000 people dying each day of starvation, totaling 9.1 Million people per year world-wide. Today we are realizing how fragile the support systems we rely on are. Hopefully, the current “Panic-Demic” awakens humanity to care less about material gain, and more about our fellow man and our planet. Perhaps at last there will be a paradigm shift from “I” to “we”.
Today if you are isolating or not working, instead allowing your life to be ruled by fear and panic, consider using the next 2 weeks as: “Get Healthy” and “Happy .” Make the most of this time and plan to get back to full time work by mid April and for things to normalize by May 2020.
Doctor Advise to keep your immune system strong and most people will be fine.
[since the original publication of this article the US has announced “opening for business again, by Easter April 12, saying “the cure to Covid-19 cannot be worse than the disease”]