David Evans, South Australia and Northern Territory regional Meeting
“We had a family gathering. My Dad died”
“We went to choir practice. 60 choristers were infected and two died”
COVID -19 has emerged from a sea of coronaviruses in animals and humans able to take over the tissue cells naturally lining our respiratory systems and wreak damage before the immune system gets going. The damage may be fatal. In 2020 COVID-19 continues to evolve with new strains that each have their own potentialities.
Oldies like me have a high mortality rate and need to be careful. The world stopped to save the old and I am most grateful. We now distance ourselves, go into isolation and get tested when we have colds and ‘flu. The light at the end of the tunnel is a long way off. It will come when the whole world is vaccinated and is immune.
Vaccinations do work. Do you remember the last case of Smallpox? In 1975, Rahima Banu, a three-year-old girl from Bangladesh, was the last person in the world to have naturally acquired smallpox. Poliomyelitis is now mostly eradicated. Only Pakistan and Afghanistan have reported cases in 2020. Never was it more true to think globally and act locally. Vaccination of everybody is our best hope. Research scientists are looking for a Nobel Prize chasing an effective vaccine. Essential epidemiology studies are being done in haste to elucidate parameters such as whether there is a carrier status. Associated syndromes such as brain damage in young children are being investigated. It will be interesting to see how well countries with little or no infections manage to keep control. They may set models for the future.
Local lockdown is necessary whenever a new cluster appears. There is mention of the R factor: how many other people get infected from one sufferer. It is obvious that social/physical distancing lowers the R factor. So keep your distance. Wash hands often. Get tested with cold-like symptoms.
Personally I have enjoyed the isolation and adaptation COVID -19 has brought. But now being able to see the family in the flesh again is marvellous.
Let’s live again.
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