AMDG
The
above photo shows how overwhelmed the hospitals were during the 1918 Spanish
Flu pandemic, having to improvise this makeshift military hospital at Camp
Funston, Kansas.
In the last few months of the devastating World War I in 1918 the
world was hit by the Spanish Flu, a strain of Influenza ……a double whammy of a
war and a pandemic. Although it lasted
for two years, the worst was in the last few months of 1918. The pandemic eventually infected 500 million
people, over ¼ of the world's population of 1.85 billion (28% of the United
States population of 105 million) and killed at least 50 million people
worldwide (2.7% of the world population for a fatality rate of 10%……i.e., a
tenth of those infected died). The second Wave was much worse than the second Wave.
In the United States
an estimated 675,000 died from the Spanish Flu
(99% under age 65), giving a fatality rate of 2.3%— more than 12 times the
number of American combat deaths in World War I. Life expectancy
decreased by over ten years after the pandemic.
See https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu-deaths-october-1918. Francisco, one of the three children that
Mary appeared to in Fatima, Portugal died of the Spanish Flu. Public Health departments at the county level
tried to educate the public in better hygiene.
One sign read: “Help the war effort; don’t spit”. See https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html and https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/health/coronavirus-is-very-different-from-the-spanish-flu-of-1918-heres-how.html. Click
on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDY5COg2P2c for an excellent documentary video.
From left to right are Ella & Disiderius (Dezső) Voloszinovich, Rev. Vladimir & Pani Olga Mihalich. Behind them are Irene, Martha, Stephanie, and Lilly on the extreme right. The picture was taken in 1918 or so in present day Slovakia, then part of Austria-Hungary.
According
to my mother, the baby of the Mihalich family, Pani Olga took charge and
quarantined her five girls. She would
not permit them to leave the parish house.
Every time a parishioner would enter my Grandfather’s office, Pani
Mihalich would clean the door knob with a disinfectant, such as bleach. They were afraid and I’m sure that they
prayed…….a lot. If Fr. Vladimir made
sick calls and I assume he did, that was another danger to his family.
Fr.
Vladimir pastored five wooden rustic churches and celebrated the Divine Liturgy
at a different church every Sunday, traveling by horse and buggy. The Greek Catholic Union, ---a Byzantine
Catholic fraternal association that sells life insurance (my mother had a
policy)---, built a replica of one of these churches of the Carpathians south of Poland at its recreation
center near Butler, PA. My mother gave
them information to help to make the replica as authentic as possible.
We visited Bodruzal in 1999. Tim & Barbara Loya preceded us in 1990 or so. I think that the photo below is the church as I recall and the link shows the interior along with other photos. A villager who had the key charged us $.50 each to enter. We visited the modest home where the Mihalich family lived and found the pastor and his brother repairing the porch. Our four children played in the same creek that their grandmother and aunts did some 90 years previous. We had a nice chat with Fr. Varonik, the pastor and met his wife and children. Jaga spoke in Polish and they in Slovak. The languages are close enough to make communication easy. Greg Loya even raised money to help the parish. We were surprised to see that many gypsies live in the village.
The link
below shows the interior of St. Nicolas Byzantine Catholic church in Bodruzal,
Slovakia where Fr. Vladimir Mihalich led many divine liturgies. The people sat on benches with no back
rests. People often supported the parish
with farm produce, such as chickens. As
in Poland, the farmers live in the village and farm the fields on the outskirts.
Fast forward to Spring 2020 and since then we have had a worldwide pandemic of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Each day the number of those stricken and often die increased. Hospitals in New York City were overwhelmed and so were the mortuaries. Corpses were stored in refrigerated trucks. It seemed that the disease peaked in China and Korea, before finally leveling off with fewer cases. But the disease continued to advance in Italy, Iran, the Philippines and in the United States among other countries. Italy lost at least seven priests to the virus.
However, it
seems that we are applying the lessons learnt from the great Spanish Flu pandemic of
1918, although a little late. That gives
us hope of minimizing the peak and slowing the advance of the disease while keeping
the number of people infected at a level that our hospital system can handle. One way to slow the advance is for people to avoid
crowds and maintain where possible a distance of six feet from others outside
of the household. At the peak of the
first wave there were as many as 100,000 new cases and 10,000 deaths daily with
40,000 new cases and 2,500 deaths in the United States.
There was a second wave in the summer, mainly in the South. At its peak there were as many as 290,000 new cases daily (9,000 deaths) around the world and 75,000 (3,000 deaths) in the United States. Texas was a hotspot where we attended the wedding of our son John-Paul and new daughter Elizabeth Herrera. We had a beautiful reception. However, nobody took precautions, but somehow none of the more than 150 who attended got sick.
Now in December we have an even worse third wave throughout the country that threatens to overwhelm the hospitals. Each day there are as many as 700,000 new cases worldwide (13,000 deaths) and 250,000 (3,300 deaths) in the United States. There are many more cases, but the overall mortality rate has decreased from about 5.6% in March to 1.8% in December as the doctors learn about the disease. The United States has more Covid cases than any other country, but taken on a per capita basis, is 8th in total cases and 12th in total deaths, lower in mortality than Belgium, Italy, Spain, and the UK.
On December 28 our daughter Naomi is getting married in Cincinnati to John Faro, a medical student. Most of our invited guests decided not to come for fear of Covid. Cancelling the reception was a big problem and now we are resigned to a dinner reception for family in a restaurant with social distancing. The bottom line is, of course, they will be married. We must take precautions, but we are not letting Covid-19 paralyze us. We are praying for the Lord’s protection. Some have advocated placing an image of Divine Mercy on the door of our home, which we did. Last summer Catholic Familyland had 3500 people at their five pray and play family fests, each a week long. They prayed and not one person got sick.
The main lesson of the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic that is aggressively being applied is social distancing. Philadelphia had a big parade and celebration honoring the troops returning from World War I; thousands came down with the flu. St. Louis restricted such celebrations and the contrast was stunning. All events that draw crowds were suspended.
The
college basketball and baseball seasons abruptly ended in March. Since May professional football, basketball, and
hockey games are being played in almost empty stadiums while the players are tested
daily for Covid-19. The teams are heavily relying
on television revenue. European soccer was
greatly curtailed.
In
Ohio bars and restaurants were closed except for takeout. At first, people hoarded food and necessities
as most of the shelves of Walmart were emptied over a weekend. People were even hoarding toilet paper and shortages resulted.
Schools
and colleges were suspended, including athletics. Our University of Rio Grande baseball was
over a few weeks after it started. The
University of Rio Grande became almost a ghost campus, deserted and virtually
empty. However, on-line classes continued. Our son, John-Paul had to give his Catholic
middle school Math classes in Texas by video (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4llkT0h2l4
and for more go to youtube.com and type in John-Paul Sebastian). In the Fall, in person classes were resumed
with social distancing and other precautions.
However, many college courses are on line. At the University of Rio Grande in the Fall everybody
wears a mask, even at outside sports events although those actually in the game
are dispensed.
Efforts are being made to decrease crowding of hard hit jails through more plea bargaining. Loved ones could only see Grandma through the window at hard hit nursing homes. Cultural events and conferences are cancelled or postponed as was our Ohio Valley Symphony performance until Fall 2021. St Patrick parades were cancelled as well as our local science fair, parades, festivals, fairs, etc. The Christmas parade was on-line. Our local Bossard Library was closed for a few months.
Airlines took a big hit as people are keeping travel to a minimum. Some borders were closed; flights from certain countries to the United States were banned. The state of Ohio had been monitoring those whose travels put them at risk even though they still have no symptoms. Some states require anyone coming from a hard hit area to quarantine for 14 days. However, flying normalized considerably by summer, but everyone must wear a mask and each passenger is screened for symptoms.
Night
life has greatly decreased. Even
abortion clinics closed in Europe and the United States. That was a positive development, but sadly they
were back in business when the economy restarted. Many companies such as banks continued to
operate, but via telephone, a drive through, and by appointment. Meetings are conducted via the internet,
using Zoom. Many worked from home. Our son, Joseph is a software developer and was able to come home twice from Wisconsin for a week and work in the basement
with his computer and two screens.
Dentists, doctors, and nurses work, but they must use heavy duty M-45
masks.
With decreased economic activity and resulting unemployment the stock market decreased by over 27% in the Spring from its peak in January. That would have been a good time to buy stock. The situation did stabilize significantly by June and the stock market rebounded because businesses were allowed to reopen, but with precautions such as masks and social distancing of six feet between persons.
The authorities realized that shutting down
much of the economy was causing too much unemployment, small business bankruptcies, and even
psychological problems. Without a steady income people could not pay the rent and landlords were hurting. There will be a
lot of pent up demand, which is inflationary. Historically, the United States economy has been quite resilient; it will
bounce back and did to a large extent.
For once the President and Congress, Republicans and Democrats worked together last Spring to minimize the economic hardship of unemployment with a $1200 stimulus to each family, $300 per week to the unemployed, food assistance, paycheck protection, rental assistance, and a payroll tax holiday, small business loans, health and education. Such a multi trillion dollar package will probably stoke inflation in the long run. Inevitably, printing more money which is creating money out of nothing, and drastically increasing the money supply is inflationary.
Now
it’s time for the two parties to work together again. The Federal Reserve Bank
has increased money supply by buying up government bonds and mortgage backed
securities. This will decrease interest
rates to close to zero……..great for the borrowers to stimulate the economy, but
unfair to savers. In the 1980s, the interest
rate on a certificate of deposit was about 15%, but that was to curb inflation
by contracting the money supply. We may
have the same post Covid.
Catholic
Masses and all church services were cancelled until after Easter in almost
all of the dioceses of the United States.
On May 31 the Bishops of the United States reopened the churches, but
those vulnerable to the virus have been dispensed of the Sunday obligation. Now we can better understand the plight of
Christians in countries where the Church is persecuted or suppressed.
However, we still have EWTN, Catholic cable and satellite television. There’s daily Mass at 8 am, noon, 7 pm, and midnight plus rosary at 7:30 am, 11:30 am, 3:30 pm and 9:30 pm. You can also get it on line at www.ewtn.com and www.youtube.com at any time. There’s many other great programs as well. One can assist at Mass live somewhere in the world at www.mass-online.org. Bishop Robert Barron gave very insightful homilies at his daily mass (www.wordonfire.org/daily-mass) and Stations of the Cross at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJNjtA-Awb4.
Most Catholic churches, including our own St. Louis Church in Gallipolis, Ohio has one of it Masses streamed live on Facebook with a link to it from the parish website. We can do more spiritual reading as well and put a greater focus on building the domestic church………i.e., making our home into a little church (the Domestic Church) where Christ is the center of the family.
It felt very strange to attend Mass via the internet and the Bishop processed with a couple of deacons and servers in an empty cathedral. If I daydream during a sermon, it’s nice to be able to repeat a youtube segment. Knowing the faith is crucial for passing down the faith and keeping our kids Catholic into adulthood. Enlightening are Bishop Robert Barron’s comments on what we’re going through (see https://www.wordonfireshow.com/coronavirus/) as well as inspiring thoughts of Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7WpyJINq5M. .
Since the elderly are advised to stay home because of the greater risk, I was in virtual quarantine. Jaga and I continue with our afternoon rosary walk of 45 minutes to an hour. Before we got married, I ran circles around her. Now 32 years later she runs circles around me. She’s in great physical shape.
All of this, if it must happen, was very appropriate for Lent and now Advent. We have a lot to offer up for the conversion of sinners as Mary asked for at Fatima. May all of this help us to grow in our faith. God will certainly make good come out of this pandemic. May it help us to have a sharper focus on our spiritual lives.
We’ll get through this with God’s help and finally at warp speed we have a vaccine unusually high 95% effective and two more on the way. Inoculations began today, December 14 with priority being given to front line health workers and residents and employees of nursing homes, but it will take months to inoculate everyone, probably June 2021.
This is not the first pandemic in history (see https://www.history.com/news/6-devastating-plagues). There have been many plagues. The Bubonic Plague or Black Death of the 14th Century killed 50 million people, half of Europe. May we come closer to God as a result as we trust Him more. Perhaps it’s a wake up call for all of us. May it all help our country be not only great again, but also holy…….again if it ever was.
PROTECTING YOURSELF &
YOUR FAMILY FROM THE CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)
I collected a lot of medical information
that should be helpful in protecting you and your family from the Coronavirus. It is divided into three segments:
1) An Interview of Dr. David Price of the
ICU Unit of the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City that specializes
in the treatment of the onslaught of Coronavirus cases. …excellent.
2) Coronavirus Information From the
Stanford Hospital Board
3) Information Collected From a Variety of
Sources
Interview of Dr. David
Price, a New York City Hospital Front Line ICU Doctor Treating COVID-19
The best by far is the following 57 minute video
interview of Dr. David Price, who is on the front lines, risking his life in
treating only Covid-19 patients in the ICU unit in the Weill Cornell Medical
Center, a large New York City Hospital.
He does it 12 hours per day keeping up with the onslaught of
patients. He makes the life and death
decisions on putting patients on the ventilator. Dr. Price does an excellent job in giving
good tips in a language that the layman can easily understand. It’s very informative and helpful. He did this video especially for his extended
family and friends. Take the time to see
the video. It can keep you from getting
sick and can even save your life. Click
on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doR0Ejy4eo0. We
owe Dr. Price and the thousands of health care workers who are working day and
night to heal the sick and save lives while risking their own lives.
Great Coronavirus Information From the Stanford Hospital Board (See the Appendix. A friend questions some of its points which need to be confirmed.
Be
careful with things picked up on Facebook)
Brenda McCoy wrote the following as a
Facebook entry: “Working for highly connected people has its perks. The following email came to my boss directly
from her friend who is a member of the Stanford Hospital Board. This is what we all should know and focus on. A huge take away, drink lots of water!!” That e-mail contains some very useful advice. However, be careful because of it is second
hand information.
Dr. Peter Maher was a noted cardiologist
at Yale University Medical Center. He
was Mother Teresa's physician here in the U.S. (she had a history of heart
issues). His daughter is an internal
medicine professor at Yale. He endorses
the following points.
1. If you have a runny nose and sputum,
you have a common cold.
2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough
with no runny nose.
3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a
temperature of just 26/27 degrees. It
hates the Sun. (Assuming that’s
centigrade, it would be 79 - 81o F.)
4. If someone sneezes, it takes up to 10 minutes before the
virus in a tiny droplet settles to the ground and is no longer airborne. (This shows the great importance of sneezing
into one’s arm or tissue.)
5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12
hours. So if you come into contact with
any metal surface - wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap.
6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. Normal laundry detergent will kill it.
7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to
drink liquids with ice.
8. Wash your hands frequently.
The virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but a lot can happen
during that time……..You can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so
on.
9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of
salt in warm water will suffice.
10. Can't emphasis enough - drink plenty of water!
The Symptoms
1. It will first infect the throat, so you'll have a sore throat
lasting 3 to 4 days
2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the
trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days
further.
3. With the pneumonia comes high fever over 100.5 and difficulty
in breathing.
4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel
like you're drowning. It's imperative you then seek immediate attention.
Serious excellent advice by Japanese
doctors treating COVID-19 cases: Everyone should ensure your mouth & throat
are moist, never dry. Take a few sips of water every 15 minutes at least. Why?
Even if the virus gets into your mouth, drinking water or other liquids will
wash them down through your throat and into the stomach. Once there, your
stomach acid will kill all the virus. If you don't drink enough water more
regularly, the virus can enter your windpipe and into the lungs. That's very
dangerous. Please send and share this with family and friends. Take care
everyone and may the world recover from this Coronavirus soon.
The new Coronavirus may not show signs
of infection for many days. How can one know if he/she is infected? By the time
they have fever and/or cough and go to the hospital, the lung is usually 50%
Fibrosis and it's too late (Fibrosis is not reversible). Taiwan experts provide
a simple self-check that we can do every morning. Take a deep breath and hold
your breath for more than 10 seconds. If you complete it successfully without
coughing, without discomfort, stiffness or tightness, etc., it proves there is
no Fibrosis in the lungs, basically indicates no infection. In critical times,
please self-check every morning in an environment with clean air.”
Other
Notes I Collected From a Variety of Sources
In the graph we can see how St. Louis used social distancing to flatten the curve that occurred when the Spanish Flu epidemic went out of control in Philadelphia.
See https://twitter.com/i/status/1239223330097500160. It’s quite
illustrative.
· The Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) website at www.cdc.gov
is very informative regarding symptoms and preventive measures that each person
can take.
· The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a
real crisis because the number of cases is increasing exponentially,
threatening to overwhelm hospital systems as in Italy. The fatality rate (1.5% in the U.S.) is 10-15
times more lethal than the common flu (.1%) which caused 37,000 deaths in 2019,
despite the use of the flu vaccine. If
the Coronavirus should become as prevalent as the common flu, we’re talking
about half a million deaths. That would
be catastrophic! Thus we cannot blame
the media for fomenting hysteria, nor can we blame our bishops, our governors,
our president, and other leaders for forcing draconian measures. Trump never knew what he was getting into in
2016.
· This virus is so new that little is
known about the Coronavirus and there is no vaccine or reliable treatment. It's neither a flu strain or simply a bad
cold. That makes it so dangerous. Developing a vaccine could take as long as 18
months.
· If over age 80, the fatality rate is 15
- 20%. A person 60 or older can easily
contract a severe case of the disease because the immune system deteriorates
with age. In Korea no person less than
30 died of coronavirus, but many did have a mild case of it. The elderly and others at risk are urged to
stay inside……a self-quarantine. Visiting
them should be kept to a minimum. In
Poland some of the elderly won’t even open the door for their grandchildren to
visit. Those with underlying health
conditions, as heart disease, lung problems, and diabetes, are also at greater
risk.
·
The Coronavirus is highly contagious,
much more so than the usual flu viruses and over 10 times more lethal.
·
It’s very difficult to identify carriers
since one can carry the virus for up to two weeks before any symptoms
appear. In that time he or she could
have been in contact with hundreds of healthy persons. Thus it is important that is very important
to test anybody who has been in contact
with a known carrier or sick person or traveled in a heavily infested area
·
As of March 15, 2020 the experts,
observing the pandemic in China and Italy, learned some lessons and say that
the worst is yet to come. Thus it is
wise to take aggressive measures now to slow down the advance of the disease
before it overwhelms the health system as in Italy where those in their 80s are
not treated for lack of resources. Even
two doctors were hospitalized with the disease.
The exhausted health workers have to work like wartime medics.
· The United States is past the
containment stage, when we identified possible virus carriers through testing
and isolated them. With a shortage of
testing kits, the focus now is to delay spreading the virus so that the peak
would be lower to avoid overwhelming the health system as it did in Italy. However, the curve will be wider. See https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chart-1918-spanish-flu-shows-173312236.html. We will be plagued by this virus until June
or so, perhaps until August.
· We had hoped that the heat of late
spring and summer would halt the advance of the disease at least until Fall
when the coronavirus spreads again.
Hopefully, by that time a vaccine can be developed, but more time will
probably be needed. Since the
coronavirus has struck in Ghana, Kenya, and other tropical African countries,
there may not be much of a summer respite.
True, the pandemic is not great in countries of the southern hemisphere
where they have been in summer. In his
press conference President Trump said that it may last into August.
· Of those who contract the Coronavirus,
about 85% will have anywhere from a mild to a bad cold (most have mild symptoms
as some fever and coughing with recovery in less than two weeks) and not think
much of it, recovering in about two weeks.
However, some 15% will have to see a doctor (recovery 3 – 6 weeks), be
hospitalized under a ventilator or oxygen, or even die of pneumonia. The most reliable estimates of the fatality
rate among those who have the ordinary flu is about .1%, but for the
Coronavirus it’s more than ten times that at 1.4% according to the New England
Journal of Medicine. With such
statistics it depends upon the criteria used as location and the figures are
usually estimated. See https://www.livescience.com/new-coronavirus-compare-with-flu.html. As of evening March 18 in the United States
it’s 237 dead out of 18,845 confirmed cases or a 1.4% fatality rate for the
Coronavirus. For the common flu, it’s
20,000 to 37,000 fatalities out of 34 million infected for a .06% to .1%
fatality rate. See https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/health/coronavirus-is-very-different-from-the-spanish-flu-of-1918-heres-how.html. Again the estimated figures are based on
different criteria.
·
Social Distancing is very
important. They recommend a distance of
at least one meter in Europe, in the United States 6 feet. That means avoid crowds of over ten people
and even they should spread out. See https://qz.com/1816060/a-chart-of-the-1918-spanish-flu-shows-why-social-distancing-works/
or https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chart-1918-spanish-flu-shows-173312236.html
and https://www.livescience.com/spanish-flu.html or . These articles vividly shows the wisdom of
cutting off the NCAA and NBA basketball seasons as well as the NHL and delaying
the start of the major league baseball season until the middle of May. Closing restaurants except for carry-out,
casinos, theaters, etc. are wise. Also
helpful is cancelling conferences, large meetings, church services, etc. is
prudent as is encouraging working from home, using the drive-through or the
internet for banking and shopping.
· One can be a carrier that spreads the
disease even if he or she has no symptoms, including children. Even surfaces such as door knobs can be
contaminated and must be sanitized. Thus
visits to nursing homes and prisons are discouraged. Many are encouraged to work remotely from
home when feasible and certainly when not feeling well.
· Although Typhoid Mary did not have
symptoms, she infected many in the restaurant where employed simply because she
did not wash her hands after using the bathroom. Thus good hygiene cannot be overemphasized.
· According to the EWTN “World Over” March
5 guest Steven Mosher, author of “The
Bully of Asia”, claims that there is a bioweapons research program in the
National Bio Safety Laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan,
China even though the government is a signatory to the 1972 Bioweapons
Convention treaty banning it. They have
been collecting and even stealing viruses from all over the world. It just so happened that the worldwide
pandemic started in Wuhan as did the 2003 SARS Virus. Did the Coronavirus somehow escape through an
unwitting carrier from the research center?
At least some viruses originate from animals and bats. See https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/
. On the other hand, according to Nature
Magazine, the Coronavirus is not a laboratory construct, but natural. See https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9.
· China’s repressive system made the
situation worse. At first those who
tried to warn the people were jailed.
Finally, the Government did take measures, but very late.
· Since many Chinese eat dogs, bats,
anteaters, and other animals, it is less difficult for a virus to jump from an
animal to a human. Live animals as food
are sold along with chickens and ducks in public markets.
The Center For Disease Control (CDC) has done a great job in responding to epidemics and outbreaks of disease, taking measures, and giving guidance. However, it must focus much more on being not only reactive, but proactive. The hospital system of the country is short on masks, testing kits, gloves, gowns, respirators, ventilators, face shields, etc. We knew of the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Wuhan, China back in November and should have anticipated that it would probably spread across the world. After all, the world is much smaller with international travel and trade. It’s possible to travel to any part of the world in less than 24 hours. The CDC had months to do contingency planning and ask hospitals and hospital supply stores to stock up on masks and testing kits. Without testing, it’s very difficult to fight a disease, not knowing who has the disease and who are the carriers. A person could be a carrier for up to two weeks before actually becoming with the virus. Quarantining them would have saved a lot of anguish and grief. South Korea was well prepared and now is overcoming this insidious virus.
Appendix II
David Loya questions some of these points. His comments are in red. He cautioned me to
be careful with Facebook entries. I was
wondering about the accuracy of what I first thought to be great information
because a number of the points have not been confirmed by other sources. I should have been more careful. He
recommends
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/taiwan-experts-self-check/
Many more debunked
things are here: https://www.snopes.com/?s=coronavirus+collection
Brenda McCoy wrote the following as a Facebook entry: “Working
for highly connected people has its perks. The following email came to my
boss directly from her friend who is a member of the Stanford Hospital
Board (again, where is the
proof of the origin of this info?). This is what we all should know and focus on. A
huge take away, drink lots of water!!” That e-mail contains some very
useful advice.
1. If you have a runny
nose and sputum, you have a common cold.
2. Coronavirus
pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose.
3. This new virus is
not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27
degrees. It hates the Sun. (Assuming that’s centigrade, it would be
79 - 81o F.) (This is clearly false!)
4. If someone sneezes,
it takes up to 10 minutes before the virus in a tiny droplet settles to the
ground and is no longer airborne. (This shows the great importance of
sneezing into one’s arm or tissue.)
5. If it drops on a
metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours. So if you come into
contact with any metal surface - wash your hands as soon as you can with a
bacterial soap.
6. On fabric it can
survive for 6-12 hours. Normal laundry detergent will kill it.
7. Drinking warm water
is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice. (There is no proof of this)
8. Wash your hands
frequently. The virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but a
lot can happen during that time……..You can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly
and so on.
9. You should also
gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will
suffice. (There is no proof of
this)
10. Can't emphasis
enough - drink plenty of water!
The Symptoms
1. It will first
infect the throat, so you'll have a sore throat lasting 3 to 4 days
2. The virus then
blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing
pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further.
3. With the pneumonia
comes high fever over 100.5 and difficulty in breathing.
4. The nasal
congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you're drowning. It's
imperative you then seek immediate attention.
Serious excellent advice by Japanese doctors treating COVID-19 cases: Everyone should ensure your mouth & throat are moist, never dry. Take a few sips of water every 15 minutes at least. Why? Even if the virus gets into your mouth, drinking water or other liquids will wash them down through your throat and into the stomach. (There is no proof of this) Once there, your stomach acid will kill all the virus. If you don't drink enough water more regularly, the virus can enter your windpipe and into the lungs. That's very dangerous. Please send and share this with family and friends. (And here is the usual claim of false info: send this to EVERYone!) Take care everyone and may the world recover from this Coronavirus soon.
The new Coronavirus may not show signs of
infection for many days. How can one know if he/she is infected? By the time
they have fever and/or cough and go to the hospital, the lung is usually 50%
Fibrosis and it's too late (Fibrosis is not reversible). (I am not sure that this is true. If it is,
everyone with symptoms is doomed, as there is no treatment or cure.) Taiwan experts (again, where is the proof of this
claim’s origin?) provide a simple
self-check that we can do every morning. Take a deep breath and hold your
breath for more than 10 seconds. If you complete it successfully without
coughing, without discomfort, stiffness or tightness, etc., it proves there is
no Fibrosis in the lungs, basically indicates no infection. (I have read from other medical sources
that this is not a proof, and in some case can actually be dangerous.) In critical times, please self-check every
morning in an environment with clean air.”
Appendix III
Duquesne,
PA (1918), a Steel Town Copes With Flu Pandemic
Courtesy
of Jim Volk and his blog duquesenehunky.com
Dateline 1918 – The Spanish Flu Pandemic
Please note: Some of the newspaper articles appear to be small and might be difficult to read. If you encounter that problem, just click on the article, position the magnifying glass over the article and press enter. by doing so, you will be able to increase the magnification and improve the readability. Sorry for the inconvenience. – Jim
I would assume that we all have been watching the media coverage of the spread of the Corona Virus COVIC-19. I hope that you are taking the recommended precautions to keep yourself safe and well. However, as I continued to listen to the news of the spread, it reminded me of a Duquesne News article that I had bookmarked a number of years ago. There has never been a more appropriate time or reason to share it with you than now, with the growing worldwide health concerns that we are experiencing.
Did you know that almost 102 years ago, the City of Duquesne suffered from the devastating effects of another global pandemic? Known as the Spanish Flu (H1N1 virus) Pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide, about one-third of the planet’s population, and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims, including some 675,000 Americans.
In Duquesne, in a period of just 7 weeks, 266 people lost their lives as a result of influenza. The sickness did not discriminate between the young and old. Older citizens as well as infants and children perished. The wealthy of Duquesne as well as those who barely eked by financially, fell victim to the Spanish Flu.
In this post, I have assembled a number of articles from the Duquesne Times that reported on the horror of the disease and the effects on the residents. The similarities on the timing and spreading of the virus appears to be remarkably comparable to the current timeline and spread of the Coronavirus.
On page 6 of the September 27, 1918 edition of The Duquesne Times, the existence of The Spanish Flu was first mentioned. In a column that published reports and letters from enlisted Duquesne boys battling in World War I, young Earl R Shultz wrote from Orleans, France:
On October 4, 1918, just one week after the report about Earl Shultz’s battle with the Spanish Flu, the first report of the deadly influenza actually arriving in Duquesne was published. This time the information was front page news, but the article’s diminutive size and downplayed content, didn’t really provide a sense of urgency or concern.
One week after the initial anouncement that the Spanish Flu had arrived in Duquesne, the tone of the news took a dramatic and frightening turn. The suspected cases of the influenza had grown to 274 people in a little over one week, with no signs of relenting.
I found the section of the article titled “Donts For Influ” particularly interesting. The recommendations to guard against the flu were virtually identical to those that the CDC is recommended for the Coronavirus! Common sense prevails 102 years later!
- Avoid needless crowding
- Smother your coughs and sneezes
- The three C’s: clean mouth, clean skin, clean clothes
- Wash your hands
The following week’s edition of The Duquesne Times continued to report the dire situation in Duquesne. Buy October 18, 1918, there were 0ver 1200 residents who were sickened by the disease. The front page of the paper contained a proclamation by Mayor James S. Crawford urging people to follow the guideline of the public health officials and were warned to not place any credence in the false reports and rumors about the malady.
Front page headlines of The Duquesne News announced the toll of the epidemic for the following weeks as the death toll rose and well as providing hope as the number of people contracting the disease began to wane. Coupled with the jubilation felt with the surrender of Germany on November 11, 1918, life was returning to normal in Duquesne.
Finally, I am posing the published names and ages of victim of the pandemic. I am sure they are not all inclusive, but may answer some of the questions you might have about your ancestors.
And so, in closing, I wish you all well. Please pay careful attention to the guidelines provided by the CDC and your local authorities. I am so looking forward to hearing from you after our current problem passes.
Be well my friends!
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