In this post, I’m offering a graphic review of COVID-19 and what we can still do to prevent infections IN ADDITION TO getting vaccinated. Until we achieve wide spread immunity through vaccination the risk of infection and death are still present and still just as real.
This time a year ago, no one in the United States, or even anywhere in the world, knew about a novel coronavirus, except a handful of physicians and scientists. Perhaps not even they knew we were facing a viral pandemic that would turn our lives upside down.
That unknown virus, SARS-CoV-2, has sickened 90 million people world wide and caused almost 2 million deaths. In the United States it has infected 22 million people, killing 370,000.
In the United States, the healthcare systems in many places, including our most populous states, are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, so much so that it impairs their ability to care for them and other patients. Cases are at an all time high across the entire country.
a model of the structure of the SARS_CoV-2
This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses.
Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. In this view, the protein particles E, S, and M, also located on the outer surface of the particle, have all been labeled as well.
A novel coronavirus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. The illness caused by this virus has been named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAMS, public domain.
Finally, a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2
There is hope for an end to this nightmare now that two vaccines are available and being dispensed. I feel fortunate to have received my first dose of the Pfizer-BiONTech vaccine but I know for many others it will be weeks if not months before they will be vaccinated.
Three days after my first vaccination the soreness in my arm is almost gone, and I had no redness or swelling.
Let’s review COVID-19
In this post, I’m offering a graphic review of COVID-19 and what we can still do to prevent infections IN ADDITION TO getting vaccinated. Until we achieve wide spread immunity through vaccination the risk of infection and death are still present and still just as real.
Please note I am not addressing management of COVID-19 in this post. Your best source of information for treatment of symptomatic COVD-19 is from a physician familiar with your symptoms and underlying health.
The timeline of a COVID-19 infection-from exposure to immunity
Other common symptoms include
headache
muscle and/or joint aches
nasal congestion and drainage
sore throat
nausea/vomiting/diarrhea
loss of taste or smell-this almost always means you are infected
fatigue
there may be no symptoms at all
Steps to prevent infection from coronavirus-
Wash your hands, Wear a mask, Watch your distance
What to do if you think you have COVID-19 or have been exposed
You should also contact your physician for advice, especially if you have chronic medical conditions which might make you at greater risk of severe disease.
Base your actions on FACTS, not FEAR
Learn about the vaccines from Dr. Gupta and Dr. Fauci
Throughout the pandemic, I have depended on the reports from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, neurosurgeon and medical correspondent for CNN. I don’t miss his daily podcasts called Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction.
In this episode, Dr. Gupta interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci about the coronavirus vaccine. I suggest you listen to this 12 minute podcast, as well as the others in this series.
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we Americans have trouble re-calibrating our traditional (and laudable) devotion to individual rights and civil liberties. That is the fundamental reason we’ve been so slow in getting serious about a virus. quote Charles Krauthammer
Since the start of the pandemic, and especially since it has become so politicized and polarized, I have wondered what the late Dr. Charles Krauthammer might have written in his Washington Post column. For many years he commented on all things political, social, and occasionally medical, having left his psychiatric medical practice for a journalism career. As I searched my previous posts about him, I found reference to a piece discussing a situation similar to COVID-19-the Ebola epidemic of 2014.
this image depicts an illustrative sticker that had been produced by the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, which emphasized the importance of handwashing in the battle against this viral disease. credit to CDC/ Dr. Heidi Soeters, public domain
In 2014 when an Ebola epidemic broke out in Africa, a Liberian man entered the United States, became ill, and presented to a hospital emergency room; before he was isolated, healthcare workers were exposed. He was eventually diagnosed with Ebola and a nurse became infected. It caused a public health scandal which was widely criticized.
Fortunately, although deadly, Ebola is not as casually transmitted as coronavirus (not respiratory born) and never rose to pandemic proportions. But certain aspects of its presence in the United States mimics an aspect of COVID-19 which is hotly debated-personal freedom vs the common good.
Dr. Krauthammer wrote a piece commenting on this. I am quoting a few key paragraphs that particularly apply to the COVID-19 crisis. In italics I have inserted words referring to the specifics of the 2020 pandemic.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to assist public health partners in responding to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak first identified in Wuhan, China.Credit James Gathany, Public domain
Coronavirus vs civil liberties (quoting Dr. Krauthammer, unless noted)
Unnervingly, the U.S. public health services remain steps behind the Ebola virus (Coronavirus). Contact tracing is what we do, Centers for Disease Control Director Tom Frieden (Robert Redfield) assured the nation. It will stop the epidemic “in its tracks.”
These missteps raise questions of competence, candor and false confidence. But the problem is deeper. And it rests not in our doctors but in ourselves.
In the face of a uniquely dangerous threat, we Americans have trouble re-calibrating our traditional (and laudable) devotion to individual rights and civil liberties. That is the fundamental reason we’ve been so slow in getting serious about Ebola (COVID-19). Consider:
Privacy
In normal circumstances, privacy deserves absolute respect. But these are not normal circumstances. We’re talking about a possible epidemic by an unseen pathogen that kills 70 percent of its victims. Contact tracing is the key to stopping it, we’ve been told.
Quarantine is the ultimate violation of civil liberties. Having committed no crime, having done no wrong, you are sentenced to house arrest or banishment. It’s unfair. It’s, well, un-American. But when an epidemic threatens, we do it because we must.
(Note: Americans have been asked to quarantine if they have come in close contact with someone confirmed with COVID-19. If they have the infection, they must self isolate for at least 10 days. )
Evacuation
Training and equipping every hospital in America to treat this rare disease would be ridiculously expensive and 99 percent wasted. Every Ebola (COVID-19) patient should be evacuated to a specialized regional isolation center, such as the ones in Atlanta, Omaha or Bethesda.
(Note: With the large number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, it is impractical to treat all patients at isolation centers. However, their care requires a high level of medical sophistication only available at large medical centers by physicians, nurses, and other professionals trained in critical and intensive care. Such care can potentially overwhelm the medical system, making care of COVID-19 patients more difficult and making care of other critically ill patients less available.)
Travel bans
The CDC argues that a travel ban would stop the flow of medical assistance to West Africa. This is silly. Simply make an exception for health-care workers. They apply to federal authorities, who charter their flights (or use military aircraft already headed there) and monitor their movements until 21 days (14 days) after their return home.
(Note: Non-essential travel to China from the United States was banned soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and travel to other parts of the world followed. Ironically in July of 2020, some countries banned entry of arrivals from the United States due to a surge in cases. Some states instituted quarantine requirements for visitors from other states to limit spread during the summer surge of cases. )
President Obama, in his messianic period, declared that choosing between security and liberty was a false choice. On the contrary. It is the eternal dilemmaof every free society. Politics is the very process of finding some equilibrium between these two competing values.
Regarding terrorism, we’ve developed a fairly reasonable balance. But it took time. With Ebola (COVID-19), we don’t have time. Viruses don’t wait. The sooner we reset the balance — the sooner we get serious — the safer we will be.
Here is a link to his original article which I hope you will read.
To contain and “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 cases, American citizens have been asked to limit or even avoid many common activities; these restrictions have been met with resistance and outright defiance. These include
This last one, wearing face coverings to prevent the spread of coronavirus containing droplets, has at times been the most contentious among people, with some enthusiastically embracing their use and some rejecting.
Even the two candidates for President had different responses initially, with Mr. Trump refusing to wear one, while Mr. Biden did. (By mid July, Mr. Trump began wearing a mask and urged citizens to do so.)
We’re instead asking Americans to use masks, socially distance, and employ vigorous hygiene — wash your hands every chance you get — while sheltering high-risk populations. We are imploring young Americans to avoid packed bars and other crowded indoor gatherings. Be safe and be smart.
In 1776 when the American colonies threw off unjust English rule, the leaders declared independence based on the rights of
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
The Declaration of Independence
But when Life is threatened by disease, Liberty may also be threatened- and it remains to be seen if the democratic government they established can save both .
exploring the HEART of health and freedom
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When I read Charles Krauthammer book, Things That Matter, one of the most important things I learned wasn’t about politics, medicine, or ethics, subjects he knew well and wrote about often. I learned that he was a die hard Washington Nationals baseball fan.
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