In part one of this series, I talked about the scary implications of giving up DNA to be tested to see if you have the COVID-19 infection. In part two, we looked at what viruses are, how they are structured and past memorable pandemics.
In this, the third and final part, – and I’m sure you are saying “finally!” – we are going to be looking at past and current reactions to pandemics that millions of people on this planet have witnessed and/or have gone through – been infected – and survived virus infections.
While there are differences in viruses, like transmission speed, (ability to spread rate) how infectious is the virus, (can it infect a person by just standing next to another person) and of course, the mortality rate of the virus (death rate). There is one constant that we can be sure of. A virus needs a host.
A person, animal or even a mammal – three whales in San Diego were infected with the Hong Kong Flu. Viruses themselves cannot live without a host. Their lifespan is cut to only 48 hours, (maxing at 72 hours) at which point, they have either eaten what cells they have attached to or become so weak that if they were to attach to a human host, the host immune system would be able to send it to the dumpster in a quick hurry.
With all of this in mind, we as a global society have to ask ourselves “why is the entire planet in lock-down?”.
The answer is simple and complex at the same time. We’ll start with the simple answers first.
First. The news is scary and the pictures coupled with the drama they portray is also scary.
Second. We are not scientist and therefore have no understanding what what viruses are. Hopefully, you now know a lot more about them from part two of this series. To put this in simplistic terms. If I were to come to your house to explain the structure of a hemoglobin, you would look at me with a tilted head as if to say “ummm…yeah…ok”.
Third. In our information age, we have also become lost in social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twiter, Youtube, etc. But it does serve one purpose. The news, drama, fake stories and tales are spread at lightening speeds, unlike a virus itself.
The more complex answers are. We don’t know what we are dealing with. What kind of mutated experiment was going on that caused this virus to come to life in the first place. Like almost all viruses of the recent memorable past, this one too fell into the “influenza” category, but it caught heath care workers, scientist and politicians off guard, causing the panic and current state of our society.
But what about past pandemics?
The simple answer is. We didn’t have social media and an intrusive news media in bed and pounding on our head 24/7.
The complex answer is, we didn’t instant everything, including communication – much less the ability to send x-rays or virus models over the internet in a fraction of a second – between hospitals, doctors and world governments.
Looking back at the Hong Kong Flu, you can easily see that life went on as normal during a pandemic. As a matter of fact, the Woodstock festival took place during that time with an estimated 300,000 people in attendance over a three day period.
Several other large concerts took place during pandemics. The US festival, (250,000-275,000 people in attendance over a three day period)
Cal Jam 1 & 2 (300,000-400,000 people in attendance over a 2-3 day period)
The one striking thing that keeps coming to mind is that people were sharing alcohol and drugs with each other in all of these examples. If a virus was to spread faster than the internet itself, there would be no other time in history for it to happen than then.
So is this virus really that smart to have brain cells as well as being an infectious disease. Could it possible know that it’s ok for people to be in a grocery store, but not a hair salon or a restaurant or airport or any one of tens of thousands of other places?
We’ve all heard the term “herd immunity” blabbed on TV and social media. In all of the examples above, that is exactly what happened. Some of the same people that were at Woodstock, were also at the US festival and Cal Jam. Three times these people were exposed to a harmful virus and yet, they still walk among us.
In closing, we as a global population are in a lock-down state due to panic and not pandemic, forcing world governments to take action to appease an oppressive news media. Imagine what would happen to a politician if they did not conform to the pressures of the absurd news media. Chances are, they would be thrown out of office within a week and that is why we have a “New Normal.”