AS A recovering cerebellar stroke victim, I cannot help but commiserate with coronavirus (Covid-19) patients who are on their way to recovery themselves. Suffering humanity have to stick together. Misery loves company indeed.
Bacolod City and Negros Island for that matter were spared from the global panic. I got to keep abreast of the news thrugh TV, the internet mainly via my smartphone and occasionally my laptop.
My problem is to identify reliable source. Recently I watched on social media medical experts who belittled the virus. This might be a biased opinion because of my ties with Columbia University. Dr. Stephen Morse said the coronavirus is “not a death sentence” nor that the disease is limited to the Chinese.
He should know what he’s talking about. After all, Dr. Morse is an American epidemiologist, influenza researcher and specialist on emerging infectious diseases, who has served as an adviser on the epidemiology of infectious diseases and on improving disease early warning systems to numerous government and international organizations.
As of 2016, he is professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. His seminal book Emerging Viruses (1993) was selected by American Scientist for its list of “100 Top Science Books of the 20th Century.”
Then there’s Dr. Syra Madad, who debunked that the coronavirus is not the most dangerous virus. Dr. Madad has a strong background in academia, teaching in graduate, undergraduate and professional programs with courses ranging from advanced microbiology to bioterrorism and biosecurity.
Both doctors made comments as well about Sars coronavirus (Sars-CoV) – virus identified in 2003. Sars-CoV is thought to be an animal virus from an as-yet-uncertain animal reservoir, perhaps bats, that spread to other animals (civet cats) and first infected humans in the Guangdong province of southern China in 2002.
Both agreed that investing in soaps and water is a far better investment than surgical masks. In fact, Amazon has warned third-party sellers on its Marketplace platform against exorbitant price hikes to face masks amid the coronavirus outbreak that continues to expand across the globe.
Then there’s Thomas R. Frieden, an American infectious disease and public health physician. He serves as President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a $225 million, five-year initiative to prevent epidemics and cardiovascular disease and former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and he was the administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry from 2009 to 2017.
He warned that Covid-19 will become a pandemic. But all three doctors agreed that viral infections are disrespecters of borders. So travel bans to contain such are ineffective after all. We have seen that South Korea, Italy, Iran and elsewhere—and thousands of undetected and infectious patients have traveled around the world. These viruses are globetrotters.
So there. The coronavirus is beginning to sound like the boy who cried wolf.