Reason # 66: COVID-19
Why do we need to defeat Donald Trump and ensure that a Democrat occupies the White House?
On December 8, 2019, Chinese medical officials in the city of Wuhan discovered that they had a serious problem. A number of individuals were diagnosed with a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an infection, a pneumonia, unresponsive to any available treatment. In a remarkable achievement, by December 28, genomic investigation of specimens from patients by the Chinese company, Vision Medical, rapidly determined the illness was caused by new strain of corona virus. Most cases could be traced back to a “live” market in the city.
This was cause for alarm. We had narrowly escaped worldwide SARS pandemics caused by viruses in the recent past. They caused viral infection in the lungs that filled air spaces with fluids that made breathing difficult. Most people developed an immune response that killed off the virus and allowed recovery, but some progressed and died. These typically included the very young, the elderly and those with impaired immunity.
The danger posed by such new viruses, that typically arise in wild and domestic animals and spread to man, was twofold. First, they were initially spread by animals to man, but then spread from human to human. Second, they caused a serious illness that required hospitalization in many cases and killed some patients. If the virus spread easily, e.g. each patient spread the disease to two or more others, and if a substantial proportion of those infected died, then we had a nightmare situation.
The worst instance of a viral pandemic in history was in 1919, when between fifty and one hundred million people died during an influenza virus pandemic.
We had learned terrible lessons during that and subsequent viral epidemics, like the poliovirus epidemic of the 1950s in the U.S..
The first step was to quarantine. No cases of the disease must be exposed to the U.S. population. Travel to and from China would have to stop immediately. Any American returning from China with SARS symptoms would have to be isolated until proven to no be longer contagious to others.
Because we did not yet know how the disease was spread, we would have to assume that it could be contracted by inhalation of coughed material, enter through the skin, through the mouth from food or virus on fingers. Sexual transmission appeared to be unlikely. It would be an urgent task for investigators to develop an accurate test to diagnose the disease. Drugs and vaccines would need to be manufactured and tested urgently.
Masks: Public health officials would need to act quickly to distribute masks able to filter out virus particles so that patients with the disease would not spread it to others. Medical personnel in contact with patients would need to wear masks to protect themselves. Fortunately, such masks had been manufactured. During 1919 only cloth masks were available.
Disinfectants: Chemicals known to be able to kill virus on hands and surfaces must be made available to ensure that virus on clothing, surfaces and hands did not spread the disease to others.
Social Gathering: Contact with infected individuals must be strictly limited to those caring for the sick. Unnecessary social contact e.g. sporting, religious or cultural events must cease. If the disease began to spread, workplaces and schools would have to be shut down.
Quarantine: Any person with the disease must be isolated from others so that they did not spread the disease in the general population.
Testing: Because viral diseases can be spread by those infected who are still asymptomatic, it is important to deploy tests capable of detecting such people before they can spread the illness to others and so that they can begin treatment.
Vaccination: Viruses require live organisms to survive. They die quickly in the environment. Therefore, a viral epidemic stops when there are no longer any susceptible humans available. Survivors of a viral illness become immune to future infection (unless the virus changes). When a high percentage of a population has been infected, we reach “herd immunity”. This is a harsh reality, since to achieve herd immunity millions would die in the process.
A far better solution is to develop a vaccine, a killed or weakened form of the virus that produces an immune response without disease. This is not always possible. For example, we still do not have an effective vaccine against AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis.
Medication: Last on the list is to quickly develop and test new drugs for effectiveness and safety so that people with the infection do not become severely ill, require hospitalization or die. This is also a very difficult task, requiring enormous knowledge and skill as well as luck to achieve.
On January 11, 2020, the genetic sequence of the virus was released, against the prohibition of the Chinese National Health Commission.
By January 20, we knew that we had a public health emergency in the United States, our national health agency, the CDC sprang into action, advising the Trump administration on best health practices to deal with a possible pandemic.
What do you think the response was? If you have been reading the “100 reasons not to vote for Donald Trump”, you will be able to make an accurate prediction.
The worst-case scenario on January 20, 2020, was to have in the Oval office an individual of limited intelligence, who was convinced that he was a genius and had shown a pattern of ignoring the authoritative advice of experts on any topic and instead adopting bizarre solutions based on his alternative facts.
Tomorrow we will begin to learn how Donald Trump – disastrously – managed the response to COVID-19.
Have a heart; use your mind, search your conscience, and vote for Democratic candidates – across the ballot – on November. 5th.
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Why have I committed to posting 100 Reasons NOT to vote for Donald Trump? Because I do not have time to post 10,000 reasons.
Fred Grannis
September 25, 2024