From a California University Lady
Hello Steve and All,
As I am working remotely from the university, I fell I need to respond to the emails.
I am not an expert by any means, but I do work with experts in the College of Natural
Sciences and Mathematics at the California State University, Long Beach.
It is imperative at a time like this to be respectful and appreciative of our medical
personnel and research personnel to say the least. All the medical and research
people around the world, honestly ! The medical personnel are going to work and
are at risk of dying and or bringing this virus (with no cure) home to a family member.
Most of us go to work – but we are not at risk of dying !!!
So many people are dying, children are dying !!! We are losing doctors, nurses,
fireman, policeman and children ! This is like WAR !!! This has never been witnessed
in our lifetime. This is SO SERIOUS for humanity !!! This is NOT a “numbers thing”.
This novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) is not SARS2. This is a Novel Virus-
of course, novel meaning “new”. It is having surprising new and strange results every day.
The original predictions of only being dangerous for older people and people with
chronic diseases is not holding true.
Not sure if you are serious when you state that you are one of the top virologists or not.
I am not familiar with formal education, career background or work experience.
When I think of the top virologists, I think of Drs. Fauci, Birx, Redfield and the dedicated
folks that I work with on a daily basis. This is not something new they just decided to do
and talk about in the last couple months – this is a life commitment.
The Chemists, Microbiologists, Virologists, etc. at the University are all Ph.Ds and all have
years of experience doing research. Many of the faculty at CSULB, have $1M grants
from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.
The faculty works on viruses, cancer, autism, etc. We have the BUILD Program on
our campus – $25M funding. The Faculty and students are dedicated, loyal and humble
beings. They are dedicated to the human race.
There are Chemists, Biologists, Microbiologists, Virologists, etc. all over the world !!!!
Virologists do read charts and analyze the data. They created the data from their
tireless research. They contribute to the discovery of new vaccinations – this is a slow
and steady and accurate process.
In closing, I just want to say that I am thankful that we are ALL healthy and pray that
it stays this way. Please be kind and respectful to each other !!
THANK YOU to those on the frontline and on the back line. We appreciate you ALL!!!
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Notice, this other relative didn’t say that her friend wrote the below, just that “she sent it to me”. Selective ignoring relevant facts. Summary at bottom “Lock Down at ALL Costs!”
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A friend of mine sent this to me this morning and it includes a lot of points I agree with. Three of my direct family members are working in potentially dangerous settings. It’s a long article but very worthwhile.
I’ve seen a lot of people itching to “reopen” the country. Maybe I can add a tiny bit to this conversation and hopefully not be castrated for it. I’m a physician (ER Radiologist) and I’m seeing these patients. Right now there are many, many unknowns.
1) A high percent of people who get sick are dying, including young and healthy patients. For some reason the statistics being reported in the news is not what I’m seeing. I’m seeing a high proportion of dying patients in their 40’s. I’ve seen probably 2x more 40 year olds dying than patients over 70.
UPDATE 4/21/20: Since there have been nursing home outbreaks, the morbidity and mortality age statistics I’ve observed have started to reflect what is being reported in the media. Understand, though, this disease still greatly impacts younger individuals in very high numbers.
2) The ones who are surviving, including those who have “asymptomatic” random findings I see in the ER’s end up having elevated cardiac markers. In other words, this virus is messing with young patients’ hearts… and not a little bit. I’m talking WILDLY elevated cardiac markers. This could result in a massive need for heart transplants in the next decade and only time will tell if these patients convert to full blown cardiomyopathies (not a diagnosis I would wish on my worst enemy). If you are not scared of “a little” pneumonia and a small percent chance of dying from it, you should ABSOLUTELY be scared of getting a cardiomyopathy (and being among many at one time who will be getting it). This would be devastating for society.
3) This is only the first wave of the infection. All pandemics we know of come back with a vengeance. We won’t know when and we won’t know how bad. The (now decreased) estimated loss of life only takes into account ONE wave WITH mitigation. Any other assumptions after this one wave is truly a blind guess.
4) We don’t know whether or not infected individuals are gaining immunity. We also don’t know when a vaccine will be declared effective. It will be at a MINIMUM (best case) 18 months before we know, not a worst case.
5) We don’t know the effect of viral load yet. Whether the amount of virus you’ve been exposed to or remains in your body is a factor. Does it take repeated exposures or just one to become ill?
6) We don’t know ALL the effects of this virus yet. We know a common symptom is loss of smell and taste. Besides being incredibly “inconvenient” it means this virus is infecting the neurologic system. Herpes/Varicella viruses infect the neurologic system and then can get reactivated as the immune system weakens or when you get older. (How would you like to go through a life threatening illness every year of your life when you get older?) We also know many viruses cause cancer… HIV, EBV, HPV, etc. We don’t know if that will be the case with this one yet.
7) We don’t even know how to treat this well yet… forget cure, I’m talking about “well.” Once infected and progressing to the need for a ventilator, this infection doesn’t behave at all like what we’ve seen before. Hence, ineffective treatment and ~80% mortality on a ventilator. You don’t want to be in that situation. The last thing you’ll experience is suffocation and intubation and no family or friends around you. Not a great way to go.
— My take: Now, I don’t know about you, but if it meant that I stay locked up in jail (and we are not) in order to save my wife’s life or my children’s lives, you damn well believe I’d do it. I’ve seen the biostatistics, the epidemiology, the lack of trustworthy data coming from other countries, the conspiracy theories, but most importantly I’ve seen these patients lives and families be destroyed. Play the long game and don’t be impulsive. If we have no people left to participate in an economy, in a government then none of this is worthwhile. The best thing you can do for yourself and this world right now is avoid this infection at all cost and stay alive. Yes, all cost.