Coronavirus Cases:

33,590,320

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Deaths:

1,007,227

Recovered:

24,904,364

More than 33M confirmed infections and more than 1M excess deaths marks a dark milestone on this pandemic journey. Moreover, people are starting to talk openly about what's being called 'long Covid' by the 'long-haulers'. The symptoms range from chronic conditions that suggest it precipitates metabolic syndrome -- diabetes, hypertension, arrhythmias, to neurologic complications including brain fog and strokes, to nonspecific symptoms like hoarseness, loss of voice, hair loss and exhaustion.

Heard a story on the radio here this morning about a young healthcare worker in his 30s who was very fit and healthy when he contracted Covid-19 and landed in ICU. They put him in a coma for a few days, and he woke up two months later, with chronic conditions including diabetes, hypertension, arrhythmias, and asthma. Had none before.

An article in the NY Times today indicates the worst problem is that no one, including the docs, are listening to the long-haulers, thinking instead that the ongoing symptoms are psychological. I've been hearing that quite a lot.

An excellent BBC podcast explores all the weird symptoms and what is known about the mechanisms by which the SARS-CoV2 virus operates. Basically, not very much. Yet I am convinced that this virus is going to teach us an awful lot about how chronic disease occurs. I've long thought that it's a combination of genetic susceptibility triggered by microbial infection. Diabetes, hypertension, arrhythmias, dementias, cancers -- I think one day we will know the causes and they will be minuscule.

Not unlike in the War of the Worlds, it will be the smallest inhabitants that bring us down. How's that for apocalyptic thinking?

17 September 2020

A drop in the bucket

More than 30M confirmed cases of coronavirus infection, and almost 1M dead worldwide, 200,000 dead surpassed in the US alone. But this is just a drop in the bucket when considering the total population of the world, 7.8B people. We have a long way to go.

Sir David Attenborough's new documentary, Extinction: the facts, is profound in its directness. Humans are at the root of extinction of the earth's biodiversity. And it's our sheer numbers at fault. I know that. I have known that since I was a young girl reading science fiction. In the year I was born, there were 2.7B people on this earth. There was space between them. Now with 7.8B and growing, it's closing in on us. The earth can no longer sustain us. It's a small wonder all the rich people are looking for a way off this planet. They know we won't change before it collapses.