Halfway through 2020 and I am almost certain that it will end in a more pitiful state, much worse than what we thought back in January of 2020 when the first news of this novel corona virus came into the US.
I wrote, almost anticipating that we would accelerate our progress in technology, social connectivity & understanding of the climate changes, in 12 Things I am Ready to Embrace by 2020 in Feb 2015. This virus has taken a huge toll on human lives from 190+ countries in the world, infecting more than four & a half million people & killing close to half a million people globally as of May 2020.
2 of my 2015 wishes are a sad reminder of how poorly our progress has been in some of the fundamental needs for survival. While 2015 & around that time, millions of afflicted humans and animals primarily in equatorial Africa were struggling with Ebola, the 2020 Corona virus appears to be much more dreadful in its ability to transmit itself extremely fast, making it difficult to contain against a community spread.
a drug for common cold, mind you not pain killers. Surely our doctors can do something about it, cant they?
COVID-19 once again reminded us that we do not have any definitive cure, or a vaccine to protect us from common cold. A US report from Center of Disease Control showed the comparison – about 85,000 Americans died of Flu in 2019 while Covid-19 in the first 5 months of being detected in US already killed close to 90,000 Americans (though US scientists believe that the number of Covid-19 related deaths could be much higher than those reported by CDC).
medicines or technology that can increase the life span of dogs and other pets
While human lives always take precedence over pets and animals, there have been several reports how dogs can sniff out Coronavirus cases with more accuracy than the Abbot Covid-19 Test Lab Equipment, making dogs, once again the natural hero!
- LiveScience Report – Dogs are being trained to sniff out COVID-19 in humans
- BBC UK Report – Coronavirus: Trial begins to see if dogs can ‘sniff out’ virus
- NPR Report – Researchers Experiment To See If Dogs Can Detect COVID-19
- NPR Report – Study Raises Questions About False Negatives From Quick COVID-19 Test
The accuracy of the high speed Abbot test equipment ID Now has been challenged by several US professional institutes including the FDA & American Society for Clinical Pathology.
Its a difficult time for a large part of the human community – many stuck between a rock and a hard stone of job loss leading to hunger & starvation on one side while lack of immunization, lack of treatment & cure leading to death on the other.
The American society is the hardest hit community in the world today, with the highest number of Covid 19 cases & its related deaths. As of May, more than 1.5 million Americans have been affected while more than 90,000 have succumbed to the virus. It is hard to see the richest, most powerful, technologically most advanced in the country in the world, with the most comfort and convenience for its citizens, fail so miserably to provide the basic needs of a human – food & shelter.
The light at the end of the tunnel in my view is that some other nation will empathize more with the realities of humanity and will devote all the necessary attention & resources to find a cure quickly.