Running Blind to Combat Corona

OpEd by Basab Dasgupta

Only a few weeks ago, it seemed that we were finally going to put the COVID pandemic behind us.  Vaccines were available from at least three different companies in abundant supply. All lockdowns were terminated, mask mandates removed, restaurants and movie theaters were opening up, air travel soared, live spectators were allowed at ball games and schools were supposed to reopen in the fall.

Suddenly, the tide turned again!  The COVID cases are on the rise, tripling in number in just a couple of weeks.  The medical community is saying that 99% of cases are among unvaccinated people and in most cases (about 84%) the infections are caused by the so-called delta variant of the virus.  Although the vaccines are reportedly effective against this new variant, a significant percentage (30-35%) of the population adamantly refuses to take the vaccine, in spite of repeated push and various incentives.  Their reasons vary from religious/personal beliefs to suspicions that they are not told the whole truth about the vaccines. Opinions vary about what level of vaccinations would result in the so-called “herd immunity”.

What is shocking to me is that in spite of relentless world-wide efforts we have not come up with a cure for the disease.  President Trump’s claim of hydroxychloroquine as a “game changer” was routinely mocked by the media and even described as dangerous. The medical community thought that the evidence was only “anecdotal” and not established by rigorous clinical trials. More recently, WHO is saying that the drug Remdesivir is also ineffective based on a study done in Norway, even though it is FDA-approved!  We heard about plasma taken from people who already had the disease to cure patients and FDA approved its “emergency use” but not a whole lot more is known about its use.  Then there are people who believe the most effective way to prevent the attack of this virus is by boosting one’s own immune system by taking vitamin C, A and D-3 as well as eating plenty of green vegetables and fruits.

The fact is that we only know little bits and pieces about COVID.  The situation reminds me of the story of the blind men exploring an elephant in order to understand its physical characteristics.  One of them grabbed the trunk and exclaimed “oh my God, an elephant is just like a giant snake”.  The one who touched the elephant’s ear shouted “no, I think that it is similar to a large fan”. The man who hugged one of its legs said “an elephant seems to be like a column” and so on.

Invasion by a herd of wild elephants into the habitats of the general population can be a perfect metaphor for insurgence of Covid-19 (C19) and our reaction/understanding of this deadly disease is not much different from the experience of those blind men.

Let us just review the history of this pandemic to make my point.  First, consider the question of how it originated.  Was it a chemical weapon manufactured by China to deliberately cause global chaos and financial devastation so that the Chinese can end up ruling the world? There is no strong evidence supporting such a theory.  Did it originate in a “wet” meat market in Wuhan whereby the virus transmitted from animals like bats to humans? No one is sure. Perhaps, the virus was unintentionally and accidentally carried by some employee working in a Chinese lab to the outside world? We do not know.

How does it spread?  Remember, we complained that China did not inform us early enough that it can spread from animals to humans.  Then the issue was if the virus can be transmitted through air.  Most medical professionals seem to think so.  Can it stick to a solid surface and be transmitted through physical contact?  CDC changed its position about how the virus propagates along a solid surface a couple of times and how long it remains potent on such a surface.  Does it propagate through water?  There is not a whole lot of discussion on this topic.  However, there have been reports of kids catching C19 by swimming in a crowded pool.  Did mass swimming in the ocean during spring breaks help spread the disease?

For a long time, the general belief was that children (teenagers and younger) were virtually immune from the virus.  However, more recent events have suggested otherwise and now the medical community thinks that the cut-off age is around ten for children to be immune from the virus.

What are the symptoms of the disease?  There seems to be almost a universal agreement that one key symptom is coughing.  Then, there were high fever, body ache, breathing difficulties, upset stomach and so on.  It seems that a new symptom was added every couple of weeks.  Some of them overlapped with TB symptoms.  Finally came the real stunner – one can have C19 even without showing any symptoms!

When and how will this disease subside?  Again, no one knows.  During the early months, every expert and politician relied on the so-called “models” which were basically statistical models based on certain assumptions and not on any fundamental understanding of the disease.  They predicted that the number of cases would increase almost exponentially at the beginning, then flatten out, eventually decaying off rapidly.  Much was said about “flattening the curve” so that our hospitals do not become overwhelmed with too many cases at one time.

More recently, we do not hear anything about these models, presumably because nation-wide riots and protests after George Floyd’s death invalidated the assumptions made in developing the model.  Now the hope is that vaccinating everyone is the only answer. That might be good enough to prevent the delta variant but what about the lambda variant and beyond?

We hear the same advice over and over again from the medical community and in the media: wear a face-mask, maintain social distance, wash hands frequently, avoid crowded places and stay inside the house as much as possible.  This is really not science but just common sense.

Use of face masks was not universally accepted at the beginning.  Also, some of the criteria are arbitrary; social distancing, for example, suggests maintaining a distance of 6 ft from any other person.  During the early phases of developing a plan, the recommended distance was 4 ft and then it gradually increased to 5 and 6 ft.  Why stop there? Why not 7 ft or 10 ft?  There is also debate and confusion about what kind of mask is the most effective.

My conclusion is that we are all blind and unable to see the true picture.  The epidemiologists consider C19 to be a more severe version of a SARs virus and other viral pandemic– because that is what they have learned in their medical schools.  The believers in alternate medicine see this as an opportunity to preach about improving one’s own body.  The “big pharma” sees it as a gold mine in future profits from vaccines and new medicines.  Military brass may consider it to be a biological weapon developed by China.  Politicians used it as a strategic tool against President Trump during the election year.  Savvy businessmen opened up facilities for manufacturing face-masks, gloves, sanitizers and other protective gear. Each group sincerely believes in what they are preaching and I do not question their statements.  These are all just pieces of information, similar to information gathered by blind men individually.

In one version of the story of elephant and blind men, there was a man with perfect sight, watching the blind men and their futile efforts to reach an agreement.  He could not help but yell “Hey, it is a large animal”.  He had the gift of sense of perception and could see the true picture.

This analogy leads me to believe that we are all missing a certain sensory organ which is preventing us from seeing the complete picture of C19.  Perhaps it is the ability to go beyond what we can learn from our five senses – a proverbial “sixth sense” or a “spiritual eye”.  Perhaps it is a message from God which points out the limitation of mankind in the twenty-first century in spite of all the technological advancements and power of supercomputers and makes us humble.  Perhaps it is part of a natural process to “flush out” all the old and weak people.  Perhaps it signals the end of Kali Yuga. We need a wise man with a spiritual vision to guide us out of this difficult period.

Vaccine is similar to a repellant spray in order to keep the mad elephants away.  Chances are that the elephants would be with us forever and we need to learn why they are here and how to live with them.

 

Basab Dasgupta has a doctorate in physics from University of Wisconsin and worked with Sony as Vice President of an operating division. Retired, he now lives in San Clemente, CA.

Images courtesy of (Illustration courtesy CNN) and .

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