April 14,2020

Birth of a pandemic

By the time I finish writing this, we will now have more than 2 million diagnosed COVID-19 infections in the world, with more than 615,000 here in the US with more than 26,000 deaths. But those are the ones counted. The truth is we don’t really know the actual numbers due to some not counted because testing was not done, they died at home, or for other reasons.

Tonight I will keep this simple and share some links to the Benhur Lee Lab ,which is devoted to studying viruses at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. They have put together a series of posts about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, why it became so infectious, and addressing some of the conspiracy claims. These are for all the science geeks out there. Thanks to my friend Carol, who forwarded them to me. They are pretty dense, so if you only read one, read the 3rd one.

People have been doing an excellent job and we are making a difference with preventing the medical systems from being overwhelmed in most places. Keep taking care of each other and hang in there.

Wash your hands.

And finally, my caveat is that this is my experience and my opinions, which are subject to change as more information is available, and not related to the organization I work for. Thanks for reading.

Poetry can be helpful, here is some from John O'Donohue:

From "To Bless the Space Between Us":

“This is the time to be slow,

Lie low to the wall

Until the bitter weather passes.

Try, as best you can, not to let

The wire brush of doubt

Scrape from your heart

All sense of yourself

And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,

Time will come good;

And you will find your feet

Again on fresh pastures of promise,

Where the air will be kind

And blushed with beginning.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/how-many-people-have-died-in-nyc-during-the-covid-pandemic

https://leelabvirus.host/covid19/origins-part1

https://leelabvirus.host/covid19/origins-part2

https://leelabvirus.host/covid19/origins-part3