CORONAVIRUS

[Jacksparrow]

That'll stop them kissing and hugging anyway . It's getting more like football every day.

[Jacksparrow]

A long time ago some of us on this forum discussed a book called "Return of the Black Death". In the end chapters the possibilities of a return is theorised or some such similar virus. We haven't just had a return of the Black Death but we have/and are having a very dangerous virus. The book is very prophetic about what steps would have to be taken to deal with it......shut schools, pubs , cinemas etc, etc. all very familiar now.
There is also a suggestion that those of us with a European descent may have a small resistance to infection due to the plagues in the Middle Ages. I need to re-read this part to get the full story but it may suggest why certain ethnicities are effected worse than others.
PS The book was written in 2004 after the SARS scare which thankfully never reached the scale that was originally predicted.

[Placido]

At some point during the last 3 months this book occurred to me but I didn't get around to it. I've just looked it out in response to your mentioning it, Jacksparrow, and I'll give it another read, with particular reference to the last 3 paragraphs.

[Kev]

After nearly 100 days it looks like I'm almost back at work. We're opening on June 29th.

I went in the last two Thursday's just to cover for my boss. It's weird. I saw 8 people last week in the whole day. Normally it would be nearly 50! We've got arrows and disks on the floor reminding people about 2m distancing. I've had an induction to know what to do and not. Each lab can only have 1 person per bay and we're only going to be open from 9-6. After a couple of weeks of trying that out, if it works we'll go to 8am-10pm probably with shifts from 8-2 and 2-10 so labs can get twice as many people in. In my lab 1 has been furloughed and of the remaining 3, we'll work 2 weeks in and 1 week out so we always have someone at home so if someone gets symptoms they whole place doesn't shut down, we can just keep it going with the person who wasn't in contact.

Hopefully it'll work!!

[Jacksparrow]

Placido if you have found your copy of the book refer to Page 208 as well as reading the concluding chapter.
I won't go in great detail but the main point is that people from a long standing European lineage could be in possession of the mutant gene that gave our forefathers some defence against the medieval plagues(like the Black Death but not Bubonic Plague). This mutant gene has come down the generations and still works today. It has never been detected in sub-Saharan Africans or south East Asians!

[Placido]

Kev, that's a very good idea - always someone at home who is not infected. That's clever.
It's the only way to do it, isn't it - slowly feel your way through the minefield, gradually extending as you learn what you can do safely.
There's Always A Way !

[Placido]

Found it, Jacksparrow, and it's covered in a little paragraph on page 248, "Development of Resistance". At this present time we're calling it "Herd Immunity" !!, and this is the mechanism by which a killer virus enters a given population and becomes a part of everyday life, like the common cold now.

The last paras are scarily prescient - describing panic-buying, social distancing, accelerated changes in society, isolation. The ancients knew all about these !!

My personal view is that Coronavirus (that word is even mentioned !!) is a mutant of viral haemorrhagic fever and always, always the authors refer to animal hosts and animal reservoirs.

Wonder whether the Govt. and the scientists have read this ? I hope so.

[Jacksparrow]

Found it, Jacksparrow, and it's covered in a little paragraph on page 248, "Development of Resistance". At this present time we're calling it "Herd Immunity" !!, and this is the mechanism by which a killer virus enters a given population and becomes a part of everyday life, like the common cold now.

The last paras are scarily prescient - describing panic-buying, social distancing, accelerated changes in society, isolation. The ancients knew all about these !!

My personal view is that Coronavirus (that word is even mentioned !!) is a mutant of viral haemorrhagic fever and always, always the authors refer to animal hosts and animal reservoirs.

Wonder whether the Govt. and the scientists have read this ? I hope so.

It is my opinion that if anyone is looking at this their voices aren't being heard over the din being made people looking for evidence of racism.

[Jacksparrow]

As the second lockdown in England draws to a close I find myself starting to forget what "normal" life was like. Mixing with friends having a laugh or perhaps a few alcoholic drinks. Going into a shop without looking like your about to rob it of it's takings. Morning coffee in the local cafe and sitting next to total strangers exchanging pleasantries. Seeing our family at the weekends without having to wonder if they're harbouring a deadly disease.
Simple pleasures but currently forbidden.

[Willpar]

Quite agree jacksparrow. But the one thing or two that has rammed home to me is that something that cant bee seen with the human eye, can wreak such damage, and what else is out there. Just goes to show just how fragile the human race actually is.