Friday, March 13, 2020

This Is What My Brother Told Me About The Covid-19 Coronavirus

WNU Editor: My brother lives in the Bay area in California. He has a doctorate in chemistry, but his specialty is in making sure that the new drugs and products that he makes for the company that he works for gets approved by the FDA. He is also responsible for the manufacturing of a product that many drug makers use in testing the quality of their drugs before it is distributed to customers. He is considered to be one of the best in his field, and because of his work he has close contacts within the FDA, and the NIH.

He called me last night at 1:00 AM wanting to talk. He was depressed and deeply troubled with what he is seeing, hearing, and learning. First things first. The Bay area has shut down. As he told me this morning. The highways are empty. The schools are closed or closing (his kids are home today and will be home until further notice). All events and activities have been cancelled. And almost everyone has made the decision to self isolate. But he does not think it is going to make a difference. Because of the nature of this virus, he has been told that a majority of Americans are going to get it. He is also 100% sure that he will get it. Because of the nature of his work, and the many people that he needs to meet, it is only inevitable that he will be contracting it. He has also been told that this emergency is going to last for at least a year. On a bright note. He told me that the pollution has dissipated, and for the first time since he moved there in the 1990s, he is seeing the stars like he has never seen them before.

He also told me a few other things, much of what we already know. This disease is very contagious, and dangerous for certain segments of the population (the old, people with immune deficiencies, and health issues). There will also be no Covid-19 vaccine for at least 18 months. There is also a very real possibility that this disease will taper off during the summer, but may come back in the fall.

He is also worried about our mom. She is 93, and we take care of her here. We are fortunate that she is physically well and strong. But she is 93! Soon to be 94 (next month). As she told me this morning. She lived through the Second World War and its aftermath. This is nothing new.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck to your brother and mom and I will be praying for safety for them.

I live in the Los Angeles County area in California and my daughter's school just called me 3/13/2020 at 9:26 a.m. pacific and they announced to shut down the schools for 2 weeks. Our city, Tujunga, CA, has not been shut down yet but Im feeling that they will soon. So I transferred money to my wife and have her buy essentials at Costco (Im at work from 6:00 am - 2:30 pm). If we decide to go buy at Costco during rush hour, we wont be able to buy anything because people are panic buying.

Im not panicking but the way things are going, it is better to be safe.

-William

Amp1776 said...

Godspeed!

B.Poster said...

Prayers for your mom, your brother, you, and all your family. Your mom's advice is excellent and your brother is probably right that quarantining and shutting things down isn't going to make a difference. So essentially we've chosen to take a giant wrecking ball to our economy and caused massive disruptions for no good reason.

Due to the panic buying this is going to hurt allot of people. Some people can't afford to buy in bulk. They can only afford day to day essentials as they are forced to live payday to payday. Such people risk being without basic essentials. I'm not sure how many the disease will ultimately impact or kill but am sure the massive ooverreaction will cause great pain of which we will be dealing with for a very, very long time.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing, wnu - good luck to your family especially your mom

Stephen Davenport said...

Something is just not right here, the numbers do not match up with this fearmongering hysteria scaring the piss out everybody. Either some people are lying or there is something they have not told us yet, like a much higher death toll. I lean towards the lying, common sense should tell you the numbers do not add up to what your brother is stating, they are not there.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Vic.
Did your brother say anything about possibility of re-infection? Do you get immunity if you contract it once? This is what UK's strategy is based on...
Stay safe!

Gab. (London)