Do you think this will be the last pandemic?
We’ve had plague, Smallpox, cholera, influenza(that was a biggie), polio, diphtheria and over just the last few years- SARS 1, SARS 2, MERS, Dengue, Chikungunya, Ebola, Nipah.
There’s going to be more.
I’m not going to do the stupid thing and call it divine retribution. This is how it is. This is how it’s always been. This is life. One could argue that this virus was completely unnecessary because our friends from China can’t handle lab safety standards, but, right now, what is done is done. And sadly, it’ll get done again. There’s nothing special about this pandemic.
Like always, it isn’t the virus that is directly killing humans, it’s the interaction between the virus and the human immune system that is turning deadly in roughly 2 percent of the population.
So what’s changed? Nothing really, except the insane belief that this problem can be controlled with brute force(tech, medical, legislation, military). I didn’t see it work for very long anywhere. Some countries might have managed to hold it back for a while, only to get overwhelmed when the increasingly unsustainable force that was used to hold it back, was let up for a few weeks.
Instead of focusing on the virus, the focus should be on the interaction between the virus and your own immune system. That’s what you can do for yourself. Let the researchers continue to do their job in peace. When something good comes up, it’ll get disseminated. Just like it happened for all the previous pandemics. Till then, focus on yourself and what you can do, instead of running after the latest and greatest drugs(which have all been spectacularly expensive failures)
People have survived epidemics and pandemics in the past, out of sheer dumb luck and because they had a good immunity(not the same as super strong)
You can increase the chances of luck favouring you by, doing all the sensible things. Masking, avoiding crowded places and taking your chance with a vaccine.
How would you “increase” your immunity? Or to put it better, how would you make it more likely that your immune system response is appropriate to the threat the infection poses?
Would your immune system respond be better if-
1. You were cooped up indoors for a year?
2. You were consuming packaged foods laced with vegetable oils and sugar for a year?
3. You were avoiding Sunlight on your skin?
4. If you were abusing your own microbiome with a poor diet and chemicals that kill indiscriminately?
5. If you were continually consuming a fear inducing cocktail from mainstream media and social media?
Why is it that your immune system needs to be f***ing BOOSTED? Do you think there’s a magic pill for that? Think.