Covid 19 A Curse or an Opportunity?

Since we returned to the UK from La Palma on 10 March all aspects of the news and internet including YouTube is being consumed by the Covid 19 world wide pandemic.

The rate of growth of the respiratory virus has been exponential. Growing at 30% in number of cases per day. What does that mean in reality with UK population of 67 million it would take 45 days to effect everyone in the population.. With 2.5% death rate it would lead to about 1.5 million deaths. 

The medical health facilities in northern Italy had been overwhelmed with 3400 deaths in a matter of weeks.

Covid 19 is respiratory airborne disease that effects the lungs and anyone with a poor immune system it can be deadly

What makes it problematical is how easily it spreads. It causes severe pneumonia especially with people with underlying health issues. The alveoli the small sacs at the end of the bronchial tubes get inflamed and collapse and stop the oxygen transfer into the blood stream.

 When a person breathes, air comes in through the nose or mouth and then goes into the trachea (windpipe). From there, it passes through the bronchial tubes, which are in the lungs. These tubes let air in and out of your lungs, so you can breathe. The bronchial tubes are sometimes referred to as bronchi or airways.

Very ill Patients need to have intensive respiratory care in intensive care unit to assist breathing to oxygenate the blood.

How does Corvid 19 kill people it’s caused through acute respiratory distress syndrome;

This is why Corvid 19 is deadly. That’s why it’s overwhelmed the northern Italian medical infer-structure. Not enough ICU units and respirators. So they’ve had to triage casualties which meant older sicker patients have been unfortunately left to die.

That’s why the UK government is so frighten that if it gets out of control at the peak or spike it would a medical disaster waiting to happen!

The government wants to  depressed the curve through social isolation to reduce the spread. The medics know the NHS would get quickly overwhelmed with respiratory cases if the curve of infection wasn’t flattened out! 

But suddenly governments have found billions of pounds to support business and workers losing their jobs over the virus infection Isolation period. 

The US medical system is segmented with private health system and high costs of medical care. The US economic system is very unequal financial society when it comes to its financial equality.

The UK is not far behind with gig workers, low wages many self employed contract workers. This economic system doesn’t lend itself well to lethal pandemics

So western government are in the process of socialising their economies overnight. Never been done before in history?

I think populations won’t go back to the old system of low wages poor sick and unemployment pay I think this will unleash a different way to live and work. This pandemic has brought to light how vulnerable lower paid workers are with no savings high rents and low wages.

Fortunately we live in highly advanced scientific medical society with first class intensive care. However, this only works if there are available resources that can cope with demand and that demand doesn’t outstrip supply. Hence the critical importance of flattening the infection curve.

Back to the economics of our present economics system. We know that laissez-faire economics doesn’t work for most. 

We have another existential threat of global warming that again wouldn’t work well for many if the climate is under serve stress when it comes to the present economic system.

Maybe this is a wake up call for the present capital system. Constant growth can’t work on a small finite planet. Maybe just maybe we can change the present paradigm of the way we live, work rest and play?

Finally this could be the grim reality of things to come if we don’t take advice of social isolation seriously so be warned!

I thought I’d add a further superb talk from TED which I came across, it’s very informative about the risks of virus outbreaks due to climate change and our encroachment on the natural world.