It’s not the end of the world

My heart goes out to all affected by loss of a loved one or those of your who lost there job, to all amazing medical staff out there and to leaders in the world working day and night to solve this crisis.

Media is filled with doomsday headlines and just complete darkness, thus I would like to spread some light, because this is not the end, it´s a very though challenge like many of those the world faced before.

There is no frickin reason to panic unless we start panicking

Before we get any further read that again (👆🏽). Really guys, what’s up with hoarding endless rolls of toilet paper? The only reason the racks are empty is your greedy as*. No one could eat all that rice, pasta, chicken nuggets and cans of whatever they are.

I also couldn’t notice the sensualist headlines such as “There’s a good chance the new coronavirus will never disappear, experts say.” After reading it through, the information I got from it actually made sense and helped me to better understand the situation we’re in. The article explained that according to public-health experts, there are only three possible endings to this story: The outbreak could be controlled via public-health interventions and disappear (as SARS did), a vaccine could be developed, or the coronavirus could become a permanent part of the repertoire of human viruses like the seasonal flu. When you think about it all these scenarios are pretty optimistic. Let me break them further for you.

1. The outbreak could be controlled via public-health interventions and disappear

The coronavirus is similar to SARS in many ways: Both are coronaviruses that originated in bats, and both likely jumped from animals to people in Chinese markets. The two viruses share about 80% of their DNA. So the outcome of the new outbreak could be similar to that of SARS, too.

SARS killed 774 people and infected more than 8,000 people from November 2002 to July 2003 but disappeared by 2004 ( the spread was eventually limited via quarantines, travel restrictions, public-information campaigns, and airport screenings — the same types of interventions China, the US, and other countries are instituting now). Public-health experts and authorities worked hard to track down, diagnose, and isolate people with the virus to force it to “play itself out”.

2. The vaccine could be developed

Scientists across the globe are working together non stop to come up with solutions to cure the disease ( and we are talking about some of the smartest people alive. The bunch go geniuses around the world came together to do one task! ) You can be the judge of that whether our odds of having the vaccine soon are good or not (after reading this 👇🏽).

- Doctors in India have been successful in treating Coronavirus. Combination of drugs used: Lopinavir, Retonovir, Oseltamivir along Chlorphenamine. They are going to suggest the same medicine, globally.

- Researchers of the Erasmus Medical Center claim to have found an antibody against coronavirus.

- Cleveland Clinic developed a COVID-19 test that gives results in hours, not days.

- Scientists in Israel are likely to announce the development of a coronavirus vaccine.

- A network of Canadian scientists is making excellent progress in Covid-19 research.

- A San Diego biotech company is developing a Covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with Duke University and the National University of Singapore.

- A team of infectious disease experts at the University of Queensland in Brisbane say they have seen two existing medications manage to wipe out COVID-19 infections.

- A healthy volunteer in Seattle is the first person in the U.S. to receive a dose of an experimental coronavirus vaccine as part of a new clinical trial, government health officials announced today

- CureVac AG, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering mRNA-based drugs for vaccines and therapeutics, confirmed today that internal efforts are focused on the development of a coronavirus vaccine with the goal to reach, help and to protect people and patients worldwide.

3. The coronavirus never disappears or in other words, It becomes nothing more than the seasonal flu

If the coronavirus becomes a permanent fixture in people, one possibility is that it winds up fluctuating with the seasons the way the flu does. In that case, it could retreat in the summer and return in the fall and winter each year. This means that it will decrease in transmission frequency so that you’ll be able to have time to get a vaccine scaled up by the next appearance of it. And this is our worst scenario guys.

After coming across this article I noticed that its headline is quoted and shared over many other pages and “articles”, of course without real explanation, only spreading more panic. So please please always double-check the information that is going viral, don’t trust everything you read online ( cause here’s a big shock: the internet sometimes lies!).

Know your facts, trust the experts, act responsible by following the recommendations on hygiene and social distancing, and whatever you do by all means please do not panic ( trust me you already have enough toilet paper).

Think Human. Act Humane. (Or as I like to call it less hoarding more sharing)

We have to practice “Social Distancing” to stop the Coronavirus from spreading too fast. But to solve the crisis we need to practice the opposite: “Social Union”. Together we can solve this crisis, we need to think beyond our borders ( and beyond our own refrigerators ) beyond our selfishness and fear. These are the times when you step up, think of others and help. Protect the ones who are really threatened by all of this. Call your parents and grandparents and get them what they need (there are many grandparents around your block that would need help too) now are the times when they need us. If you’re not doing any of this the least thing you could do is not to spread the panic. Sit on your couch, eat your rice and hug your toilet paper but please do it quietly because the world is in need of song and kindness, the selfishness and quiet whispers of doubt won’t cure it (or you).

Whether terror or tragedy, acts of nature or man, disasters have proven over and over to bring out the best in us (or worst in us). I want to hear from you. As we struggle to make sense of the coronavirus, have you committed a corona act of kindness? Have you witnessed one? No act is too big, or too small to share. 💚