The world is in a very scary place right now. Not only do we have to fear the pandemic, that is this century’s Spanish Influenza. There are quarantines, stay at home orders, and people who don’t take any of these things seriously to worry about as well! However, none of these things are what is bothering me. What IS bothering me, is something that almost no one is talking about…
When a virus enters the body, white blood cells produce antibodies to attack said virus, to inevitably destroy it. However, once the virus is “wiped out”, the body stores a small piece of it. It is stored in a sort of database, so it can remember how to fight it off, should the virus be encountered again. The fact being, once you catch a virus, you never actually, fully lose it!
That’s why, when you are given a vaccine, you are actually being given a weakened version of an actual virus! This way the antibodies can still be created to fight the virus and the information can still be stored, all while being weak enough for your body to fight off the virus contained within, before you actually get sick from it.
You see, viruses tend to spread rather easily! This is why the common cold is so common! It is why most people only get chicken pox once in their lifetime. But in others, the chicken pox virus turns into shingles later in life! It’s why we have a cold and flu SEASON! That last part is what leads me to my point…
People keep asking, how long will the pandemic last? How long will we be in quarantine? Under a stay at home order? Under lockdown? How much worse can this all get? The answer is… A lot worse than anyone seems to realize!
The fact is, there is a new virus is out there now! A version of the coronavirus, called Covid-19! Thousands of people have already died from it! Thousands more, currently have it. The truly terrifying thing is, that since the incubation period for this new virus can last as long as 24 days, millions more could have it and be spreading it around to others. And no one would even know it for almost a MONTH! Add all of that to how easily this particular virus spreads and how can any of us believe that this is going to be over any time soon?
You could literally put every person into their own little isolation room. You could even keep them there, separated from every other human being, until every single infected person gets over it and everyone in the world tests negative! At that point it would be safe to say that the pandemic is over, right?
Wrong! The terrifying reality is, that even if you were to do that, the virus is out there now! It has gotten a taste of blood and it will forever be hungry for more! There is absolutely nothing to prevent it from coming back, just as quickly as it did the first time around! Going back to square one, is simply one next cold and flu season away!
So what other options do we have? Wait for a treatment to be created? Sure, that sounds great, except for the fact that new drug treatments can literally take YEARS! An average of TWELVE years, to be exact! Not to mention the insane number of medicines that don’t even make it past the beginning stages of testing! Only about 5 in 5,000 new drugs make it past the pre-clinical stages! Even with the world governments putting a priority rush on this particular treatment, 35 different companies and academic institutions working on the treatment, and at least two treatments that are showing promise… Even with all of that, officials believe that the pandemic will be over on its own, before a treatment will be ready for the public! The best-case-scenario is 18 months, before a treatment will be ready! That doesn’t exactly bode well for the state of the world, right now!
So… How long will the pandemic last? How long will we be told that we aren’t stuck at home, we are safe at home? How long will we not be able to see our friends, go out to dinner, or visit our mother? A month? Two months? Six months? Eighteen?
I think, for now, it’s just safe to say… Get comfy.
