Chronicles of the Virus Day 26
Today, I'm sitting in front of the computer and no words come to mind. Everything has been said that is to be said about the situation. Daily life has become monotonous. As time progresses, what is changing most is that my husband and I are becoming fatter. He will go back to work on Monday, and that will limit his caloric intake. I have to limit mine through willpower.
As humans, we have become very complacent over threats from the shadowy world of viruses. Which is very silly, because, medical advances aside, there is no way anyone can prepare for something that our bodies are not used to. Our immune system can deal pretty well with the bugs that have always attacked us, but it's not ready for the bugs it's never seen before.
Even those that have attacked us in the past are still a threat. There are epidemics of measles (unfortunately, there are people who think it's not a threat anymore), of whooping cough (idem), of Ebola (thankfully, usually localized), of flu (one of the biggest problems for the older generations), and of cholera. In fact, most people think cholera is something from the past, like the cholera epidemic of London, in the 1850's, which led to the creation of public health services, and the acceleration of knowledge of the germ theory through the discovery of the bacteria that causes cholera. But cholera, which is easily avoidable by treating water, still exists in different parts of the world. And, fifty years ago, it struck in Spain.
In July of 1971, along the banks of the Jalón river, near Zaragoza, people started falling ill with diarrhea. The national authorities (back then there were no regional governments, just the central government, and the provincial governments, arms of the central government, out of which all authority radiated) played it down, saying that it was simply isolated cases of "summer diarrhea." But, they decided to quietly vaccinate the population against cholera, and over six hundred thousand received the vaccine over the rest of July. All the while, the authorities downplayed the epidemic, and blamed African migrants passing through on their way to Europe.
The most important reason for the authorities to downplay the epidemic was to avoid a drop in tourism, which was quickly becoming one of Spain's most important industries. There were other outbreaks of cholera, one in 1975 to the south of Santiago de Compostela, from contaminated well water. One of the townships affected was Dodro, next to us. The last outbreak was in 1979, in Barcelona. Again, African migrants were blamed. But, quietly, infrastructure was put in place, and rivers and waters cleaned. Since then, there have been no outbreaks, other than solitary, imported cases.
Polio is another hidden epidemic. When we think about polio now, we picture children in iron lungs of the 1940's and 50's. Or about Franklin D. Roosevelt, always sitting in an adapted wheelchair. Yet, the Francoist regime ignored the vaccine that was created in the mid-50's, and didn't start publicly vaccinating until well into the 1960's. And, even after that, there were cases of polio, eleven just in 1987. It was finally eradicated in Spain at the beginning of the twenty-first century with universal healthcare.
So, yes, modern medicine does help to stem epidemics, but only if it is universally available to everyone, regardless of income or origin. Death from Covid-19 in the United States is probably much greater among those who can't take off from work, because otherwise they won't have health insurance, and among those with little coverage or no coverage at all. Whereas, those affected in Europe have health care regardless of their job or income.
There is the saying that laughter is the best medicine. In that case, half of Spain is already vaccinated against this virus. In the compilation video I found today, people celebrate Holy Week with clotheslines, with Lego figures (impressive collection), and a doll and folding clothes hanger. Or they incorporate the capirote (the Klan headgear, which isn't really Klan) with music from the Feria de Abril, or create a dance that disinfects. There are also those that celebrate Holy Week vacation with a view of the sea, or improvise waterskiing in the garage. Then are those that morph into a very young Indiana Jones escaping from home. And, finally, the person who gets dressed up for a night on the town...on the balcony.
Life continues.
As humans, we have become very complacent over threats from the shadowy world of viruses. Which is very silly, because, medical advances aside, there is no way anyone can prepare for something that our bodies are not used to. Our immune system can deal pretty well with the bugs that have always attacked us, but it's not ready for the bugs it's never seen before.
Even those that have attacked us in the past are still a threat. There are epidemics of measles (unfortunately, there are people who think it's not a threat anymore), of whooping cough (idem), of Ebola (thankfully, usually localized), of flu (one of the biggest problems for the older generations), and of cholera. In fact, most people think cholera is something from the past, like the cholera epidemic of London, in the 1850's, which led to the creation of public health services, and the acceleration of knowledge of the germ theory through the discovery of the bacteria that causes cholera. But cholera, which is easily avoidable by treating water, still exists in different parts of the world. And, fifty years ago, it struck in Spain.
In July of 1971, along the banks of the Jalón river, near Zaragoza, people started falling ill with diarrhea. The national authorities (back then there were no regional governments, just the central government, and the provincial governments, arms of the central government, out of which all authority radiated) played it down, saying that it was simply isolated cases of "summer diarrhea." But, they decided to quietly vaccinate the population against cholera, and over six hundred thousand received the vaccine over the rest of July. All the while, the authorities downplayed the epidemic, and blamed African migrants passing through on their way to Europe.
The most important reason for the authorities to downplay the epidemic was to avoid a drop in tourism, which was quickly becoming one of Spain's most important industries. There were other outbreaks of cholera, one in 1975 to the south of Santiago de Compostela, from contaminated well water. One of the townships affected was Dodro, next to us. The last outbreak was in 1979, in Barcelona. Again, African migrants were blamed. But, quietly, infrastructure was put in place, and rivers and waters cleaned. Since then, there have been no outbreaks, other than solitary, imported cases.
Polio is another hidden epidemic. When we think about polio now, we picture children in iron lungs of the 1940's and 50's. Or about Franklin D. Roosevelt, always sitting in an adapted wheelchair. Yet, the Francoist regime ignored the vaccine that was created in the mid-50's, and didn't start publicly vaccinating until well into the 1960's. And, even after that, there were cases of polio, eleven just in 1987. It was finally eradicated in Spain at the beginning of the twenty-first century with universal healthcare.
So, yes, modern medicine does help to stem epidemics, but only if it is universally available to everyone, regardless of income or origin. Death from Covid-19 in the United States is probably much greater among those who can't take off from work, because otherwise they won't have health insurance, and among those with little coverage or no coverage at all. Whereas, those affected in Europe have health care regardless of their job or income.
There is the saying that laughter is the best medicine. In that case, half of Spain is already vaccinated against this virus. In the compilation video I found today, people celebrate Holy Week with clotheslines, with Lego figures (impressive collection), and a doll and folding clothes hanger. Or they incorporate the capirote (the Klan headgear, which isn't really Klan) with music from the Feria de Abril, or create a dance that disinfects. There are also those that celebrate Holy Week vacation with a view of the sea, or improvise waterskiing in the garage. Then are those that morph into a very young Indiana Jones escaping from home. And, finally, the person who gets dressed up for a night on the town...on the balcony.
Life continues.
Comments
Post a Comment