Concerns arise about Third wave of infections ….part 22

Around the globe, nations are beginning to relax their lockdowns following an initial peak of coronavirus (COVID-19) infections. While this is happening, attention is now turning to how these nations can avoid a “third wave “of infections as social distancing is eased.

Two of the hardest-hit nations in the world, Spain and Italy, have begun to allow people outside to exercise for the first time in almost two months. Meanwhile, in the United States, several states are now allowing businesses to open.

France is set to lift its confinement measures on May 11. French Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe said that there is a “fine line” between lifting restrictions on movement and avoiding a new surge in coronavirus infections.

“The risk of a second wave — which would hit our already fragile hospitals, which would need us to reimpose confinement and waste the efforts and sacrifices we’ve already made — is serious,” Phillipe said last week.

Preparing for a possible Third wave

Social distancing measures have been effective in flattening the curve of new coronavirus infections, buying healthcare systems much needed time to recover and regroup. However, it also means that a much smaller percentage of the populations are likely to have been infected by the virus and developed an immunity to it.

In France, experts estimate that only around six percent of the country’s population will have been infected by May 11. Even in the country’s virus hotspots, it’s believed that only 25 percent of people caught the virus during the outbreak’s first wave.

“It will take several weeks or even several months to see the virus circulating again,” stated virologist Anne Goffard to radio station France Inter.

According to Goffard, the second wave of infections was likely to hit “at the earliest, at the end of August.”

Experts divided on how bad the third wave will be

While most experts more or less agree that a new spike in infections is coming as lockdowns are eased, there is some debate on how this second wave will compare with the first.

Senior health officials in countries like the U.S. and Germany have warned that it could bring even more infections than the peak during March and April. Director Robert Redfield of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has expressed worries that the second wave could also coincide with a seasonal flu epidemic, compounding the situation if the former hits in winter.

Others, however, feel that the changes in people’s behavior could slow down new cases. According to Pierachille Santus, a lung expert based in Milan, the second wave of infections will likely be “smaller than the first,” thanks to control measures.

One unknown factor is how the virus behind COVID-19 responds to warmer weather. Other viruses tend to go dormant during the summer months.

“There’s probably a link [between the virus] and heat and humidity,” stated Jean-Francois Delfraissy, president of France’s science council. Delfraissy said that they’re “expecting a peaceful Summer,” though he warned that it virus could return forcefully next year.

However, some are saying that the summer heat will not slow down the coronavirus. Studies from China have shown that changes in weather had no effect on the transmission rate of the virus when it first broke out there.

Social distancing and mask-wearing could blunt the third wave

Even if businesses reopen and people return to the streets, the behaviors people have picked up during the lockdowns — keeping their distance, avoiding touching their face, washing hands and wearing masks in public — could slow down the spread of the second wave.

One model, run by the Public Health Expertise research group, showed that such measures could reduce the expected total deaths from COVID-19 to 85,000 in France, down from an expected 200,000 without social distancing or mask-wearing.

However, even with these best-case scenarios on new infections, the healthcare systems will still likely be inundated with new cases

Disclaimer: The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensure discussion or debate. 

Thank you ….The media is reporting on a strange phenomenon known as the “second-week crash” that sources say catches some Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) patients by surprise, typically during the second week after they catch it.

During the first week of infection, these patients may develop unsettling symptoms that do not necessarily require hospitalization. But by week two, these symptoms turn potentially life-threatening, requiring immediate attention by medical professionals.

This is what reportedly happened to a woman named Morgan Blue who initially felt weak with a severe backache and fever. She says she went to the hospital but was turned away, only to have to return on day eight of her infection because she felt like she was choking.

“That day, I suddenly couldn’t breathe,” the 26-year-old customer service representative from Flint, Mich., told The Washington Post.

Blue had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance where she spent eight more days, four of them in intensive care, before recovering and going home. And apparently she is not alone, as others like her are said to be developing similar second-week crash symptoms.

Thus far, there is no real consensus as to why this second-week crash, which reportedly appears between days five and 10, strikes unexpectedly in this manner. It only adds to the fear among those who are petrified of catching the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) that they might experience a sudden episode of dramatic symptoms that require immediate attention.

The good news is that most coronavirus cases are mild or asymptomatic

There are a number of theories as to why the second-week crash is even a thing, including speculation about how an individual’s genes might play a role in how it develops. It could also be that some people’s immune systems overreact to the virus, a phenomenon known as a cytokine storm ..

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot,” Naftali Kaminski, chief of pulmonary critical care and sleep medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, is quoted as saying about the second-week crash phenomenon. Kaminski actively studies the genomics of lung disease.

“There’s an early stage of infection and the virus sits somewhere. You can almost look at the virus as a fifth column coming in, securing its stronghold and then slowly inducing more cells to let it in,” he further contends. “Because of this lurking nature, your genetic makeup and preexisting conditions will affect presentation of the disease.”

The good news is that the vast majority of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases never require hospitalization. In fact, many cases never even present symptoms, which means that most of the people who have the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) do not even know that they have it.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that only about 29 out of every 100,000 cases of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) require hospitalization. And only a very small percentage of these require intensive care.

“The people who actually crash, they’ve actually been sick a while,” adds Merceditas Villanueva, an associate professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine “They’ve underestimated how sick they are, or they’ve just waited.”

Want to add word or two?

When we know that the junk food industry is complicit in deception and the undermining of world health, that perception alone should inspire everyone to take control of their lives and not be betrayed by their own appetites.

And when we see that the junk food industry works in tandem with big pharma, fattening up new drug customers as they both gain greater and more tyrannical power, it would be better to go hungry than eat their crappy products.

Your comment ….?

The truth has been coming to light in so many ways; any entity that capitalizes on undermining your health is not your friend. 

Dependency on the wrong corporations and the wrong government agencies amounts to a systematic poisoning of body and mind, making us vulnerable to further assaults.

The weakening of the immune system is first a weakening of resolve to be informed and to make the choices representing Self-control and Self-empowerment. Now we’re at a critical point in history, with too many of us weakened and all of us subject to powerful threats. 

Consider the reclamation of your fitness and vitality, and the rebuilding of a robust immune system, as acts of self-defense.

 Let’s emerge from the lockdown stronger than before.