Coronavirus2019

Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19): A Pandemic of Fear, Confusion, Agony, and Frustration.

 COVID-19 is a pathogenic virus, - an invisible enemy, causing an unprecedented pandemic worldwide. Currently, it is causing havoc in more than 177 countries. The virologist, Dr. June Almeida identified and characterized the Coronavirus in 1964 in St. Thomas Hospital in London. After half a century, this virus has spread worldwide, causing catastrophic economic uncertainty and loss of precious lives. No country in the world was prepared to face such an epidemic. At the time of this writing, more than 2.5 million individuals are infected and over 175,000 have lost their lives. Spanish flu in 1918 infected a quarter of the global population (500 million) and killed 50 million individuals worldwide. Coronary artery disease killed over 18 million individuals in 2016 worldwide. Therefore, in terms of the number of deaths, COVID-19 is nowhere comparable. But in terms of global panic, it is more severe than any other pandemic.

 Panic selling on “Black Thursday,” October 24, 1929, led to a 33% decline in the US stock prices. We are nearing to that “Great Crash of 1929,” with the loss of more than 30 million jobs, and this is not just for the USA but is affecting the entire global economy. The virtual lockdown of all the major countries for several weeks or months, to a great extent mitigated the spreading of the virus. Having said that, can this kind of a lockdown continue for an indefinite time? Except for Sweden, the rest of the countries have followed this mitigation and containment worldwide. The million-dollar question in everyone’s mind is, how long can we continue this self-isolation or social distancing? How are we going to feed the millions of jobless individuals? What is life after this lockdown looks like? Nobel Prize-winning (1958) Dr. Joshua Lederberg of Yale University conceded to the fact, that we have not been able to ‘conquer’ the infectious microbes, because of their amazing ability to change and evolve just to survive. He is known to say, -“Pitted against microbial genes, we have mainly our wits.” Michael Osterholm an infectious-disease epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota says, that the only viable endgame is to play ‘whack-a-mole’ with coronavirus, -suppressing it until a vaccine can be produced. According to the leading experts, with luck, it will take 18 to 24 months. This disturbing news motivates me to discuss the topic of this theme.

 This COVID2019 pandemic has induced an unknown fear, lots of confusion, an unexplainable agony, and lots of frustration due to the lack of any definite answer or an exit strategy. Just the other day, I read a column in the New York Times (April 9, 2020) by David Brooks, titled, “I feel like I’m Finally Cracking and I Don’t Even Know Why? He invited the readers to describe how this pandemic is affecting their mental health. More than 5000 wrote back their experiences. Just to mention the titles of a few write-ups: -‘This pandemic has robbed me of my sense of control’-‘ I go on vacation from my inner world’- ‘Feeling overwhelmed and weepy’- ‘I am angry at a force that I cannot see’- ‘For days I could not find a satisfying breath’-‘There is no playbook for how to survive this’- ‘People with anxiety disorders are always expecting the worst, and now that has come to pass’- ‘It is difficult not to beat myself up’- ‘Trying to focus on the positive, but not deny the existence of the negative.’ David Brooks has shared some of the quotes in his latest column, “The Pandemic of Fear and Agony.”

 When I was just about to give up worrying about COVID-19 related anxiety and unexplainable frustrations, the very next day (10/04/2020) The New York Times had another column by Andrew Solomon on, “When Pandemic Leaves Us Alone, Anxious and Depressed.” I have been feeling anxious and depressed since the time this lockdown started. Come to think of it, as retired individuals, we are more or less always under lockdown, and this no different. But somehow, as children try to do the things that we used to do, such as shopping, buying groceries, etc., my mind is rebelling with this forced quarantine. I do not mind agreeing with the social distancing, self-imposed isolation. But somehow cannot accept this mandatory isolation or quarantine. I thought my feelings were unique and most of the others are comfortable with this situation. However, when I read the column by Solomon, I realized that there are so many fellow sufferers than I ever imagined. Added to this, we got a call from our life-long friend, Mr. Murthy saying, that he had a sudden anxiety attack, while watching the Coronavirus news on the TV. He got himself checked into a hospital fearing that it could be some serious heart problem. Lucky for him, he was not in New York, he would have found it difficult, to get into a hospital during this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis in New York. Just in the State of New York alone, we have more COVID-19 related deaths than any other country in the world. In just a few days we will exceed the number of deaths (in just nine weeks) that occurred during nine years of the Vietnam War.

 Within weeks, the familiar symptom of mental illness has become universal reality writes Mr. Solomon. According to him, a new poll from Kaiser Family Foundation found nearly half of the respondents said, that mental health was being harmed by the coronavirus pandemic. Looks like everyone is experiencing depression and anxiety, a real clinical mental condition that cannot be just erased. Mr. Solomon writes in his column, “If you say, I’m so terrified I can barely sleep. “people may reply, “What sensible person isn’t?” Since the pandemic started most of us have disturbed sleep. We cannot say what is it that is disturbing. The inability to explain this fear of the unknown adds more stress. Social isolation generates at least as much of an escalation of mental illness as does the fear of the virus itself. According to the columnist, “The belief that things are not OK is reasonable; the belief that nothing will ever be OK again appears to indicate a clinical condition that needs to be addressed. But how? No one seems to have any answers for questions that crop up every time you scan any TV news channel. Even the best experts like Dr. Fauci, of the prestigious NIH, keep saying we do not know for every question that is asked. The common man needs some assurance or a narrative to calm down the fear of the unknown and the uncertainties of the future.

 Since the pandemic started, I keep hearing the need for “touch.’ Indeed, I did not even know, that there is a research institute dedicated to this topic, -Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Tiffany Field according to this writer, has argued that touch deprivation exacerbates depression and weakens the immune system; positive touch stimulates the vagal nerve and reduces cortisol, a stress hormone that can impair immune response. The ancient art of healing practiced by the Chinese and Indians, -“Traditional Medicine” emphasized the art of healing by touch. Having said that, I for one would like to see more clinical data on this topic of great interest. Anyway, back to my own concerns, anxiety, depression, and frustration, - I cannot just explain what lies behind this emotional roller coast.

Nothing has really changed in our day-to-day activities. Of course, we do not do much shopping these days. Because of my advanced age (82), my children do not want me to visit any shops are crowded places. I never was a great shopper, and this restriction from my children should not cause any anxiety.

 Whenever we are concerned about health in general, or public health in particular, we look to what Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Disease Control (CDC) and prevention or the prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) has to say? Director Joshua Gordon of the National Institute of Mental Health says ( March 16, 2020), “These are confusing times for all of us. We all are feeling uncertain about what could happen in the coming weeks, months, or even years, as we hope to slow the spread of this invisible enemy. He goes on to say feelings of anxiety and uncertainty are completely normal during times like this. He concludes his message by saying that social distancing does not have to mean social isolation, especially with modern technologies available to most of us. Connecting with our friends and loved ones, whether by high tech means (?) or through simple phone calls, can help us maintain ties during stressful days ahead and will give us the strength to weather this difficult passage.

 Since the time we came back from India (Mar 5th, 2020), I have been having difficulty getting sound sleep. I cannot describe why I should have any disturbance whatsoever. I have not lost my job. I am not going hungry. In fact, as retired individuals, we are doing the same things that we were doing before the Covid-19 pandemic. My writing and publishing have not been interrupted. However, one thing that has changed is the closing of our Gym in the condo. I used to go to the Gym twice daily. Now I need to find a way of achieving my exercise goals indoor. My apple watch keeps giving me alerts, -stand up, breathe, you can still do it, etc. Living just half an hour’s drive from my daughter, we cannot go and see our grandchildren. Our grandson used to say, “Tatha (grandpa in Kannada), do you know every second lost is lost forever?” How very true it is. It bothers me to think of the lost second, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months, just hoping that things will improve and life will be normal again.

 By this time, we would have prepared packing for our travel to the UK to spend time with our son and daughter-in-law. Now we are still hanging on with our tickets although we know for sure, that it is almost impossible to travel to the UK or for that matter to any other place in June.

By this time, we would have started our plans, to visit India for the winter months as we have done since retirement. During the last visit due to the fact the price of onions went up, my favorite “Masala Dosa” was not good in any of the Restaurants in Bengaluru. I was hoping of getting back this winter and repeat our annual eating extravaganza. Now I have no idea when that day will come or  I have to just enjoy my frozen memories. For more than half a century, I lived on a dream that I could go to India, whenever I had an urge to do so. I could come up with a reason to make a visit. Of course, I really do not need any reason to go to my home, -that is India. This COVID pandemic has put restrictions on any hopes of visiting India in the near future.

 Considering my advanced age (82) we had decided that we will make our annual visits to India for at least the next three years. When I reach the age of 85, sell the condo in Bengaluru, and reduce the frequency as well as time that we used to spend in Bengaluru to a minimum. Now I feel cheated. If I cannot go to India for the next two years, then all that I have left is just one visit.

It reminds me of how I felt when the Heart Specialty Societies, reported a few years ago, that it was OK to “Eat Butter.” We and others who worked on heart health had given up eating butter as did the people, who lived in North Karelia, Finland. When I read that report about Butter, I really felt cheated. You can imagine the number of years that were lost without any butter in our various preparations. Anyway, the moral of the story is that what is past is past forever, but for the memories. We just have to live for the present like the followers of the mindfulness program and hope for a better future. I still have not figured out as to why I feel like I will be finally cracking.

If thigs change, I will be back with another blog.

 Gundu H.R. Rao, Potomac, Maryland. April 25th, 2020.