Like you, I’ve read some pretty alarming news regarding the Covid-19 outbreak. I’ve seen the soaring death rates, I’ve read all about the tragedy of Italy and other nations — and I’ve been very disturbed by what I’ve seen.
But I’ve also made sure to dig around for some good news. A particular story about a 103-year-old lady beating the coronavirus in China brought a lot of cheer to my heart in these desperate times!
And you know what? It’s not the only good news about Covid-19 that’s out there. Once you’ve fought through the thick fog of doom and gloom being laid on by the media, it turns out that there are still plenty of reasons to be hopeful — and things to be thankful for!
In this article, I want to share some positives regarding coronavirus so that we can all start to feel a bit better about things. Remember, the comeback is always greater than the setback. We’ll get through this.
China beat coronavirus (at least, for now)
Yes, I know coronavirus started in China. But China has worked tirelessly since to bring the ‘rona to its knees. And as of the time of writing, China has reported no new domestic cases for a few days on the bounce.
If China can beat it, we can all beat it.
Lots of other folks are beating the coronavirus, too
I don’t know about you but I’ve seen soooo many headlines about people being put on ventilators, fighting for their lives… but I’ve seen very few articles about the people who’ve recovered from this virus.
But here’s the thing: 100,000 people have already kicked coronavirus’s ass, while thousands more who weren’t tested have beaten it, too.
As well as the 103-year-old lady in China, Bond girl Olga Kuryenko beat it, while Tom Hanks is on the mend. This 90-year-old British great grandmother also recovered from it, despite 35 of her fellow care home residents succumbing to it.
People are coming together
I keep reading that being under quarantine in 2020 is ‘our version of the second world war.’
Donald Trump, meanwhile, described himself as a ‘wartime President’ last week.
Whilst it’s true that it certainly feels like we’re living under the dark cloud of war, there’s a crucial difference here: During the war, nations opposed each other. They fought to the death.
Now, we’re all in this together. And it’s moments like this, where Germans sang ‘Bella Ciao’ from the rooftops in a show of solidarity with their Italian brothers and sisters, that make your heart smile.
When we get through this, we’ll have got through it together. The world will feel more tight-knot than ever.
Now’s your chance to discover the real you
I hear a lot of people say they don’t really know themselves. They have no identity, no purpose, no concrete values. I’ve asked myself the same existential question: Who the heck am I?!
Yet, many of us have never really been forced to find an answer. We could run away from the mirror without a second thought. We didn’t have to find an answer.
Now we do.
See, it’s shared moments like this — a complete crisis, which we’re all in together — that forces our hand. We have to confront who we really are. We have to decide whether we’re going to emerge as a leader who will help others and do our duty and more obligation… or whether we’re going to hide away in self-loathing, fear, and self-interest.
Remarkably — and I’m not even kidding here — I read The Plague by Albert Camus last March. Exactly a year to this date! It’s a novel about a plague descending on Algeria, wiping people out, destroying their way of life. In the novel, characters choose to either stand up and be counted — or hide away. It’s those who emerge as leaders, who do their moral duty, that are most fulfilled by the end of the novel.
The ones who cowered in self-interest? Well, some survive. But they are morally bankrupt. They’ve seen their true selves, and it isn’t pretty.
Now is your chance to be the leader you’ve always wanted to be. Now is your chance to put your money where your mouth is, to be selfless, virtuous, compassionate, helpful, dutiful. Now is your chance to do your bit for the greater good.
A coronavirus treatment might not be too far away
I’m not trying to falsely raise your hopes or anything here. But what we’ve learned so far about the coronavirus is that a) there’s currently no cure, but b) treatments could be on the way.
WHO has in fact stated to trial FOUR potential Covid-19 treatments. These aren’t the only treatments that have been put forward, but they are the most promising ones. And they’re also being launched in “record time.”
The guy who created the rubella vaccine, meanwhile, is helping vaccine companies find one for the coronavirus. Stanley Plotkin is his name, and right now he’s the real MVP.
The death rates will come down
Look, I’m not a doctor or an immunologist or a virologist. I’m just me, a writer from the UK. But I have read a lot of papers regarding this virus, and checking out the science for yourself is always better than listening to soundbites on social media.
Where the death rates are concerned, worldometers currently has the coronavirus death rate pegged at 13%. That’s super high. But it won’t stay so high — it will drop.
WHO, for example, have already admitted that their earlier prediction regarding the Wuhan death rates of 3.4% were wrong, and that the actual death rate is probably more like 1.4%. It’s probably even lower than that.
And while the current death rate in Italy is certainly something to be concerned about, it’s worth reading papers like this which give us some much-needed perspective. As the paper — which was written in 2019 — shows, Italy suffers from very high death rates each year caused by the flu. This is because Italy is home to an ageing population. When you combine that with very strong types of flu — such as the A/H3N2 strain of 2014/15 — the mortality rate goes up.
Yes, any death is tragic. But we need to avoid buying into alarmist media hype that causes unnecessary panic.
… And we’ll beat this sooner than you might have thought
Lastly, Nobel laureate and Stanford biophysicist Michael Levitt has some very heartwarming news for us: this coronavirus outbreak will be over sooner than we thought.
Governments and doomsayers all over the world have been telling us to expect ‘around 18 months’ of carnage and quarantine. But Levitt, who correctly predicted that the pandemic would be over in China within a few months, says the world pandemic will follow suit.
Every day he sees ‘signs of recovery,’ and that while ‘the numbers are still noisy ... there are clear signs of slowed growth.’
In the meantime, coffee over Skype, anyone?
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