In the midst of the global crisis surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is worth considering that this “problem” may not actually go away anytime soon. People talk about how things will return to “normal” when the pandemic is “over”. But what if it does not go away?
The COVID-19 is caused by the flu-like novel coronavirus. It is an RNA-based pathogen that is not alive in any real sense of our concepts of what is living. It is a piece of biological code that relies on a living host to persist — one, ideally, that is able survive its ravages long enough to pass copies of itself to the next host. Indeed, in some cases, the novel coronavirus manages to infect hosts without causing any visible symptoms allowing said hosts — carriers — to go about normal social activities making contact with other future hosts.
Modern chatter within less-educated circles regard them as predators. However, unlike real predators, viruses don’t eat their victims as their sources of energy. Instead, they take them over;
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[…] when a virus enters a cell (called a host after infection), it is far from inactive. It sheds its coat, bares its genes and induces the cell’s own replication machinery to reproduce the intruder’s DNA or RNA and manufacture more viral protein based on the instructions in the viral nucleic acid. The newly created viral bits assemble and, voilà, more virus arises, which also may infect other cells.
It is, almost literally, the undead.
First seen as poisons, then as life-forms, then biological chemicals, viruses today are thought of as being in a gray area between living and nonliving: they cannot replicate on their own but can do so in truly living cells and can also affect the behavior of their hosts profoundly.
Just as stories of vampires and zombies persist even in these modern times where we are supposedly seeing the decline of religious and superstitious hocus pocus, viruses will persist. Indeed the common cold and flu are the results of such viruses — mutating with every generation far more rapidly than efforts to develop vaccines could keep up with. Unlike colds and the flu, COVID-19 kills a far larger proportion of its victims — which is why developing a vaccine is important. That, in turn raises, the question of whether vaccines can keep up with its rate of mutation (which by all accounts, is also an unknown at this point).
For now, it is best that we comply with measures being put in place to reduce its ability to spread. Prayer will not help beyond being therapeutic to those who seek religious ritual to manage their mental health. Level heads and sensibility need to prevail and not old and bad habits that may have contributed to its rise and spread. More importantly, it is really all nothing personal. Viruses are just participants of our competitive Darwinian landscape where species like us — and genetic strains, like the novel coronavirus — live and die. It’s just a question of who or what will persist. To compete another day.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Yes let us hunker down for now until we have the vaccine and antivirals. But never forget it was the chinese who let loose this plague, there should be a reckoning one day. 1) they encourage behavior (like eating bats) that cause human transfer of animal virus 2) they covered up in the early stage and even arrested doctors who warned of whats coming 3) did not allow experts to come in who could have helped. hope they will be made to pay
Hunker down sure. Now there are soldiers on our streets with shoot on sight order…
More than the virus, Government is the biggest threat to our lives right now.
Supply lines have been cut due to the quarantine.
WHERE WILL FILIPINOS GET THEIR FOOD FROM!?!?! From the farms? What farms? Most of our rice is imported.
Hunger and poverty kills more people in the philippines than this virus does.
7000 people died because of the drug war… much higher than the 100+ people who have died from Covid. Should we quarantine? Yes. But we need to be vigilant.
Tyrants have used “emergencies” before to grab power and never let go..
NO TO MARTIAL LAW!
Man has gone to the moon, and is conquering space…but still we have not known much of the invisible world of viruses….there are still many kinds of viruses there, that we don’t know; and someday may cause much worse pandemics…
I believe that prayers to our Divine Creator, can be much of help. I have seen many miracles in my lifetime; things that happened that cannot be explained by the human mind; cures that have taken place, of which , we cannot understand.
This corona pandemics started in the “Wet Market” of Wuhan, China. In that “Wet Market”; they sell “exotic animals” , for food delicacies, like : bats, monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, etc…
The SARS pandemic started in that Wuhan “Wet Market….
Eating “exotic food” and delicacies like bats, is not worth having the corona virus infection…but still, the “Wet Market” in Wuhan, China is open again… With guards from the Chinese communist government, preventing people from taking pictures on the “Wet Market”…
Anyway, we may have more pandemics…be prepared !
Small minds discuss people;
Mediocre minds discuss events; and,
Great minds discuss ideas.
This was your last comment benign0 and I awaited with bated breath on your great “ideas”…. and this is what I get?!? Looks like you’ve been watching too much walking dead…. Vampires! Zombies! This certainly looks like a pandemic. NO SHIT! SO much wow, benign0.
Your “ideas” benign0 are about as low IQ as the abs-cbn noon time shows you despise so much. How about talking REAL issues here.
* Why is there a shoot on sight order for quarantine violators who are ordinary citizens but Koko pimentel deserves our compassion?
* How about the DOH paying barely minimum wage of $500 per day to the front liners, despite getting an emergency budget of $300 billion?
* Why do all medical supply donations have to be coursed through the national government? So Bong Go can put his name and face on these? Haven’t we learned our lesson from Yolanda donations theft and waste?
Obviously these discussions are a little above your pay-grade you low level China commie. You live in Australia, you dont have the right to comment on something you dont know anything about
WHY DON’T YOU SHUT the F –UP BENIGN0. YOURE A PAID FOOL WHO KNOWS NOTHING!
If you want to be notified by email whenever my brilliant ideas are posted on this blog, sign up here.
WHY IS THE GOVERNMENT NOW SEIZING DONATIONS FROM HOSPITALS!?!?!??!
IT IS NOW ILLEGAL FOR A PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL TO GIVE DONATIONS TO HOSPITALS….. YOU NOW HAVE TO GIVE IT FIRST TO BONG GO!?!
Why will I give donations then? Why will I bother doing fundraisers if I can be criminalized?!?!
You ASSHATS wanted MARTIAL LAW?!?!?! NOW WE HAVE MARTIAL LAW!
….And benign0 is safe and comfy in Australia while this is all ongoing….
https://biblehub.com/proverbs/10-19.htm
https://youtu.be/0kbDMjAOXQE
it’s influenza WHO livens it up.
Well, nature does what it does. But if left to its own, Darwinian principles would not suffice.