COVID - 19 AN EXPERIMENT THAT GOT OUT OF CONTROL?
"Global COVID cases continue to decline, although many countries are still struggling" CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy)
PANDEMICS IN ANTIQUITY
The Renaissance man like Peter Brueghel the "Elder" - Flemish painter - was characterized by having a strange feeling for the impossibility of obtaining knowledge, and also, the denial of the existence and value of all things, due to the inheritance of the dark years of Middle Ages characterized by plague, disease and death that preceded the luminosity of the 15th century "The Renaissance".
The people of the Middle Ages perceived the world as very threatening, as an insane world, inexplicable, as reflected in the painting "The Ship of Fools" by "El Bosco".
The Medieval World was strange, full of myths and fantasies, where demons were able to take possession of human bodies and therefore, the services of the Church were used to perform exorcisms or, for the most thinking people, medical services such as It is shown in this painting of "El Bosco", where a Doctor is doing the extraction of the stone of madness.
It was an amazing world because the people of the time did not know how to attack the hunger and diseases that were weakening and killing them.
BACTERIAL DISEASES
Medieval people had to deal with three types of diseases:
Bacterial
Fungal
Viral
And yet, thanks to their strength, tenacity and hope, humanity survived by giving way to the Renaissance.
There were Bacterial diseases such as leprosy that dates back to the fifth millennium BC and finally established itself in the late Middle Ages, and the Black Death that between 1347 and 1352, spread throughout Europe and it is estimated that it exterminated between 30 and 50% of the European population already weakened by famines, successive wars and climate cooling.
FUNGAL DISEASES
A second type of disease was fungal diseases such as the "Fire of Saint Anthony" which made its appearance in the year 1,000.
It came from consuming bread in bad condition, it is not that it was hard, but rather that the rye with which it had been made contained a micro toxin called ergot or "Claviceps Purpurea", a fungus with terrible consequences that spread the evil throughout Western Europe.
Those infected suffered strong hallucinations derived from high fevers.
They were dismembered patients as gangrene devoured hands and feet until there was no other choice but to cut. That, when the member did not fall by itself without any drop of blood.
In the next painting of "Bosco" you can see within the red circle, a sick person from the "Fire of Saint Anthony"
The hallucinations caused that at that time the evil of the fiery was considered, as a supernatural phenomenon, it is not surprising, then, that the year one thousand was full of oracles and preachers who predicted disasters.
The Augustinians of San Antón claimed to end the Fever ("Fire of Saint Anthony") of by touching the sick with their "magic staves", although more than the magic staves, it was the stopping of this food that was responsible for their improvement.
Leaving the Middle Ages and moving on to the Renaissance, Peter Brueghel "The Elder" makes a portrait of that time and its threats through his painting "The Triumph of Death", in which he shows us the triumph of Death over mundane things , symbolized through a great army of skeletons devastating the Earth, not respecting age, social situation, beliefs or political power.
All social strata are included in the composition, without power or devotion being able to save them. Some try to fight against their disastrous fate, others abandon themselves to their fate, however, in the lower left corner (highlighted in yellow), a HOPEED couple is observed in a better world, where death, instead of attacking them, sings to them a song and where in addition, Brueghel gives us an extraordinary message: despite disease, hunger and death, the common thread of this apparent human tragedy is LOVE and for this, in a hidden way, Brueghel put four letters that are not seen in the original painting but here I allow myself to highlight LIFE
THE RENAISSANCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Given the current circumstances of the Covid, let us maintain HOPE, if the people of the middle ages managed to overcome so many wars, famines and diseases, the citizens of the 21st century, with more knowledge, technology and a vaccine that was developed in record time, we will move forward .
With our intelligence as human beings of the XXI century, let's avoid going into despair, becoming blind that lead other blind, let's use information and knowledge correctly and, let's avoid some "Influencers" who are actually blind (ignorant) leading a large group of blind people through social networks.
Knowledge, together with Hope, will give us the tools to emerge stronger from this health and economic test that we are living, where everything indicates that it will take us to the threshold of a new Renaissance but in the XXI century.
COVID - 19 AN EXPERIMENT THAT GOT OUT OF CONTROL?
Let us remember that the pandemics that humanity has experienced are basically bacterial,
fungal and viral and, the one we are currently suffering from, a viral type, apparently and even what the North American authorities have reported in their investigations, everything indicates (subject to confirming this shortly), that it was the result of an experiment that was got out of control.
When asked at a Senate hearing in May 2021 whether he believed the coronavirus might have escaped from a Wuhan laboratory, Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief health adviser, said: "The possibility certainly exists. I fully support that it be investigate thoroughly if this could have occurred."
Source Euronews: https://es.euronews.com/2021/06/01/covid-19-por-que-vuelve-la-teoria-de-que-el-coronavirus-se-escapo-de-un-laboratorio-de-wuh
Last year, 27 scientists signed an open letter. They condemned conspiracy theories that COVID-19 did not have a natural origin. Now three of them say the lab accident is plausible enough to warrant consideration.
"I am convinced that the virus was taken to a laboratory, they began to work with it ... and then a negligent individual took it out," said a virologist at the University of Chicago.
And one of the signers added: "They cannot admit that they have done something stupid."
In mid-May 2021, a group of 18 scientists from Harvard, Stanford and Yale universities, among others, published an open letter in the scientific journal "Science" calling for a serious investigation of the laboratory hypothesis.
One of the signers is Ralph Baric, a microbiologist at the University of North Carolina who worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology on a study to create an artificial coronavirus that would infect human cells in the laboratory.
COVID - 19 AND ITS EFFECT ON NUMBERS
Experiment or no experiment, the situation in numbers is as follows:
Overview as of June 16, 2021
Globally, weekly COVID-19 cases fell to their lowest level since February, although many countries are still struggling with a short supply of vaccines and the spread of variants, so health systems are overloaded, said yesterday the World Health Organization (WHO) in its weekly snapshot of the pandemic.
On the other hand, the WHO said it is tracking one more worrying variant, first seen in Peru and called Lambda, which has genetic markers that suggest it is more transmissible.
🌐In its weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said global cases decreased 12% last week compared to the previous week, with declines seen in all regions of the world except Africa.
🔻Although the level of deaths remains high, they decreased by 2%. The five countries that reported the most cases are India, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and the United States.
🔺African countries are among those that posted the largest increases last week, including Zambia (up 125%), Uganda (49%) and South Africa (49%).
Other countries that saw notable increases include the United Kingdom (52%), Indonesia (38%) and Russia (31%).
👀 At an information meeting of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) its director, Carissa Etienne, said that Colombia's cases are at their highest level, with intensive care units in the country's main cities feeling pressure.
She urged countries experiencing high transmission to toughen their public health measures until there is enough vaccine for more people.
Countries that concentrate 80% of deaths in the world
In the four graphs that appear below this text, we can see that from January to June, in 2020, 12 countries concentrated 80% of infected, while in 2021 they rose to 18.
The USA in both cases ranks first, Brazil maintains its second place, India went from eighth to third place and Mexico went from seventh to fourth place.
Canada did its homework well and from ranking 12th in 2020, it ranks 24th in 2021.
Countries that concentrate 80% of infections in the world
In the four graphs that appear below this text we can see that from January to June, in 2020, 18 countries concentrated 80% of infected, while in 2021 they rose to 22.
The US in both cases ranks first, Brazil went from second to third place, India went from fourth to second place and Mexico went from fourteenth to fifteenth place.
CONCLUSIONS:
Worldwide, the number of cases does not yet have an inflection point. Deaths have also risen, however official figures may not fully reflect the true number in many countries. Among the bad in cases of infections, mortality is relatively low to these infections.
Covid-19 cases compared by region, number of cases per day, seven-day moving average; These charts are from March 2020 to June 2021
NORTH AMERICA
The United States has recorded more than 33 million cases and more than 600,000 deaths, the highest figures in the world. However, daily cases and deaths in the US are now declining, as is Canada, where the death rate is much lower than that of its neighbors.
LATIN AMERICA
In Latin America, Brazil has recorded 18 million cases and more than 500,000 deaths, the second highest official death toll in the world. Experts say they are concerned that the situation could worsen with the arrival of winter.
Peru now has the fifth highest figure in the world with more than 190,000 deaths, but the highest number of deaths by population size: almost 600 deaths per 100,000 people.
Colombia, Argentina, and Chile have also experienced recent increases in cases.
MEXICO: Latest Trends
An average of 3,802 cases per day were reported in Mexico during the last week.
Cases are up 28% from the average two weeks ago.
Deaths have increased by 4%.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, at least 1 in 51 residents has been infected, a total of 2,498,357 reported cases.
At least 1 in 549 residents has died from the coronavirus, a total of 232,346 deaths.
January 2021 was the worst month for cases and deaths in Mexico.
SOURCES:
1) CIDRAP, Junio 16,2021:
2) Fuente Euronews, Junio 01, 2021:
3) BBC News Covid map: Coronavirus cases, deaths, vaccinations by country, Junio 25, 2021, Source: Johns Hopkins University, national public health agencies
Figures last updated 25 June 2021, 11:08 BST : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51235105
4) The New York Times, Junio 26, Tracking Coronavirus in Mexico: Latest Map and Case Counthttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/mexico-covid-cases.html
5) eaBC Business Intelligence: https://www.eabc.website/
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