ARE YOU SCARED?

I am!  I read spy novels.  In the books I read, the hero is an ex-special forces soldier who saves the world by tracking down the bad guys and foiling their plot!  

The bad guys often plot to destroy the world with biologic or chemical weapons.  Often, the bad guys’ scientist will have figured out how to aerosolize a virus or bacteria and how to deliver it to its target. The authors of these books use the words aerosolize and weaponize interchangeably. 

Yeah, it’s fiction and the good guys almost always win.  Don’t they?  If you are a sci-fi fan, you know that sci-fi of the past often becomes the reality of the future.  Are we living in the real version of the book I’m reading?  It seems that we are actors in a thriller/horror story in which the bad guy is winning!

This am, NBC is reporting that scientists now believe that Covid-19 is aerosolized, meaning that it’s not just transmitted by large droplets alone, but also by tiny droplets.  CNN is reporting that early studies suggest that infection does not necessarily confer immunity.  ABC is reporting that the numbers of hospitalizations are increasing.  CBS reports that Arizona is out of hospital beds.

Scare?  Hell, yeah!  I’ve never seen anything like this before and I spent 40 years treating viruses.  Have we been attacked?  Most definitely!  This virus continues to attack us and it’s winning.  We need to fight back, and the first step is taking this seriously.

In a previous article, I discussed the chances of a lightning strike killing you and raised the question, “Would you stand outside in a lightning storm holding a lightning rod?”  Obviously not!  Ignoring COVID-19 is like standing outside in a lightning storm holding a lightning rod.

I’m coming in and getting out of the storm. LITERALLY!  Renee and I are going to honker down, going out for essential items only.  It’s back to home food delivery and Amazon.  We will carefully assess those people we come in contact with and try to establish a POD of friends with similar health habits.

It’s time to pull out my surgical masks and hunt for N95 masks.  If COVID-19 is truly aerosolized, it should be considered to be weaponized.  While the data looks like cloth masks help, I want the most airway protection I can get.  Of course, if I isolate myself, I don’t need a mask.

There will be those who will call me an alarmist.  I AM!  I’ve saved many lives over the years by being an alarmist.  In the office, “doc, I’ve got chest pain” almost always set off my alarm and the trip from my office to the hospital by ambulance is what saved my patients’ lives.  My patients often were adamant that they were fine and didn’t need an ambulance. Some protested strongly!  Some refused to go.  Those who went lived even if they had a bad heart.

I always told my patients the same thing.  “I’ll be happy to be proven wrong!  I’ll be happy to apologize for making you go to the hospital by ambulance as soon as I know your heart is fine.”  I was funny like that.  I liked being proven wrong because proven right meant you were sick and in trouble!

I really want to be wrong about COVID-19!  Unfortunately, I’m right and it’s back to being shut ins.  It’s going to be boring.  You can only put on a mask and play doctor but so often before your wife quits the game.  Got any ideas about two-person fantasy games that shut ins can play?

Seriously, go home and stay there.  Weigh your contact decisions against the risk of being infected by COVID-19 and passing it on to family, loved ones and friends. 

Here’s your music for today.  Be careful who you let in.  Here’s your joke.

What’s a 6.9?  Another great thing screwed up by a period.  (I know, I’m pushing it but I’ll be 69 in a few weeks.)