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Just some information, a few observations and a paradox concerning the rates of Covid-19 (novel Coronavirus) infections in different countries and people of different ages. I have a degree in Microbiology and a PhD. in Medicine but I am no expert here - I am just asking questions on Saturday 28th March 2020. My last job was in a rich-country Immunology department but I have spent a few years travelling in poorer countries and The Brazilian President quipped that Covid-19 is a rich-person's disease. I wonder if simple additional mitigation measures might already be available? Possible ideas might be: staying warm, exercising outside, catching a related less dangerous virus first, stop smoking, boosting old peoples immune systems etc.
As Douglas Adams and the UK Government might say: Don't panic, keep calm and carry on. We do not need to just sit indoors and wait for a vaccine, that might be the worst thing to do ! Realise that this is natural, normal and we will all die anyway and it used to be much worse when half of all children would die under the age of five in the UK in the late Victorian era with poor overcrowded housing so there is no need to destroy the global economy or buy a year's supply of toilet roll so wake up, smell the flowers and count your blessings but know this is not directly an economic threat to any country - even the weakest. The UK created the greatest empire that the World has ever known when those children were dying from those forgotten simple infections and retirees losing a few years off their pensions and annuity payments only helps rich economies. Also, this is not an intelligent alien invasion, instead the virus is a dumb, stupid accident that doesn't want to kill you or anyone else: it is just a bunch of chemicals that can reproduce and spread if you give it a home to trash. So, in perspective, the current novel Coronavirus is a mild, sub-clinical infection in most people and it is possible to avoid infection - this virus is full of weaknesses (others might be much worse). Only government reactions to the virus can cause any serious economic damage. The dead and the nearly dead are the most vulnerable people in any society and deserve respect and love but not at the cost of the productive, creative, happy living people.
From metereological data, it appears that the virus spreads most easily in cool temperate humid climates like those shown in the green band in the map above. The large wide red band are areas which are too hot or dry to favour the spread of the virus. Maybe there is something about the climate or the relative poverty of people in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and even the Philippines which helps protect the locals despite strong connections to both China and The USA which were the two most badly affected countries at different times ? Vietnam had many early infections but the disease has not spread much. Vietnamese people are smart, disciplined and their government controls everything but the people are still poor. Cambodia even allowed a cruise ship to dock when it had been refused by every other country out of fear of infection and the president himself even went down to the dock area to wave as the passengers disembarked. Only a single passenger was ever found to be infected and only after they had already left Cambodia and travelled through Kuala Lumpur ? The Philippines is a remarkably beautiful country made up of over 7000 islands with many surrounded by calm turquoise waters, beautiful corals, iridescent giant clams, tropical fish and brightly coloured sponges and even lavender and pink starfish! The local people are unusually friendly, kind, sociable, fun-loving and speak English so it is a great country to visit as a tourist and the Chinese and Americans visit in the millions. I also recently spent a few months there exploring the natural beauty and trying to let people know how cheap solar power has become recently: cheaper than any other electricity in the Philippines.
Unfortunately, The Philippines is not all Paradise because there are problems with corruption, pollution, congestion, poverty, poor planning, electricity production and reliability, and also with healthcare. Vaccination is a wonderful cheap safe way to protect people against infectious diseases but in The Philippines, the live attenuated Polio vaccine can pass through a vaccinated child and emerge as live infectious Polio virus into polluted rivers and water sources which then infect other vulnerable Philippinos with a full Polio disease. Better sewage treatment should prevent this completely. So the Philippines should be both rich and beautiful but is not currently and it is facing a special threat from the novel Coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease. It might appear surprising and paradoxical that The Philippines which struggles to prevent diseases that almost every other country on the Earth can manage is now apparently not being swamped by Covid-19 cases when it has millions of potentially infected Chinese visitors and relatively poor health infrastructure?
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