We long for the old normal, for carefree meetings with friends. We no longer want to worry about our health, our existence or the future. The corona pandemic challenges us all.
How can you stay confident in difficult times like these?
By Understanding the problem and how it actually works.
at least that's how I stay confident.
the virus spreads by targeting immune cells much like HIV or other similar diseases and specifically targets the respiratory system as it's breeding ground.
this in turn causes pneumonia, bronchitis, and other problems that effectively mean you are drowning in your own fluids.
Much like many viruses the spread can be minimized by reducing exposure to open air, wearing a mask, gloves, and washing your hands frequently is a pretty big way to fight it off... in fact I'll bet that cases of the common cold dropped significantly this year!
there's also a vaccine in the works and with the virus's slow mutation rate compared to other diseases like the flu there's a good chance to stomp it out, we've done it before with measles and small pox, and we can do it again.
the vaccine works using a method I've always supported called retro viral gene therapy, effectively it uses a virus to reprogram immune cells to recognize the virus and fight it off, this is similar with how a flu vaccine works but rather than giving it a dead virus to study we're downloading the information directly which is much more effective.
My sister got Covid 19 this past month, she recovered but it was very scary to observe (from a safe quarantined distance mind you).
first she got normal cold symptoms (this was right after testing positive!)
Then she began showing severe signs like Hypoxia (oxygen deprevation), bronchitis, aches and chills as well as constant exhaustion.
I spoke with my doctor and gave her one of the aerosol medications I used when I used to get bronchitis every year from allergies which seemed to help a lot as it treated the hypoxia quite effectively.
she also began a regimen of immune boosters and currently tests negative for Covid.
I'm lucky in that I didn't catch it, nor my family but it was both fascinating and terrifying to watch.
as far as having carefree meetings and worrying about health I've been spending time with my friends online, in video games, and for the ones that have it, in virtual reality, all of which are places you can hang out in real time without the virus being a concern.
Honestly, it's tough to stay confident... my only goal right now is to avoid going insane
.
Getting back into railway modelling has helped a lot with this. I've bought quite a few new model trains over the past few months: it's expensive, but a great little distraction from the outside world!
(January 4th, 2021 at 10:04 PM)Kyng Wrote: [ -> ]Getting back into railway modelling has helped a lot with this. I've bought quite a few new model trains over the past few months: it's expensive, but a great little distraction from the outside world!
If only I had the room and money for this...
It's really an expensive hobby