“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”---Vivian Greene
I walk out the door to greet the morning sun and the world is deceivingly bright, the air fresh and clean, warmed by the onset of Spring. The waxing trees have acquired new leaves, Easter lillies are soon to seize the day, energetic new foals frolic in green pastures while wary mothers roll their eyes. It is as if nothing is different, but I know better. I know that the invaders have arrived.
Driving into town, there are fewer vehicles on the road, empty parking lots which were crowded only days ago, shuttered buildings. People in face masks and purple gloves roam the market aisles looking for lost treasures, pushing carts piled to the moon with items which will gain their salvation. Noone is slowing down for a neighborly chat, instead steering their little wagons stealthfully through the store, careful not to do what they once warned their children against—get too close to strangers.
Laughter is notably missing, a casualty of the day, relegated to some far-off Tomorrowland. Customers line up in long, solemn queus, nervously looking over their shoulders, resigned to waiting arduous minutes in treacherous conditions to pay for their purchases and flee to the safety of Outside, for Outside is their refuge, their sanctuary, the place where invaders go to wilt and die, doomed by a Florida sun which takes on all comers and never loses a bout.
The crystal ball sees all. A corps of Seraphim float across the heavens, releasing rose petals to the pining earth below. Two lovers cross the desert from opposite directions, meeting at a tiny oasis lit with orange lanterns. Hundreds of naked four-year-olds wearing golden crowns rush into the ocean to greet the first waves of morning. An endless stream of fireflies slowly descends on a dark and troubled city.
It is over. The invaders are sick and tired. The human race, slightly lower in numbers, has withstood the siege. People spill into the streets, playgrounds fill, hugging is once again legal. When it happens, we cannot know. But the crystal ball is never wrong.
We’ll Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends
In the meantime, in between time, ain’t we got fun? In New York City, they’re hauling the bodies off in semis. The governor of Rhode Island has placed armed bouncers at the state line to keep Empire State riffraff out. Florida governor Rick DeSantis is making a list and checking it twice; anyone flying in from the Big Apple will be immediately escorted to the Miami Marlins baseball park, which hasn’t seen a crowd in years. Detroit is boiling over. New Orleans is reaping the whirlwind of a Mardi Gras-boosted Coronavirus funfest. NYC hospitals are caving under the weight of the blizzard. Medicos are making face masks out of used jockstraps. Is there a savior in the house?
Maybe. Siobhan thinks we should advertise in Chinese newspapers for help. After all, they started this mess. The Ellison Plan is to offer any recovered Covid-19 patient from China a free trip to Disneyworld. We all know how much the Chinese love Mickey. Meet them at Customs, draw a little blood and toss them on a bus to Anaheim. Then inject the blood into your patients of choice and set your watch for their recovery. Works every time. Now that the disease is dying down in China, she further suggests hustling doctors from that country who have contracted the disease and recovered to come over and relieve the flagging corps of American physicians. Throw in a trip to the Grand Canyon or Vegas. They’ll be fighting to get on the plane.
What’s New?
Meanwhile back at the lab, doctors are using two drugs in combination---hydroxychloroquine (HC) and azithromycin (AZ)---to treat patients with advanced Covid-19 symptoms, using a regimen reported in a recent open-label trial in Marseille, France, which was updated March 26.
For HC, two bodies of evidence support its potential in treating Coronavirus; (a) in vitro studies, and (b) initial clinical reports from the field. After the 2002-03 global outbreak of SARS, a corona virus related to the one that causes Covid-19, an in vitro study conducted by doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified chloroquine (a relative of HC) as an attractive option for treatment and prevention. If used before the virus was introduced, the drug was highly effective in preventing cellular infection. A Chinese study published March 9 showed HC has excellent in vitro effects.
Chloroquine phosphate has been shown to have apparent efficacy and acceptable safety against Covid-19 associated pneumonia in multicenter clinical trials conducted in China. The drug is recommended to be included in the next version of the Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment Caused by Covid-19 infection in larger populations in the future.
The bedrock of all infectious medicine from developing treatments for specific infections to treating individual patients is in vitro laboratory testing and patient trials. Covid-19 is no exception. Current laboratory data suggests that HC should work. The FDA has approved the use of both hydroxychloroquine and plasma from recovered patients. Let's get going.
Good News
Every cloud has a silver lining, but it took a little while to find this one. Just when you thought the Bullet Train was certain to squash poor Pauline, Fate intervened. Here’s the positive stuff:
1. Chinese Hospitals Are Closing. An article in the New York Post confirmed that all sixteen temporary Coronavirus hospitals in China, including the ones in Wuhan, have been closed. In total, those hospitals treated 13,000 patients.
2. Coronavirus Vaccine Testing Has Begun In Seattle. The BBC, of all people, affirmed that the first vaccine trial in the U.S. has started, with four patients recently receiving medication at the Kaiser Permanente research facility in Seattle. There are 57 drug and 39 vaccine trials underway.
3. The Erasmus Medical Centre Has Found An Antibody. The NL Times, a Dutch newspaper, has confirmed that the Erasmus Centre in the Netherlands has discovered an antibody which will fight against the wide variety of viruses that fall under the Coronavirus umbrella. One reseacher commented, “If a patient were to take this, we expect that the infection would be stopped, giving the patient an opportunity to recover.”
4. Apple Has Reopened All 42 Stores In China. Just in case you’re wary of anything the NY Post reports, several sources, including the BBC, have confirmed that all 42 official Apple stores in China have now reopened, though some had more limited hours.
5. Cleveland Clinic Has Opened On-Site Rapid Testing. All of the tests require a doctor’s referral and results will be available within 24 hours. Metro Health, also in Cleveland, offers results in two hours. The FDA has approved a new test that yields results in 45 minutes. Several cities around the country, including Gainesville, are offering similar services with varying times for delivering results.
6. South Korea Leads The Way. If everybody followed the South Korean model, we’d all be better off. South Korea had 8320 confirmed cases but few deaths and a quick tapering off after the original explosion. The SK government utilized enforced isolation measures which some considered harsh, but the proof is in the pudding. That country has fared better than any other, with a quick turnaround in its number of cases and fewer deaths per case than any other.
6. Israel Seems On The Verge Of Developing a Covid-19 Vaccine. Haaretz, a major Israeli English-language newspaper, states that scientists working at Israel’s Institute for Biological Research “have recently had a significant breakthrough in understanding the biological mechanism and qualities of the virus, including better diagnostic capability, production of antibodies for those who already have the virus and development of a vaccine.”
7. 99% Of People With Covid-19 Recover. Some people have no symptoms at all. This is little comfort, of course, to those who perish or wind up with badly scarred lungs but comforting nonetheless to older people who saw dire threats at the onset of the outbreak. In the early days of the Coronavirus, people over seventy were dropping like flies and the prospects looked grim. As the disease has played out, such fears were greatly exaggerated.
None of this information is meant to diminish the grave threat of the disease. Covid-19 is here and it’s staying around. It may recede in Summer and roar back again in the regular Fall and Winter flu season. Until there is an effective vaccine---probably some time in 2021---the best defense is a good offense. Continuing to practice in the future the same safety measures we’re applying now will get the best results. Relaxing back into the comfortable carelessness of the past will almost guarantee a resurgence. Be like our role model for the Coronavirus, Lady Macbeth---wash your hands a lot. And kiddies—you might want to rethink that vaping business. Let’s all come out of this alive and kicking and ready to finally hear those magic words---“PLAY BALL!”
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| Where have all the tourists gone, long time passing? (1) Downtown Sausalito, (2) No tickets to ride, (3) Under the boardwalk, down by the sea/On a blanket with my baby is where I'll be. Not. |
(Altered) Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous
Last week, we brought you news of the virus from Italy to Washington, D.C. to America’s west coast, delivered by correspondents in the heart of the action. Readers approved and viewership rocketed to stratospheric heights. Since we are adept at reading the handwriting on the wall, we have decided to temporarily add one of these little bulletins each week at the end of the column. Today’s is from Patricia McKennee of Marin County, California, where people do not live in caves and eat dirt. Marin is one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S.A., which just goes to prove rich people can have problems, too.
Patricia, in her secret identity of Patti Walker, was not always well-to-do. In 1968, she came strutting into the Subterranean Circus, looking for a job. After a modest conversation, I turned to my then-lieutenant of personnel, Danny Levine, and asked him what he thought. “I’d hire her,” he beamed. “Good hips.”
Patti only worked at the store for a few months before beginning her inexorable tour around the world, which found her living in six different cities in the next sixteen years. In that short time in Gainesville, however, she fulfilled one very important function. Bill was compromised by a dramatic asthma attack and left withering in Alachua General Hospital for a week. Patti took her hips over there and in a matter of no time convinced him he was ready to leave. It was a close call, but the hospital decided not to press charges.
Not long after, Miss Walker handed Bill a silver bullet. “My work is done here,” she said. “I have places to go and people to see. I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.” Then she leaped on her white horse, Airborne, and rode off into the sunset. Fifty-two years later, here she is again.
It’s A Howl///Patricia McKennee
“For those donning mask, glove and gown,
We howl when the sun has gone down;
Though we stay six feet back, we’re still a strong pack
And now we’re the talk of the town.”---The Marin Marauders
The natives may be singing from the balconies in Italy and Spain, but here in Mill Valley and Southern Marin, they’re baying at the moon. Yep, every night at eight p.m. sharp, the locals gather for a nightly HOWL. It’s good for the soul, they say. Personally, I miss the ostrich feathers and think “The Howl” may be taking our slogan, “Only in Marin,” beyond the pale. On an up note, my homies are also holding virtual cocktail parties before and after they howl and online rock is everywhere. What, Me Worry about a shortage of TP? I don’t think so. Here the most asked question is “Got wine?” The populace verges on panic at the mere thought of a shortage.
Everyone knows that all of California is under lockdown, but it has hit hard in our small, magical and very affluent “envy of the world” rock star and artist community. We are supposed to be immune to these kinds of shenanigans… people of the light…entitled. We don’t blink to see Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Sean Penn and too many other luminaries to mention wandering through our streets and restaurants. You’d think all that star power would offer some sort of protection, right?
The Coronavirus is unconvinced. The plague is upon us. Even if John Wayne was still around, I think we’d be in trouble. Marin’s first confirmed case was but a single poor soul on March 9th, a little over 3 weeks ago, that one an alum of the Grand Princess cruise ship. That unlucky person was also our first and only death, last Friday, 18 days later. As of March 31, we have 107 confirmed cases. As jumps go, that’s a BIG one.
We all wonder who of those we know will not be howling after the ball is over. I had my first death today, a relative of a friend, though not in Marin. He lived in Dallas, age 63, totally healthy. He was on a ventilator for 8 days before the end came. The man fell ill almost two weeks ago, was finally tested, the results taking an outrageous five days to come back. In this day and age, it’s a travesty that we can’t do better. Although I have taken the disease very seriously, until today I somehow thought it wouldn’t come close to me. I was wrong. Makes a girl want to HOWL!
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| The Unsinkable Patricia McKennee, above in 1970, the latter today. Once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker. |
That’s all, folks….
bill.killeen094@gmail.com
