Recently, NPR reported that the Republic of Congo, (population of 3.4 million people), which recently experienced an Ebola outbreak that killed two thousand people, is now enduring a measles outbreak that has killed well over six thousand people. And the corona virus has just arrived there.
It puts toilet paper into perspective.
In this country, it still appears that the vast majority of people who are positive for the corona virus have either no symptoms, or mild to manageable-at-home symptoms
Only a tiny fraction of our population has been tested, so it is very likely that many, many more people have had the virus and recovered with minimal or no symptoms. And it is likely that the mortality rate would be extremely low were everyone tested.
Yet hundreds of people are dying worldwide each day and the tragedy of this is immense.
With the shortage of ventilators, smart folks are figuring out how to double up on their use and employ anesthesia machines (both human and veterinary) as ventilators.
But what about the Ambu bag? The Ambu bag is a twenty-dollar piece of equipment that can be used in an emergency to ventilate a patient. If you took a CPR course, you squeezed one to inflate the lungs of your mannequin. They are used in ER’s and in the field when a person is intubated and before they can be placed on a ventilator. Admittedly not the same as a ventilator, they require hands-on squeezing 24/7. In the Congo, I would bet that family members would happily take on this task. Here in the U.S., it would be a great use of the National Guard; don their gas mask and gently squeeze once every five seconds, for a two-hour shift.
Although scientists are still working on effective treatment and prevention, there ARE other treatments and preventions available. The following should NOT be taken as medical advice (consult your provider for that) but I have observed in my own medical practice, and more importantly in my own experience in a human body, that Western medicine, with all of its remarkable advances and ingenious life-saving technology, does not grasp the full picture.
Ozone treatments which can be done at home, herbals, homeopathy, IV treatments such as peroxide and vitamin C; these are just a very few of the alternative treatments that are helpful for many disease states for which Western medicine has no answer.
Again- consult with your health care provider if you have a fever, but there is some evidence that people who fared the worst during the flu epidemic of 1918 were those who took the then-brand new drug called aspirin; some think it was due to the fever-reducing effects of aspirin.
Fever is your body’s response to eliminate a pathogen. It is suggested that inhibiting the fever allows the pathogen to grow unabated. It is as yet unclear if reducing fever worsens the corona virus, but it is something worth considering.
Hyperthermia treatments are used with great success in Europe, Canada and Mexico to treat Lyme disease, cancer, and other illnesses. But it, as well as ozone and other helpful treatments, are illegal in this country.
And speaking of Lyme and other tick- borne illnesses; this is the much more subtle, poorly diagnosed, nearly worldwide pandemic that has wreaked havoc on immune systems for decades.
It is so easy to focus on the negativity that exists. But stay positive. Be that beacon of healing light. Remember to see each other as vessels of healing rather than vectors of disease.
I don’t believe that the world was made in such a way that only people who have access to specialized treatments can have healing. The healing pipeline is available to all of us if we shift our consciousness and intention to channel it.
If you feel fearful, you might try sending loving prayers and empathy to those who are dying, to those that are losing loved ones, to those that are suffering in the Congo and elsewhere. And then send that love to yourself. This will shift the world’s trajectory.
