Evidentiary knowledge empowers

Following the news every day is simultaneously exhausting and empowering. Last night I reviewed my go-to Covid-19 Dashboard of choice, Johns Hopkins CSSE, for total numbers of confirmed cases around the world. They were such that I assumed numbers would reach 10 million by end-of-day Sunday.

News blues…

Alas, this morning’s review revises my assumption. We’re on track to reach 10 million by the end-of-day today.
Amid much confusion and dark obfuscation, rays of scientific evidence emerge to empower the Average Joe/Josephine.
Symptoms, as we’ve learned, can appear anywhere between 2 to 14 days after exposure. The list of possible symptoms, however, has expanded and may include:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

This list, from Yale Medicine,  does not include all possible symptoms.

• In the US, look to the CDC for updates on symptoms  as it learns more about COVID-19.
• In South Africa, look to the COVID-19 Corona Virus
• South African Resource Portal.

***

An HIV/AIDS specialist discovers similarities — and differences — to COVID-19.

A few recent studies on the effects of HIV and SARS-CoV-2 indicate that they do have some similarities. Shanghai-based researchers provided evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can infect T lymphocytes, the same cells targeted by HIV. Other researchers have documented that individuals with severe COVID-19 may exhibit lymphopenia, or an atypically low number of lymphocytes in the blood. Likewise, HIV infection results in this abnormality, eventually causing the immunosuppression associated with AIDS. But these findings should not cause us to assume that SARS-CoV-2 is like HIV.

What can you do? Dr. Mark Smolinski, infectious disease physician and president of Ending Pandemics offers his perspective:

As a public health physician, I know the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t care that we are all going a little stir crazy sheltering in place. Coronavirus lays in wait to move from one person to another, as the percentage of people with asymptomatic infection is quite high. My chances of getting infected, therefore, are not solely based on my actions, but are also impacted by the behaviors of those around me. This is why I am both disappointed by the seemingly nonchalant actions of those without masks, and sad that I know it will mean the pandemic will continue to cause illness and death. …
You wear a mask to protect others, and others wear a mask to protect you. Wearing a mask is a true sign of respect for others; it is not an impingement on one’s freedom as many have claimed. Wearing a mask tells the person you pass on the street, share an aisle with in the supermarket, or march along side at a peaceful protest, that you respect them as a fellow human.

Hear, hear, Dr Smolinkski!

***

Follow the cuckoos  and on (ahem!)
Twitter: @BirdingBeijing.

Now for something completely different: the Mongolia Cuckoo Project – Birding Beijing 北京观鸟 

From 4-8 June 2019, five cuckoos – one Oriental Cuckoo and four Common Cuckoos – were fitted with transmitters around Khurkh Bird Banding Center in northern Mongolia. The birds have been named by local schools who will follow “their” birds to learn about the migration route and wintering grounds of these iconic birds.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

According to Web MD, that paragon of online diagnosis, an obsession is “a persistent disturbing preoccupation…. Symptoms start small, and to the obsessed, can [do!] seem like normal behavior. They are unwanted and repetitive thoughts, urges, or images that don't go away.”
I’m not sure about “unwanted”: I quite like my array of growing obsessions encouraged by 14 weeks (and counting) of Lockdown. (I sound like friends who defend their addiction to, say, cigarettes: “I can give ‘em up any time I like, but I choose not to….”)
Lockdown provides ample time to evolve one’s obsessions. Mine come and go. For example, I still admire my cell phone’s Last Charge Level graphs, but I no longer capture screen shots. Nor do I hanker to capture screen shots. I’ve moved on.

Two pigtails suit this young trendsetter.
I'm opting for one pigtail - for now.

Now, with hair salons shut and my hair still growing, I’m perfecting the “Hair Flare.” Inspired by a favorite 4-year-old’s style, I tie a pigtail left of my forehead then fan it out.
I’m also improving the flare with the addition of colored ribbon.
Testing it out in public has, so far, been neither a hit nor a miss. No one has admired nor ridiculed it.
Who knows? I may start a trend.
Then again, my 4-year-old inspiration looked shocked when I explained the Hair Flare derived from her hairstyle.
I like to believe she was shocked that, at four, she was a trend setter rather than shock that she ever looked as crazy as I do with the Hair Flare.

Read   Week 1 |   Week 2   |  Week 3  |  Week 4 |  Week 5  | Week 6  |  Week 7  |  Week 8  |  Week 9  |  Week 10   |   Week 11  |   Week 12  |  Week 13 | Week 14 | 

See photos  Spying on Garden Creatures 

Watch  Videos of Garden Creatures