HERD IMMUNITY -- DOES IT APPLY HERE?

 Our former President suggested that "herd immunity" would be the answer to the COVID-19 crisis.   Let's not hold our breath!

https://news.yahoo.com/white-house-embracing-herd-immunity-114339631.html

A word or two about "herd immunity."    

Herd immunity is a concept from epidemiology -- a discipline that includes the study of how communicable diseases spread.  

Herd immunity may occur when, as a result of a high proportion of immunity-conferring infection or vaccination within a community, otherwise susceptible individuals within that community may enjoy some degree of resistance to that disease     

When many individuals in a population are resistant to a communicable disease, the infection may have nowhere to go and eventually subsides.  (This is a huge simplification but it is the basic idea.)

You can read more about this here: https://www.webmd.com/lung/what-is-herd-immunity#1

Could COVID-19 possibly fit into this concept?  Let's look the necessary conditions for resistance.  At least one of the following two conditions must be present for herd immunity to kick in. 

1. A population with a high percentage of people resistant by dint of vaccination could enjoy herd immunity.  This is why the few people in a community who are not vaccinated against smallpox may be unlikely to get this disease.  As long as they are a very small segment of the population, they are likely to enjoy some protection by dint of the vaccinated population.

But we do not yet have a widely used safe, effective vaccination for COVID-19, so we can set this condition aside.

2. Unprotected individuals within a population having a high percentage of people who are resistant by dint of already having contracted the disease could enjoy herd immunity.  Some authorities suggest that may happen when more than about 60% percent of a population have been infected, but COVID-19 is nowhere near this.  (Click Here)  

Also, it may be possible to be reinfected with COVID-19.  (Click Here)

So it appears that this second condition does not currently exist.

Admittedly this is a gross over-simplification of the concept of "herd immunity" as it applies to COVID-19, but it appears unlikely that this concept is applicable at this time to the current pandemic. 

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COVID-19, BALANCED ON A THREE LEGGED STOOL

 Many public health issues can be viewed as balanced on the legs of a three-legged stool.

The first leg is the work of research scientists and medical practitioners making discoveries in their laboratories and clinics.  

The second leg is the communication of these findings both to health care professionals through professional media and to the public via popular media.  This leg would be reinforced, as needed, by the adoption of appropriate statues and regulations.  

The third leg is the adoption of these findings by willing public. This three legged stool has supported many public health campaigns, including smallpox polio and AIDS.  But in the case of COVID-19, it appears that some vaunted "leaders" have taken a saw to at least one and even two legs of this three legged stool, with this result! 

Unfortunately it hasn't been an "easy fall" for hundreds of thousands of Americans and many more throughout the world who have succumbed to COVID-19.

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AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE FROM UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

On May 26, 2020 I watched an excellent presentation on COVID-19 presented by the  by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP)  at the University of Minnesota.  
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu, and specifically the section on COVID-19: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19  

While this specific presentation may no longer be available, all of its content and much more is online and searchable at the CIDRAP website above.

This website is so rich in information from so many experts on so many topics related to COVID-19 I could not do it justice here except to HIGHLY recommend it to medical professionals as well as lay persons.  

COVID-19 could be with us for a long time -- and information like this could be one of our most important defenses!

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TAKE OFF THE MASK? NOT THESE DAYS!

 One of the memorable scenes in the inimitable review  New Faces of 1952 was the song Take Off the Mask, where, during a masquerade ball, the young man asks the young lady to remove her mask! 

Click the URL below see this performed, immediately after the "Waltzing in Venice" number, about 1:40 minutes into the scene.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80jAlW_SjGo

(Then press < to return to this page!) 

           

The last lines "Take off the mask, that's all that I ask you to do!  Take off the false face and just let me waltz face to face with you!" still resonate for me almost seventy years later!  

And they do so especially today, May 14, 2021,  since the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that fully vaccinated people no longer need masks in most settings!

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/13/cdc-says-fully-vaccinated-people-dont-need-to-wear-face-masks-indoors-or-outdoors-in-most-settings.html

                                   ~~~~~~~~  

For more about New Faces of 1952 please visit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Faces_of_1952#Broadway_production     

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KETUBAH OR KVITL?

 Perhaps the small document I was given to demonstrate my immunized status would more accurately be called a "kvitl."  

The word "kvitl," which may be also spelled kvitel, with it's diminutive form "kvitelach," is discussed at: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvitel

This is a small slip of paper, inscribed with a prayer and often blessed by clergy,  that may be carried, left at a grave, or inserted in a gravestone.  

My COVID-19 kvitel is a small document stating when and where I received my COVID-19 immunization, and which product was used.

I carry a copy with me at all times!  

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WHO IS AMERICA'S DOC IN 2021?

Decades ago when babies went amok,

Their parents turned for help to Dr. Spock!

Now these babes are grown & scared & grouchy, 

For COVID help they turn to Dr. Fauci! 

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THE CRY AND THE COVENANT: A NOVEL FOR TODAY!

In the early 1950's when I was in high school we were assigned to read The Cry and the Covenant, a novel by Morton Thompson (who also authored the then best seller "Not as A Stranger" which became a hit movie.)

The Cry and the Covenant, published in 1949, is the topic of a Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cry_and_the_Covenant.

This was a semi-fictional account based largely on the life of Ignaz Semmelweis, an Austrian-Hungarian physician who was concerned about "childbed fever," the popular name for a condition called puerperal fever that took the lives of many women giving birth.    

At that time, early in the 19th Century, little was known about the role of microorganisms in causing disease, and even less about how to combat them.  

But carefully observing the treatment of women in labor who were often examined by many doctors as well as medical students, Dr. Semmelweis became convinced that certain precautions were needed.  

He therefore instituted a requirement that before examining any patient, a strict procedure of washing and disinfecting hands was to be followed. 

While this drastically reduced the maternal death rate from puerperal fever, the hospital administration and senior staff only ridiculed Dr. Semmelweis and tried to countermand his orders. 

Dr. Semmelweis continued to pass out handbills to women urging them to require their doctors to wash their hands before examining them.   

For all of this, Dr. Semmelweis was considered crazy and eventually consigned to a mental institution (where he died of an infection contracted there.)  

Today, any medical institution that did not facilitate and insist on appropriate hand washing practices would likely be shut down! 

Sometimes when a political leader ridicules protective measures now in place to slow the spread of COVID19, I think of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis.    

I would love to see The Cry and the Covenant back in print!

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ROSIE THE RIVETER RETURNS!

Rosie the Riveter, home front heroine of WWII, rolls up her sleeves again!

 

W. H. AUDEN SPEAKS TO LONLINESS

Between the COVID19 pandemic and my fractures this has been a lonely time.  I stay at home and hope for chatty phone calls from friends and family.  Anything for connection! 

I am in mind of lines from a poem by the contemporary British poet W. H. Auden -- in a much longer poem, Night Mail.  

Now, more than ever, I appreciate bikur cholim, visitation of the sick, discussed in another post.  

During COVID19 it is better that this not be in person -- but how welcome are friendly e-mails, chatty phone calls -- anything to remind me that I have not totally disappeared!

Here is the entire poem:  

https://allpoetry.com/Night-Mail

And these lines speak clearly to me:

Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
But shall wake soon and hope for letters,
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

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(Note: This post also appears at:  www.JoansBackboneDisaster.com)

HOLIDAYS IN TIME OF COVID19

This year holiday shopping is mostly virtual.  Stores and malls are closed or limit hours or numbers of shoppers.  No big gatherings of friends or family - just a very different holiday season.

Here's my take on a favorite holiday tune!

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Joan Reconsiders the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, 

But there’s no jingle-belling, 

And who can be telling us words of good cheer,

As in past wonderful times of the year!

It’s the most worrisome time of the year!

Can we be celebrating,

if we’re also hating and living in fear?

At this most feverish time of the year!

It’s the most pitiful time of the year.

When we all should be shopping,

Until we are dropping, at malls far and near.  

It’s the most frustrating season, that’s clear! 

It’s the most blunderful time of the year.

Our leaders have failed us, 

A dire ill ails us, and leaves us in fear!

At this most dangerous time of the year!

Parody Lyrics (c) 2020 by Joan Levin

With apologies to Edward Pola and George Wyle whose 1963 classic I have borrowed and parodied here!

Note: I'm also posting this at:

https://joansoccasionalpoems.blogspot.com/2020/11/holidays-in-time-of-covid19.html 

and

https://joanslyrics.blogspot.com/2020/11/holidays-in-time-of-covid19.html

DON'T CRY FOR ME!

 Who can forget Madonna's performance as Evita Peron in the movie adaptation of the Broadway hit, EVITA? 

The most memorable song from this musical was "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina," when the beloved Argentine first lady knew her end was imminent.  

Don't cry for me, Argentina!

The truth is I never left you.

I’ve kept my promise,

Don’t keep your distance, 

All through my wild days, 

My mad existence

Many are crying during these difficult days. Even a well known American politician, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been known to cry!

For example, when Senator LaMar Alexander (R-TN) recently decided to retire, Senator Mitch McConnell actually burst into tears. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/02/politics/mitch-mcconnell-lamar-alexander-tribute/index.html

And: 

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/mitch-mcconnell-gets-choked-up-during-tribute-to-lamar-alexander/2020/12/05/b4bdba69-d33a-4985-bf3a-de950e2eaa62_video.html

This is the same Senator Mitch McConnell who had nothing but smiles and chuckles as COVID-19 illness and deaths continued to escalate!

As I lie here in lonely quarantine, I cannot help thinking:

Don’t cry for me Mitch McConnell,

I’m not your Senate buddy,

All through these sad days,

While COVID's winning,

You've kept your distance,

And kept on grinning!

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THE LADY OF SHALOTT LIVES TODAY

As explained in Wikipedia: 

"The Lady of Shalott" is a lyrical ballad by the English poet Alfred Tennyson. Based on the medieval La Damigella di Scalot, it tells the tragic story of Elaine of Astolat, a young noblewoman imprisoned in a tower up the river from Camelot. One of the poet's best-known works, its vivid medieval romanticism and enigmatic symbolism inspired many painters, especially the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_of_Shalott

The entire poem, written in the mid-19th Century, is set out in the links below.  I first encountered it in Mr. Liddell's English Literature class at Antioch College around 1955.  

Our final exam asked us, among other things, to write a brief essay about this line:  

" 'I am half sick of shadows' said the Lady of Shalott."   

That line, in the final stanza of Part II of this epic poem, finds this noble lady tiring of being sequestered in a castle where she must remain indefinitely.  

It haunts me now as I hover in isolation during the current COVID-19 crisis, communicating with the world, friends and family only via "shadows" on my TV, computer, or cell phone.  

Here is that line in context: 

From Alfred Lord Tennyson -- Lady of Shalott

But in her web she still delights

To weave the mirror's magic sights,

For often thro' the silent nights

A funeral, with plumes and lights,

And music, went to Camelot:

Or when the moon was overhead,

Came two young lovers lately wed;

'I am half sick of shadows,' said

The Lady of Shalott

I too, am "half sick of shadows!"  

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Notes: 

There are two versions of the poem; this verse is in each:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45359/the-lady-of-shalott-1832

https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/tennyson-lady-of-shalott-1842

More analysis here but you might have to pay for it: 

https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/alfred-lord-tennyson/the-lady-of-shalott#:~:text=Tennyson%27s%20famous%20%22The%20Lady%20of%20Shalott%22%20%281842%29%20is,is%20not%20allowed%20even%20to%20look%20in%20that

Thanks, Mr. Liddell!  

THE HOUSE WHERE I LIVE

This is about what happens when I must buy staples in bulk online as I can no longer shop normally in stores.

It also references my Prolia-broken back, about which more at: www.JoansBackboneDisaster.com

(Tune: The Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady) 

The House Where I Live

I have often lived under stress before, 

But my house has never seemed like such a mess before! 

Now the clutter’s nigh seven stories high! 

What goes on in the house were I live? 

Since the COVID struck, and my backbones broke, 

And I have no car, my purchasing is now no joke! 

Though it makes me sulk, I must buy in bulk, 

I can’t walk from the house where I live! 

    And it’s oh, the sorrowful feeling, 

    Just to see this mess everywhere! 

    The overpowering feeling, 

    That I am drowning and no one will know or care! 

I am thankful that it is not too hard, 

All I need is my computer and a credit card!

So my daily feat, if I want to eat, 

Seems to clutter the house where I live!

Parody Lyrics (c) 2020, Joan Levin

 

JAUNTY JOE BIDEN

Oh Jaunty Joe Biden came out of the East,
Determined to slaughter the cruel COVID Beast.
His friends and his family urged him to run, 
And he and Young Kamala easily won.  
    He was honest and open, he never was hidin’ 
    He won a majority, Jaunty Joe Biden!

So boldly he entered that Wilmington Hall,
Midst hardworking loyal campaigners and all, 
Then spoke The Donald, all red-faced and sore,
For he’d certainly live in the White House no more.
  “You stole my election!  My votes you were hidin’
   You’ll never replace me, you upstart Joe Biden!"

But Jaunty Joe Biden adjusted his mask, 
He clearly was going to be up to the task!
The Donald skulked grumbling out of the hall, 
To drive to Bedminster and whack at a ball!
    While the ladies he dated each stifled a yawn,
    And said to each other “Thank goodness, he’s GONE!”

Parody by Joan Levin

December, 2020

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* With apologies to Sir Walter Scott (1871-1932) who wrote one of my favorite poems -- Lochinvar!  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52300/lochinvar

IF VIRUSES COULD TALK, WHAT STORIES WOULD THEY TELL?

I wonder about extinct animals like the Wooly Mammoths as they may have been at the beginning of the Ice Age some 50,000 years ago. 

Some were probably thinking:  

“Golly, it’s sure chilly this year!  I’d better grow a shaggy coat!” 

And then thinking: "Oh no, surely next year will be better!"   

But it wasn't better.  And now we can visit the remains of these extinct animals — dug from once-frozen earth -- in museums!  

I wonder — given Ebola, and HIV, etc. —  if we are entering a new age of deadly viruses.  

We developed protection from some.  Smallpox is just one example.  And hopefully some of the vaccines being developed today will offer the world relief from COVID-19. 

But I can’t shake this “Gary Larson Far Side” type of image of a group of little viruses sitting in their virus school with their teacher (also a virus) explaining that there was a time when enormous creatures called “human beings” lived on earth and how they assailed us but how we prevailed!  

"How scary!" the little viruses would cry.

“But don’t we need human or other animal hosts in order to survive?" they would ask.  "What if they become extinct?"    

“Don’t worry,” their virus teacher would reassure them. “We left just enough humans and other animals for that!”

 

See what happens during isolation and social distancing when the imagination runs riot?!

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