Mystic Suspending Shipments

Morning Don and all,

Yep, I am a member of the "should not be here now club" as well. Two very learned doctors told me and my wife I would not be here in about eighteen months - back in 1998.

A long time philatelic friend had a major heart issue almost ten years ago. Spent six weeks in ICU, etc. but recovered. His heart surgeon told him he probably would not make it, too. Yep, the surgeon who was 55 at the time about ten years younger than my friend, dropped dead of a widow maker about a year later.

Be of good cheer. This too will pass.

Don,

Just tried to send you an email via StampSmarter and got this:

ADODB.Field error '800a0bcd'
Either BOF or EOF is True, or the current record has been deleted. Requested operation requires a current record.
/pop_mail.asp, line 22

I have tried to call you by phone for several days and only get a fast busy. Call or email me when you can.

Departmental

Robert Frost 1936

An ant on the tablecloth
Ran into a dormant moth
Of many times his size.
He showed not the least surprise.
His business wasn't with such.
He gave it scarcely a touch,
And was off on his duty run.
Yet if he encountered one
Of the hive's enquiry squad
Whose work is to find out God
And the nature of time and space,
He would put him onto the case.
Ants are a curious race;
One crossing with hurried tread
The body of one of their dead
Isn't given a moment's arrest -
Seems not even impressed.
But he no doubt reports to any
With whom he crosses antennae,
And they no doubt report
To the higher-up at court.
Then word goes forth in Formic:
"Death's come to Jerry McCormic,
Our selfless forager Jerry.
Will the special Janizary
Whose office it is to bury
The dead of the commissary
Go bring him home to his people.
Lay him in state on a sepal.
Wrap him for shroud in a petal.
Embalm him with ichor of nettle.
This is the word of your Queen."
And presently on the scene
Appears a solemn mortician;
And taking formal position,
With feelers calmly atwiddle,
Seizes the dead by the middle,
And heaving him high in air,
Carries him out of there.
No one stands round to stare.
It is nobody else's affair
It couldn't be called ungentle
But how thoroughly departmental.

The key to our society recovering from both a health and an economic standpoint is to crank up the testing. If the infected can be identified and quarantined, the uninfected can get on with their lives. It's really that simple. The lack of testing is what really has us hamstrung here as we have to quarantine everyone because we don't know who's infected or not. Places that tested early and often are in a much better position that those that didn't.

Very true.

Agreed and the US has the best global health security capabilities in the world, no country is better than US in preparedness for epidemics and pandemics**. Americans should consider themselves very lucky to have such good scientists, researchers, and healthcare system.

We still do not know who Patient Zero is, this is quite unusual (I want to say unprecedented) this far into a epidemic/pandemic. China is simply not cooperating and the WHO depends upon its members financially so oversight always is accompanied by politics. China initially denied there was an issue. But even worse, they allowed the Lunar New Year Festival to go on which saw millions of folks traveling throughout the Wuhan region on Jan 17. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...dUSKBN1ZH05Q
Then China resisted sending DNA samples of the virus to other nations and WHO even after multiple requests. This slowed the ability of other countries to develop tests.

I hope that after this is over there will be some actual media reporting on China role in this pandemic. I also hope that Chinas membership in the World Trade Organization also revisited. I do not blame China for a new virus strain, but their behavior has not been that of a good world citizen.
Don

** Reference 2019 study from Global Health Security Index/Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security https://www.ghsindex.org/

In a lot of respects, I do understand the "let's just get on with our lives" viewpoint. Seriously, if this happened 150-200 years ago, it's debatable if anyone would have even noticed, much less shut things down over it. With smallpox, yellow fever, typhus, cholera and even bubonic plague still making the rounds, Covid-19 probably wouldn't even crack the top 5 deadliest pathogens people had to worry about, and they went about their lives through all of it. Plus people most at risk for this - the elderly and those with other health issues, probably wouldn't have even been around back then because most of them would have already been dead.

For better or worse (mostly better, IMO), we no longer live in that world. People were so used to premature death in that era that they would have just shrugged or even laughed at something that killed off 1%. Most people today won't stand for it, though, at least not in the developed world. An "acceptable death rate" is a legitimate conversation to have around anything - hell, even iPhones kill people if you're dumb enough to take a selfie at the edge of a cliff. But if health professionals are right (and they've mostly been right about this so far), projected death rates of loosening or abandoning precautions will be much higher than what most people consider acceptable, particularly once it's them or people in their social circles that start suffering. It's easy to dismiss it when it's distant, a little harder to do so once it hits home.

Virtual rendering of coronavirus patient's lungs shows extensive damage the virus can cause

https://www.nbc29.com/2020/03/24/vi...s-can-cause/

There was no realistic way to shut things down 200 years ago. In 1820 we were still a third world agricultural nation; most people lived in family groups or some other group setting unless they were an outdoorsman living off the land. It's only in old TV westerns where everyone comes to town and has their own room.

Out of curiosity does anyone here know someone that has had or does have the virus and if so what was the outcome?

Not to mention the fact that disease outbreaks at that time were almost always local or regional in nature, either because of the nature of the disease itself (e.g. cholera) or simply because the world wasn't as connected at that time. Localities did shut down during epidemics, but an epidemic in Philadelphia just caused Philly to shut down, Charleston went about their business.

To rogdcom: Yes, I personally know 3 people who have it. One is still at home, two are in the hospital. No outcomes as of yet.

More indirectly, I know friends of friends, of which probably 6-12 people who have it or have it. Those who have it are still going through it. At least 3 people who did have it did not survive it.

This is all in Southern California.

Thank you for that Philatarium. Were they in cities or more rural areas or a mix? It is interesting to learn first hand. Thank you.

The people I know directly are just suburban Los Angeles people.

I can't say about the situation of friends of friends, except that I think most have just been here locally. However, in one case, the father of a friend was in Italy, when several people in their group got sick. The rest were able to leave, but once he was back in LA he became ill and then died.

I will add that tests are still in short supply here, and are usually only given in extreme cases. But I know several people who have *some* of the symptoms. At this point, the recommendation is to assume that you do have it and isolate. Only if one has a sudden shortness of breath or if the fever spikes do you pursue additional medical care and possible testing.

Hopefully testing becomes more widespread and with a quick turnaround. I understand there's also an effort to regularize a blood test that can detect the antibodies in the blood, and this should help determine who can more safely be out in public and go back to work when it resumes.

I received this email today: