This COVID-19, Corona Virus is not an unprecedented virus as there have been many others of the corona type and various diseases come and go but I do believe that this virus is unprecedented if but for our generation. We have read about epidemics before and there have been far more deadly.
Cholera, Scarlet & Yellow Fever, Polio, Measles, the bubonic plague (the Black Death) , smallpox, Spanish influenza, Asian Flu, HIV/AID's, and Ebola as well as others have been in our World's history and are deadly and many, over the years, have been rendered cured or the threats highly reduced. Accurately stated the flu or influenza strains that we deal with each year, even though many obtain vaccinations, are responsible for many more deaths than the current virus but what is unprecedented about this COVID-19 virus is the speed at which it spreads coupled with the facts that much is unknown about it and there is as of yet no known treatments against it.
Another thing that makes this virus vastly different from many that humans have experienced throughout history is the time frame that it occurs in. Today, more than at any previous time, people are far more mobile and move about far more. People travel a lot more and to far more places than ever before so there are more opportunities for such a virus to spread to many other places. We also still don't know for certain if this virus occurred naturally or if it was a modified virus escaped from a viral lab where experimentation was being done on it. If natural, even if created out of someone's perverse diet or choice of food, it means it can more easily be treated with potential new drugs but if created in a lab then it could have been created with certain characteristics to make it more deadly and difficult to cure or treat. Sadly you can bet China would, and will, never divulge that type of information to the world even if it meant it could save many lives.
Another unprecedented, at least for us, our generation, and our time, is the response to the quickly spreading virus. The steps that China took to shut down a whole city and the steps that Italy is taking affecting the whole country and the panic that seems to be gripping the entire world including the economy of many nations, including ours and those economic effects, I believe, have yet to play out and expose just how sever they are going to be. A lot depends on many factors that frankly aren't known at this time.
Yes, there are many other diseases out there, other pandemics, and epidemics that mankind has had to deal with and unfortunately, there will most likely be more in our future. I can fully understand the government's reasons for wanting to play down the disease and reduce panic, which in itself, can be deadly and dangerous, but I do believe that there is also reason to approach it seriously as something unique and serious. They say that it mainly is a danger to people over sixty years of age who have pre-existing conditions or health problems but in my mind, if you are over sixty and normal then you have some kind of health conditions as it is. It is not a time for panic and it is time to be cautious about this coming disease because I do believe fully that it is already in Alabama and possibly even in our city as of now and I do believe that much is unprecedented about it.
I pray that a cure or treatment and a vaccine come sooner than later but as with all vaccines and treatments it takes time for them to be proven and tested for sometimes the cure brings more negatives and problems than the initial disease that they are created for. I think as with most things negative and bad we, our nation, should learn from it and take steps to prevent some of the unprecedented things that have been gleaned from this outbreak. Unprecedented things like being so reliant upon China, a nation that doesn't 't necessarily like us, for many of our essential drugs. Outbreak or not, cure or not, I fully believe it's time for our legislatures and government to wake up and change the way our nation does business and bring production of several critical things back into our nation even if it means we have to pay more for them. It has also been revealed that some, all be it a small minority, in China's government have thought that withholding antibiotics that are solely made there, from being sold to our nation, due to tariffs and governmental differences is a possibility or consideration. It might be a vastly small number that has thought such was a possibility but the fact is that if even done would mean sure disastrous results in our nation. It's time to bring some critically needed items production back into our nation regardless of their cost.
So while many wish to downplay this current COVID-19 virus, we should take note of those things that are revealed as being unprecedented about it. Speed of transmission coupled with such a highly mobile society, the fact that more essential, critical, drugs and medicines are made outside our nation and especially in nations that could be hostile to ours at some point in time. Unprecedented, at least for our generation, in the economic impact it is having and has the potential to have. Much is common to other pandemics and epidemics but much is not and as I said we should, at the very least, learn from it before something comes along like it that is far more deadly to all ages and peoples.
