Refuting Coronavirus Myths 1

(N.B. Data as at 8th May 2020.)

In my last post I focused on what can result from being poorly informed, having an impoverished vocabulary and having inadequate critical thinking skills: rumours, buzz words and conspiracy theories, respectively.

 I’d like to look more deeply into conspiracy theories which we’ve all heard at some point, but seem to proliferate when people face an insuperable problem. As I’ve said such theories are held and generated by those who have little or no powers of analysis. It is imperative that we distinguish between analytical thinking and cynical thinking, where the ‘thinker’ is generally adamant that his theory is correct, will not entertain alternative perceptions on the subject and believes he is cleverly seeing through some perceived organized and threatening façade.

Rumours are certainly rife in relation to the current pandemics so much so that a Greek doctor sat down to succinctly refute three such theories, but ended up with an enormous text on numerous myths. Below is what I have selected from and translated his original text which I’m sure you will find of interest.

                                                

Myth no.1 Covid-19 is not a pandemic.

Many ‘experts’, appearing on YouTube videoclips which have thousands of followers and shares, doubt that there is a pandemic. According to them, for a disease to qualify as a pandemic, you need to go out of your house and see piles of dead bodies to left and right! According to others, 7% of the population has to die!

The definition of a pandemic as classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is that of a disease which spreads to the greater part of the world, travelling beyond national borders, happening at the same time and NOT seasonally, REGARDLESS  of seriousness,  causes or immunity. Covid-19 is, indeed, a pandemic since, within the first two months when it first made its appearance, it spread to 210 countries and independent areas throughout the world. The only complaint one can lay against the WHO is that it was late in declaring Covid-19 a pandemic.

                                                         

 Myth no. 2 : Covid-19 is just the simple flu.

According to scientific data, the Coronavirus is much more easily transmitted, more infectious and more fatal than  the flu. Even if it were a simple flu, it is a NEW flu, in a non-immune community, that would kill millions without protective measures being taken globally.

Was it for a flu that China, USA, UK and Spain built extra hospitals?

Was it for a flu that Italy took people off support systems to save the lives of younger patients?

 Was it for a flu that cemeteries filled up, that military vehicles went in convoy, full of the bodies of those who had died, and that huge plots were dug as mass graves for the dead?

According to the ‘flu’ theory, the number of deaths in the USA would peak at between 10,000 to 40,000 at most. Today, despite international measures of isolation and lockdown, that number has passed 72,000, with 61,000 deaths in the last month only!

In Europe, the annual number of deaths from the flu is around 40,000; this year the number of deaths from the Coronavirus only in Italy, Spain, France and GB in two months was more than 110,000!

At the global level, annual deaths from the flu are generally 110,000, while this year there are already 260,000 Covid-19 deaths. And that is despite an immediate lockdown of 1/3 of humanity, which is an unprecedented situation.  To appreciate the difference between the two, all one has to do is refer to the graphic representations of the deaths for every country, the expected and the actual, as a result of the flu and of the pandemic, the latter which suddenly surges ahead. And bear in mind, for the flu we have vaccines, we have medication (Tamiflu) and the greater part of the world population has immunity.

                                                          

Myth no. 3 : The Coronaovirus is the product of a Chinese laboratory to wage economic war on the USA and the West.

Data from general research, published in one of the most authoritative journals in the world, Nature, show that on the basis of the virus genome-sequencing, it is impossible to have been produced in the Wuhan laboratory in China. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9).

From the history of the pandemic, it is clear that the Chinese people were found unprepared, and that is evident from the strict repressive measures that were used to control the spread of the viral epidemic in their country. What they can be judged fore, however, is that though they protected their own country, they did not inform the global community in good time, providing false data, even deceiving the WHO, and criminally leaving the rest of the world as easy prey for the virus. That, certainly, does not excuse Donald Trump and Boris Johnson from now blaming the Chinese people for everything, while they themselves neglected to take significant measures, even though they had all the necessary information. The result of their neglect was the massive spread of the disease, with a huge number of cases and deaths in their countries. 

Well, that’s quite enough to be going on with for now.

  Perhaps the next time you hear someone have a wee rant about the virus, you can access some of this reasoning to blow both them and their conspiracy theories out of the water! :)

Fake News and Other Fallacies, Thoughts, Whatever .....

 Pictures are often used to offer entertainment and make a comment at the same time - sometimes with deliciously stinging irony.  This was in a Facebook post after the storm Ciara hit the north. It claimed to depict ‘Glasgow minutes ago ‘- an orca splashing about by the roadside. Killer!

In such images, the humour lies in their absurdity – conditions clearly agin the truth.

                                              

In weather broadcasts, when the first snow of the season is being forecast, we often see scenes of drifting snow mounds, of snow ploughs clearing tracks.  One could easily believe that this is reality and it was – last winter!  So its reality is time-related – it is currently fake.                                              You get the weather real-feel when some poor rookie reporter has been sent out to stand in appalling weather conditions just to show ….. how appalling they are!

As I’ve said previously, our ‘truth’ is a fragile mosaic of a plethora of perceptions which we continually adapt to maintain some sense of cohesion. Issues are things we care about mind how we respond to them is related to our personal mosaic. One of my pet issues is the use of sloppy thinking: being ready to shout one’s mouth off or give a knee-jerk response without giving due consideration to the matter in hand.

                                                 

 One Facebook issue was about the film ’The Theory of Everything’ about the life of Stephen Hawking. Some people took issue (!) with the fact that Eddie Redmayne had the lead role, rather than a disabled actor. My bone of contention here is that do-good back-patters will happily throw a plethora of likes at such a post without thinking things through. In promoting this view, they’re placing the focus on Hawking’s physical hardship and not on his unique, brilliant mind. If they redress their focus but use their same pattern of ‘reasoning’ then casting for that protagonist should have been done by IQ rating – and I fear Equity would view that suggestion in a dim light!

 I have mentioned the phenomenon of polarization, where there is a tendency for people’s attitudes to move towards the extreme positions – ably abetted by, for instance, advertisers and politicians with their jingles and campaign slogans which ram home a position or an opinion by repetition to contrive loyalty or group affiliation.  Everyone remembers that ‘Things go better with Coca-Cola’ and it is a source of amusement to me that grown men at international football venues are actually chanting the ‘Hoover beats as it sweeps as it cleans’ jingle!

Polarization can lead to reductionism: if not white, then black.  Here in Greece, the issue of the naming of North Macedonia generated great polarization as did – and still does - the issue of Brexit where buzz words of questionable semantic value, such as fascist, traitor, nationalis, were bandied about regularly.

 Recently, during a chat with a neighbour, a plane passed high above, its jet engines leaving a clear trail in the blue sky. His immediate response was: ‘You see, they’re spraying us again!’ Any attempt on my part to explain that the phenomenon was caused by the hot, humid jet-engine fumes condensing in the high-altitude, low temperature atmosphere was rejected. No, the undisclosed ‘they’ were set on spraying us for mind control purposes. And this conspiracy theory has ‘them’ wastefully flying high, apparently missing direct target hit and squandering spray ….in order to avoid detection !?!

The above, then, are examples of knee-jerk responses or sloppy thinking. I contend that

inadequate information ………. gives rise to rumour

inadequate thinking processes………… generate conspiracy theories

inadequate vocabulary /powers of expression ……….resort to buzz words.

In this rapidly-changing world where screen has overtaken the page, and where the screen can easily deceive - what should we do to equip students with skills to help them discern reality, what is fact, what is the truth?

Here Finland offers us a really good model and for a good reason! She believes she has been on the front-line of an information war since 2014:  the target of fake news distributed by the Russian authorities – often of an anti-EU nature, or trying to influence debate on Finland’s NATO membership. And this ’war’ in itself is not fake news – it has been verified by Sergei Pugachev who once had Putin as his protégé and helped him acquire the presidency. Sergei asserts that Russia has billions of dollars at her disposal to strengthen her influence ‘to undermine and corrupt the institutions and democracies of the West’.

Meanwhile, back in Finland, dealing with this onslaught is seen as a civil defence issue and for their own security, everyone – from primary school pupils to politicians – is trained to detect suspect information. Always highly regarded for its education system, Finland runs far-reaching programs designed by multi-disciplinary specialists whereby thousands of civil servants, journalists, teachers and librarians are trained for awareness-raising.

In secondary schools there is a core, cross-subject component to develop multi-platform information literacy and strong critical thinking.

 For example, in Maths, students are shown how statistics can lie.

 In Art, they focus on how an image can manipulate meaning.

In Language, students look for information clarity and classification. They are taught to distinguish among three information categories:

 Misinformation: mistakes

Disinformation: deliberate falsehoods spread to deceive     and

Malinformation: gossip or even true information but spread to somehow cause harm.

In our world of fake news, this could be a very significant and necessary skill or awareness development area for all of us! 

                                                                      

                                          

Considerations on the Corona Virus Crisis.

Now at the beginning of my 7^th week in isolation, I’ve been thinking about how this experience has been affecting us. Here we remain relatively untouched, in fact, Z’s daily life has changed little - only now he goes shopping with ID and movement documentation. Yet despite our position of relative privilege, these few days I’ve been feeling down and have thrown myself into a myriad of tasks to avoid thinking too much.

(To avoid it being too dense or heavy, I shall intersperse the text with recent shots – the results of our ongoing painting, pruning, supporting and spraying in the garden.) :)

                              

 How the crisis affects us depends on several variables:

a) Where we live: In our rural retreat we get by more easily with less stress and more space.

b) Age group: we are more at risk, but, being pensioners, have the boon of a regular income.

c) Type of work: some who are home-working have been feeling isolated and consequently under stress. But I can think of nothing more stressful than being a front-line worker, being out there face-to-face with medical crises and mortality.

d) Degree of dependence: this may be on supplies of food - we are lucky in that with neighbours we run a regular exchange of eggs, vegetables and baked goods. Others may require medical supplies or services on a regular basis, regardless of corona virus, and now the thought of going to hospital is one of dread rather than succour.

 I think what is true for all of us is that the situation has freed time for Reflection.     Amazingly we’ve rapidly acclimatized to our new situation, establishing new routines, reorganizing priorities. For me some Real Paradoxes have presented themselves.

a) Loneliness/Connectedness

Our kosmos has been reduced to one/one family unit. So we have a tension between loneliness and having to establish some individual space within a small shared area. Some of us may be thrown into an inner self where some dark places can be found. And therein lies the second paradox: we talk of connectedness via electronic devices and it can be reassuring, even a lifeline, allowing us to make contact with distant loved ones. But what it is offering is, inevitably, superficial. if I really feel the need to commune with a  kindred spirit, no number of video clips, memes and emojis is going to fill that void.

 b) Micro/Global

There may be some consolation to be derived from the fact that my microcosm and its restraints are being shared, in a sense, by others world-wide. My online contact with friends and family in Britain, France, Ireland, Sweden, Egypt, USA, Canada, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand shows our days are very similar. So a microcosm is patterned globally.

                               

Nor does size equate with weakness: this microscopic bug is capable of bringing nations to their knees. The global death toll currently stands around 212,000 and scientists are united – or competing – in trying to find an effective vaccine to inhibit its viral inroads.

Hitherto strong economies are now endangered and governments are walking a tightrope between maintaining measures to save lives and easing up to support their economies.  This has us moving into the Reconsider phase. In these past two months, the major changes we’ve experienced will lead to major changes in the near future - we are, in fact, planning to loosen up lockdown in Greece as of May 4th. With a mix of fear and hope we see it: there is no going back to where we were before. It’s time to address inequalities that have long been evident and need to be attended now.

Z is an avid football fan but has quite happily adjusted to living without it. Could any of us have survived all this without the front-line workers – some living on woefully low salaries, despite their incalculable contribution to the communities they serve? Comparing the life-styles and compensation-levels of sports people and medical workers, it’s a no-brainer to see some of the changes needed. Are we global citizens capable of making such changes?

Israeli philosopher and author, Yuval Noah Harari, recently on the James Corben Show, spoke of how populism and irresponsible politicians have made people lose their faith in politics but have still retained respect for scientists. That struck me as interesting that those who have the media front seats here on the people/ decision-makers’ interface are not members of the government but a medical professor/researcher and a media/local administration specialist. Our disaffection tells us most politicos are in it to maintain their power–base and sweet-talk or misinform their way to re-election. Home Secretary, Priti Patel, recently made the startling announcement that shop-lifting figures in GB had dropped. Now it’s hardly cause for drum-beating and self-congratulation when we consider people are self-isolating and shops are closed. Isn’t it high time we had transparency and accountability from those elected to office – the very least we deserve?

 But it looks like any changes to be made will be bottom-up: from the grass-roots, institutions ready to support the disenfranchised, pressure-groups, etc.. Harari doesn’t see it coming from current leaders – he says there are no adults in the room of politics. I would disagree with him there: I believe Macron, Trudeau, Ardern and our own Mitsotakis are showing what strong leadership can look like. Temper that with humanity and we’re off!

 Innovation and creativity have been in evidence In laboratories around the world where virus-focused research is being carried out. New systems and modi operandi have already been rapidly devised, introduced and continually maintained. Alternative models are being posited as our gaze is now on the brave new world beyond. Nichola Sturgeon, the well-respected First Minister, has called for laudable goals of social and economic reform in Scotland. An important question is how all this is to be done.

 One final observation is that strong, established inflexible systems and economies do not make nations invincible. Germany’s infrastructure proved to be as fragile as all the rest. Flexibility is, then, one characteristic that needs to be factored in to our blueprint for the future.  A friend of mine, cancer survivor  and asthmatic, in trying to arrange for grocery deliveries, found that while a huge, relatively close  supermarket  could not accommodate her needs, the manager of a smaller, more distant branch of the same company, responded and readily obliged. So take a bow, Sklavenitis, who also removed from their shelves items of Turkish provenance when our borders were being deliberately attacked by would-be immigrants. Theirs was a powerful example.

 For me, it echoed what Stainmaier, the German President had to say: that the pandemic is not a war, but a test on our humanity. The challenge is to build a stronger, more caring society, accountable to and supportive of its people, particularly the vulnerable. Funds need to be more fairly distributed, with the quality of life being placed as a high priority.

 How we cope with this continuing situation – for it looks like the virus is reluctant to make its departure - also depends on our Resourcefulness to achieve that change. We have shown we possess spades of that stuff in the way we have coped so far by perhaps catching up on reading, managing our homes and gardens to a new level of organizational and pristine delicacy, by exploring new domains.

 Our neighbor has just taken delivery of two bee-hives and can sometimes be seen tending to his new arrivals in his astronaut-like protective suit. So I’ve been reading up on bee culture: did you know that the worker bees, in their nurse role, feed the larvae royal jelly for 3 days only, thereby arresting their development and rendering them unable to reproduce? A specific larva will continue to be fed royal jelly if and when a new queen is required. Now there’s organized! 

                

                                          

 

Thanks to online group encouragement, I’ve rebooted my ‘art’ – pretentious, huh? – the horse and the  garlic are old topics revisited. This new one – in response to the given topic of time - is my current challenge. How to get these lines to resemble the vertebrae bones and horn found in a nearby field?

                                                            

 Some of the things we get up to in order to pass the time can be just plain daft! Z announced yesterday that he’d found Greek surnames which are the equivalent to the following:

Onion, garlic, leek, cabbage, beetroot, melon and watermelon. As yet he is still searching for equivalents of carrot and potato.

                                                               Perhaps it really is time to ease up on lockdown! :O