We'll be okay (I think)

The world's goin' crazy and
Nobody gives a damn anymore
And they're breakin' off relationships and
Leavin' on sailin' ships for far and distant shores
For them it's all over
But I'm gonna stay
I wouldn't leave anyway
I know that someday we'll find a way
We'll be okay
'Cause I'm your brother,
Though I don't even know your name
I've discovered that,
Deep down inside, you feel the same

~~ "Brother" by The Kinks

It's oddly elegant, isn't it? 

Back to Coronavirus today because that's about all the news that matters right now, isn't it? 

It is affecting every aspect of our lives. People are being laid off. Retirement accounts are essentially wiped out. We are probably already in a recession, and it's going to get worse in the immediate future. Cases and deaths are soaring around the world (at least it seems to be slowing down in China) and we have an emergency travel advisory in my county, meaning that only essential travel is warranted. Indiana schools are closed until May 2, and I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the school year is canceled. 

Ray Davies' "we'll be okay" lyric seems a little overly optimistic right now. 

So I'm going to step back for a moment and get clinical on you all. It helps me to be rational and all science-y and junk and maybe it will help you, too. 

My friend Julie on Facebook posted about Indiv-1 calling this novel Coronavirus the "Chinese virus." She felt that this is a blatantly xenophobic "dog whistle" on his part, and I completely agree. I went into science mode, though. I commented that naming bacteria and viruses and other organisms are frequently based on where they were first found. Virtually all subspecies of Salmonella are named after the location where they were isolated. The Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River. There is Lassa fever, named after a city in Nigeria. There is Pontiac fever, something caused by the Legionella bacterium, named after a city in Michigan, and Legionella itself is named after the Legionnaires because that outbreak took place at one of their conventions. So I said that there is a longtime tradition of naming things after where they originated. It's not because microbiologists are racist, it's just a way we name and differentiate organisms, subspecies, and even diseases.

Hear me out. I wasn't done. I said that the 'big but' here is that Indiv-1 is obviously using this as a dog whistle to create racism and xenophobia. There are already incidents of racism against Asian Americans and Asian immigrants. He is trying to place the blame on someone, anyone, other than his own failed response. He needs a scapegoat, and he has decided that calling it the "Chinese virus" does the trick. The virus has a name: SARS-CoV2 and the disease it causes is called COVID-19. These are the scientific names, and calling it anything else is blatant prejudice and discrimination and designed to gin up hatred against others. Because that's what he and his rabid base feed upon. Like some kind of weird, racist vampires. 

After I posted that, I realized that I was being that pedantic bore who feels the need to comment at length. I shut up pretty quickly, but I felt the need to message Julie and apologize. She said essentially that that wasn't needed, and I appreciated that. I have friends who seek out my thoughts on various things, including scientific papers about it, and I am happy to respond to that kind of question if I can. It's what I did for most of my career and I know that people are wanting answers. I can come at it from a scientific bent and I will do my best to answer their questions. I'll write about it here when I want but I need to dial it down a notch when it comes to commenting on others' pages. I don't want to be "that person," you know? Ugh. I don't like that person! Don't be that, Beth! 

Back to the music. I thought of this song today when I thought, "The world's going crazy." I think it is a very nice song with a nice message. Viruses and bacteria and other beasties don't give a fuck about where you're from or what political party you belong to. They're here to fuck your shit up and they do what they can to do so. (There's a whole other topic about beneficial bacteria and about how crowded conditions and poverty result in increased outbreaks, as well as how certain populations develop defenses against infections ubiquitous in their communities, but that's a story for another day. One of the most fascinating to me is that Africans developed sickle cell anemia to fight off malaria...that parasite doesn't infect sickle cells. But again...a story for another day.)

The point is that this is a pandemic. It's bad. It's nationwide. It's global. They don't care about your goddamn SPRING BREAK, and I'm looking at you, KAYLEIGH. (I don't know a Kayleigh...just a generic name for some chick on spring break right now.) This is a worldwide problem and we are truly all in this together. The actions we take now can save lives. 

We're all brothers and sisters in this.