This morning we learned that Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil and down-player of the seriousness of Covid-19, tested positive for the disease. Who knows when what leaders—preachers, presidents, business moguls, media lions—will join him. And who knows what the broader population will make of it. So far, those who believe it is a hoax, or a petty flu, or something that just attacks the old and infirm, have brushed aside all such disclosures.
Yesterday there were two conflicting stories about Covid-19 in young people. The schools in Denmark and Finland have reopened with little or no impact. Reasons could be that the disease is less likely to manifest in the very young, and that transmission among this group does not seem to be so highly contagious.
But almost simultaneously—at least on National Public Radio, because that is what I was listening to yesterday—there was testimony by a reputable doctor that even in asymptomatic people who test positive, chest x-rays reveal damaged lung cells. And who knows, she asks, what the long-term effects of this damage will be.
Meanwhile the disease marches on; Dr. Fauci and a growing chorus predict the 50,000 new cases each day will climb upward, maybe to 100,000, maybe more. And states hardest hit, even states with Republican governors, are stepping back re-openings. Florida, Texas, and Arizona—the R-3—stand beside D-California in the big numbers game.
Deaths—even in those states, are not racing ahead like they did in the early days in New York and New Jersey, but hospitalizations are, and Houston is afraid that it will run out of space and medical personnel in about two weeks.
No one yesterday, in my hearing, brought up the vaccine and how soon it would arrive. But from Arizona to Brazil to Copenhagen, many must be quietly praying for it.
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