Pandemic Panic? Read this article

From an unknown source (falsely attributed to Bill Gates)

Subject:
*What is the Corona/ Covid-19 Virus Really Teaching us?*

I’m a strong believer that there is a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens, whether that is what we perceive as being good or being bad.

As I meditate upon this, I want to share with you what I feel the Corona/ Covid-19 virus is really doing to us:

1) It is reminding us that we are all equal, regardless of our culture, religion, occupation, financial situation or how famous we are. This disease treats us all equally, perhaps we should to. If you don’t believe me,
just ask Tom Hanks.

2) It is reminding us that we are all connected and something that affects one person has an effect on another. It is reminding us that the false borders that we have put up have little value as this virus does not need a passport. It is reminding us, by oppressing us for a short time, of those in this world whose whole life is spent in oppression.

3) It is reminding us of how precious our health is and how we have moved to neglect it through eating nutrient poor manufactured food and drinking water that is contaminated with chemicals upon chemicals. If we don’t look after our health, we will, of course, get sick.

4) It is reminding us of the shortness of life and of what is most important for us to do, which is to help each other, especially those who are old or sick. Our purpose is not to buy toilet roll.

5) It is reminding us of how materialistic our society has become and how, when in times of difficulty, we remember that it’s the essentials that we need (food, water, medicine)
as opposed to the luxuries that we sometimes unnecessarily give value to.

6) It is reminding us of how important our family and home life is and how much we have neglected this. It is forcing us back into our houses so we can rebuild them into our home and
to strengthen our family unit.

7) It is reminding us that our true work is not our job, that is what we do, not what we were created to do.
Our true work is to look after each other, to protect each other and to be of benefit to one another.

8) It is reminding us to keep our egos in check. It is reminding us that no matter how great we think we are or how great others think we are,
a virus can bring our world to a standstill.

9) It is reminding us that the power of freewill is in our hands. We can choose to cooperate and help each other, to share, to give, to help and to support each other or we can choose to be selfish, to hoard, to look after
only our self. Indeed, it is difficulties that bring out our true colors.

10) It is reminding us that we can be patient, or we can panic. We can either understand that this type of situation has happened many times before in history and will pass, or we can panic and see it as the end of the world and, consequently, cause ourselves more harm than good.

11) It is reminding us that this can either be an end or a new beginning. This can be a time of reflection and understanding, where we learn from our mistakes, or it can be the start of a cycle which will continue until we finally learn the lesson we are meant to.

12) It is reminding us that this Earth is sick. It is reminding us that we need to look at the rate of deforestation just as urgently as we look at the speed at which toilet rolls are disappearing off of shelves. We are sick because our home is sick.

13) It is reminding us that after every difficulty, there is always ease. Life is cyclical, and this is just a phase in this great cycle. We do not need to panic; this too shall pass.

14) Whereas many see the Corona/ Covid-19 virus as a great disaster, I prefer to see it as a *great corrector*

It is sent to remind us of the important lessons that we seem to have forgotten and it is up to us if we will learn them or not.

 

Mr. Gates has given away about $35 Billion dollars and other super wealthy business owners are pledging and doing the same with their fortunes. We may not agree with all of these individuals on many subjects, but the intent to help the world's struggling populations is respected by me and many others.
I appreciate his sentiments here and resonate with them as well.
Thanks for the post yb44.
Lainey

 

Soooo... this did not sound like Bill Gates to me. And I'm from Seattle. It seemed "off" right from the start, then the grammatical weirdnesses clued me in that the words were certainly not his (he is much better spoken than that), so I Googled it. It's a fake, according to The Independent (excerpt below). Some of the sentiments are nice, but they are NOT from Bill Gates, as charitable as he is, and as much as I personally admire him and his wife for their philanthropy. I do not know why people do this! I will edit the top of the post to that effect.

A fake letter purporting to share Bill Gates’ thoughts on the coronavirus crisis has been widely shared on the internet, prompting concerns about the spread of fake news surrounding the pandemic.
The bogus message entitled “What is the Corona/Covid-19 Really Teaching us?” is believed to have begun circulating via email and WhatsApp groups on Monday, and was also shared on social media.
The “open letter” claimed to show the Microsoft founder believes there is “a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens” – including the disease.
It describes the virus as “the great corrector … sent to remind us of the important lessons that we seem to have forgotten”.
A number of celebrities shared the post, including Naomi Campbell, and The Sun newspaper ran a story about it.
Once it became clear it was a spoof, The Sun removed the story and apologised for the incident. ​

This is not the first thing I have seen circulated that I have questioned in the last month. My advice is: Question Everything!

 

Jan
Good to know. Thanks for the update.
BTW I lived in Seattle in the old days (1969-71). City has really changed. Lived downtown too! Fun place as a young woman!
Lainey

 

No need to panic.

Only 6% of the 161,392 deaths recorded in the US, actually died solely from Covid.
If you actually look at the government data, about 6 % of the people who died from the virus, were healthy...had no other illnesses. The rest 94% of the people who got the virus and died, had already 2-3 serious illnesses (comorbidities) on top of the virus. And most of them were older than 74. This is government information, posted online for anyone to read. In each country it's the same data posted, by each government regarding the virus, death, percentages etc.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm?fbclid=IwAR2PsyLJHURogDdHZeMAv4DA3X1CUjTa48st_wcDVegDAs1uOiSf5WkuwSo (COVID-19 Provisional Counts - Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics)

 

So, the 'over 74' group are expendable??? Their gift to 'society' is done? No need to panic, it's just our grandparents/parents, etc.
Good for being young these days.
Sad comments for all of us to hear.
Kindly
Lainey

 

Totally agree. And it is not just those "over 74". I also noticed that males are more likely to die from it than females. Being a female, should I rejoice and conclude that there is no need to panic, because it is just men? And let's not forget, there are 72,000 + dead who are under 74.

Maybe instead we should just take care of ourselves and others, wear masks, distance socially, which is exactly what America did during 1918-1919 pandemic in order to save lives?

And let's not forget those exhausted, overworked and exposed to huge viral loads doctors, nurses and assistants who take care of those 6.5 million sick with COVID. We may not need their service now, but some day we would. And, if they had dropped dead because they happened to have a co-morbidity like high blood pressure from being overworked, would we be upset that nobody is there to help us so we would not join the abovementioned statistics?

 

Did anyone say that?

The idea is that it will be more practical to isolate yourself and/or limit contacts with outside if you are in a high risk group.

Why in the world does the entire society need to go into lockdown? Why panic entire society instead on focusing on the high risk groups?

 

Sita,
Sorry this may panic you or others, but this pandemic is not just an elderly disease. I hope the best for all of the contacts dear to you, both old and young.
Lainey

 

Because anyone can be asymptomatic and pass the virus to those who are vulnerable. Because we ought care enough about all souls to play our part.

My husband and I have been essentially shielding since the start due to his condition, as have my elderly parents. We are being mindful, responsible and compassionate for ourselves and others. In the UK the biggest rise in cases is among young people. The risk is that they pass it to the vulnerable. This wasn’t the case during lockdown.

The ultimate sanction on freedom is death. It breaks my heart that otherwise caring and intelligent people can watch a few YouTube videos or read some David Icke and believe this is all a hoax and in so doing their dangerous, reckless behaviour condemns others.

This isn’t about panic. It’s about responsibility, the flip side of freedom.

 

Obviously, anybody can get sick. That's not even the issue.

The issues's that there is no reason to lock up younger, healthy people, with no comorbidities. Again elderly people should isolate themselves and their families should respect that and help them.

Doesn't mean that every single person needed to be in lockdown, when CDC data shows clearly that healthy people with no comorbidities are at an extremely low risk of death.

Why should I be literally locked up like a prisoner and have TMS act up because of it, when I'm at a very low risk otherwise and I'm a responsible adult who doesn't go around hugging older people?

I respect people who are at high risk of Covid, but the government should respect my health also and not lock me up.

 

This is why. Took me 1 minute of googling:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/18/health/long-term-effects-young-people-covid-wellness/index.html (Young Covid-19 survivors warn they're still suffering - CNN)

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52853647 ('I'm proof that Covid-19 can make young people very ill')

As plum pointed out, the entire premise of a lockdown is to prevent asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic transmission. There are examples of countries where lockdowns were short but radical, which are now living normal life. I have a Vietnamese friend who tells me that Vietnam does not have any lockdowns - unless there is a single case found. They shut down the entire capital after there were 5 cases. Virus disappeared, city reopened. The problem iwth the US is that too many people do not accept a full lockdown, so they would rather have this on and off, lingering, highly damaging lockdown that does not help much. I live in a college town. Students got tired of lockdown and had parties on 4th of July, cases skyrocketed, hospitals filled up. School had to cancel plans for on-campus classes in the fall.

 

This is an argument without a resolution, which is inevitable when one side is desperate to believe that there is a simplistic answer to an extremely complex problem.

The truth is that any quick and easy solution is completely dependent on an impossibility, which is 100% consistent, responsible, respectful, and selfless behavior from all individuals. Since that's never going to happen, it's pointless to argue for a simple solution.

 

Jan
I believe that this discussion is not pointless, but relevant to the situation we are now in. It may not change everyone's behavior to a manner that you or I or everyone would agree with but at least gives all of us a chance to see and mull over each other's thoughts, ideas and opinions. Full agreement by all is never going to happen, I agree, but acknowledgement of where each of stands is important in that each of us feels heard and our individual thoughts are put out for all of us to contemplate.
Lainey

 

Umm, "literally"? I don't think so (look it up). The people who are, in fact, literally locked up as prisoners, are experiencing some of the highest infection rates, exposed by outsiders, and spreading fast in close quarters.

 

Point taken.

 

I was actually attempting to say that arguing for a simplistic solution is pointless

 

Sadly most people don’t even begin to realise the impact lockdown is having on vulnerable people. Be grateful that all you’re suffering from is an aggravation of TMS. Think on this:

my husband has experienced a progression of Parkinson’s during the lockdown. All his therapy stopped in March and we had to plead for an appointment with a nurse following an emergency visit from paramedics.

my mum is very poorly and was given a same day CT scan a fortnight ago and has an fMRI imminent. They don’t know what’s wrong. Maybe early signs of dementia. Whatever it is the lockdown has dramatically affected her.

my brother-in-law is in a residential home with Benson’s dementia. No one could visit him for months. One of his daughters went a couple of weeks ago as Lockdown eased and spent an hour in the garden with him. The last time my husband called him, he didn’t remember his children names.

Three small examples of the brutal impact lockdown is having on vulnerable people. This is happening to millions of people with very real, terrible conditions.

My TMS is awful too.
I hate having to wear a mask, wash my hands till they fall apart, live in such a restricted mind-bending fashion BUT compared to my loved ones it’s a cake walk.

 

Life was simple when I was three. I have not been under any illusions of it being simple since those free times. Sigh

 

So sorry Plum.
A friend, living in Scotland, is back at work in a dental practice. Very difficult with all of the added precautions, but she is doing well, as is her family. I have heard that living where you are has a higher covid infection rate, possibly a more densely populated area than where my friend is living. I wish you and your family well.
Lainey