MenoSundays; Life Lived Lovingly.

Well.

The old saying "may you live in interesting times" is considered as a polite way of cursing someone. The entire world now lives in interesting times.

Finding respite from the barrage of endless 'news' updates (we have the technology and the captive audience, so why not, eh?) is a challenge. Certainly, for mental and indeed physical wellbeing, doing stretches, switching off radios and televisions and avoiding social media is to be encouraged.

Stretches, did she say? 
↬Yes. Get up every hour and bend towards your toes. Then reach for the ceiling. Hold the arms out in front and twist them round to the left and then round to the right - slowly and measured mind. No sudden jerks. Drop them to your sides.

↬Take three, long, diaphragm-deep breaths, slowly. Now stretch the arms out to the sides and lift the left leg, bring your foot to your right knee and see how far to the left you can swing that left knee to the side. Hold it for a few seconds, release and swap to the right leg to repeat. Do this up to ten times. Relax and repeat the three breaths. Bend to your toes and reach for the ceiling.

↬If you have a garden - make full use of it. Wrap up and take a brolly if needed. Just get some fresh air into those lungs! Those who are dog walkers - hoorah.

OKAY; I want you all to relax your minds and hearts. Remember that the ultimate source of information within your own countries will be your government websites. Not the populist news channels. For the globe as a whole, WHO is the place to go.

Let me share this with you (as at 1500 GMT 21st March 2020):

What's that, you are wondering? That, my friends, is the expression of the currently quoted number of confirmed C-19 cases as a percentage of the global population (rounded up 235k v 78bn) - that's 0.003%. Here is the current report from WHO:

SOURCE

When you see the percentages presented in the news, they are expressions only of the KNOWN cases of Covid-19. In the scenario above, the death-rate comes out a little over 4%. It is statistics like this that has created the absolute idiocy which now prevails. In terms of the global population, the rate is 0.001%. Whereas the likely global rate of death from 'seasonal flu' (i.e. the 'usual' respiratory stuff) is in the order of 0.083%. (That link, BTW, is worth reading; written two years prior to the current pandemic and somewhat prophetic.)

Now, of course, there are 'hotspots', China itself being the first. Poor Italy, and other hubs. What has become very clear is that the worst affected places are those where lifestyle encourages close and intimate mingling - even among strangers. Therefore some places are going to show higher percentages locally.

In Scotland, at the time of writing, 0.006% of our population is affected and 0.00014% deaths. That is to say, of one hundred thousand people, six are infected. Am I going to bump into them? Odds are against it. I did get the seasonal lurgy though and that was unpleasant enough.

Now, you know me here. I am not at all trying to belittle the fact that the world has got itself some strife. The important thing to note is that the virus is highly contagious and therefore social distancing makes a great deal of sense, for the potential for this thing to reach the entire population is there. Hence the upgrade to the term 'pandemic'. Taking appropriate cautions is nothing but common-sense. (Oh, yeah, that thing.) As someone who has always been a hand-washer, I am often dismayed at others' lack of personal hygiene; particularly when handling food or other personal shared items. I hope that the increased awareness with the current push will encourage continued attention to this very basic but oh-so-necessary discipline.

However, I do think that we all need to take a collective breath and know that this virus, too, will pass and history will - probably - record it not to have been anywhere near as 'deadly' as all the news outlets would love it to be. Nobody ought to be predicting health outcomes because as WHO itself has declared:

In the end, the figures may all prove to be speculative, because so many folk are so marginally affected they are not even going to their doctors (at least in countries where that matters and can be done). I have presented this to you in the hope of bringing some balance, some perspective. At least for now, purely from the medical aspect, the risk of death from C-19 is rather less than from the seasonal viruses which do the rounds...for which all the common-sense precautions are equally necessary. Also, bear in mind that Tuberculosis (another droplet-spread respiratory disease) affects significantly more people each year. Yes, it predominates in 'third-world' countries, but it is global.
USA
UK
Australia

History will remark on the ancillary effects, the social and economic upheaval, caused by Covid-19. The incompetence of some governments. And, hopefully, the community uplift from neighbours and strangers lending a hand where they can. It would be wonderful to think that - somehow - capital 'ell' Love manifested more openly now. In some places it most definitely is. I do not, however, wear rose tints...

Be safe. Be well. Behave.