The Future is BRIGHT: some positive revelations regarding the current global crisis, and why we can all keep clean and safe in hope!
The rapid downward spiral of the worldwide situation has left us all feeling somewhat giddy. The intensity at which a problem became a crisis and a virus became a pandemic was epic and we are all left shocked and, understandably, a little fearful of what is to come.
Therefore, in these times, as importantly as keeping those hands clean and avoiding human contact, we need some positive news! We have all seen countless clips of people singing and dancing on their balconies, proving that the human spirit is not one to be quashed easily. The following are all recent developments sourced from official news sites and verified outlets, from around the world:
CHINA
The source and the area worst hit by the COVID-19 virus was Wuhan, China where multiple temporary hospitals had to be formed to be able to cope with the incredible number of cases there.
- All fourteen of these hospitals have been closed due to the outbreak being controlled.
- Apple decided to close its stores worldwide due to, and to limit, the spread of COVID-19. However in mainland China Apple has already reopened all 42 stores in response to the containment of the virus.
- On March 13th the South China Morning Post reported that only eleven new cases had been detected that day, and the majority of these were from international travellers.
- While the public remain restricted to limited social activity, parks and tourist areas are slowly beginning to be reopened and schools have started to open their doors.
- A 103-year-old lady has reportedly made a full recovery from COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. The elderly, relatively healthy grandmother is the oldest recorded person to have recovered in the world.
SOUTH KOREA
The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported more recoveries than new cases last week.
POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGHS
Researchers from John Hopkins University, Baltimore, are reviving an old technique whereby antibodies from those who have had and recovered from COVID-19 as prevention or treatment for newly-infected or people at risk from the disease. The antibodies are taken from the blood of people who contracted the virus and were able to fight it and therefore provide others with the necessary tools to fight it themselves. This technique could be used to decelerate the spread of the disease.
“I’m an infectious disease doctor who is interested in history, I knew the history of what was done in the early 20th century with epidemics. They didn’t have vaccines then, they didn’t have any drugs then — just like the situation we face now. But physicians then knew that, for certain conditions, you could take the blood of the immune and use it to prevent disease or treat those who became ill.” – Dr. Arturo Casadevall, Chair of the Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Department at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The Cleveland Clinic has reduced testing time for COVID-19 from days to hours. This comes in the form of an online platform to discuss symptoms as well as a drive thru style nasal swab system.
Scientists from the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Australia, have found two separate drugs which are already available in the country which show positive results in eradicating the virus. Their results are now being used to conduct a trial in order to further evaluate the medicines in question in the hope they can soon officially be used to treat patients.
In Toronto, Israel and the Netherlands there have also been groundbreaking results aimed at developing vaccines for the virus.
Doctors in India have been successful in treating Coronavirus with a combination of drugs usually used for Malaria and HIV. A huge positive outcome as the recovering patients were all elderly.
PLANET EARTH
Mother Nature breathes a huge sigh of relief as the planet gets a break from industry, pollution, and human activity. Satellite images show a dramatic fall in air pollution over China as well as Italy, Iran and Spain due to the recent lockdown situation in each country. As industry is kept to a minimum, the decline in pollution is phenomenal. The quarantine in China alone has prevented approximately one-hundred million metric tons of CO2 emissions from being released into our atmosphere!
HUMANITY
People become kinder, more respectful and generous in times of trouble; we tend to stick together. Governments are doing their best to guarantee financial aid to their people to be able to compete with the huge deficit caused to all. Whether we focus on that or hand sanitiser companies handing out free supplies, people demanding that the elderly or at risk be permitted an allocated shopping time, communal uplifting moments from balconies, just everyone in general doing what they’re asked in order to fight this thing, we can see how the humility within our race shines through and that we do have a common understanding of the blessing we call life. And let’s raise a toast to the authorities, emergency services, medical workers and volunteers, pharmacists, street cleaners, supermarket staff, food suppliers, researchers, scientists, all other support staff, and basically anyone who has stepped up and worked in risky conditions to make this happen. Thank you.
Uplifting thought for the day:
“And the people started home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.” – Kitty O’Meara.
Things will return to normal again. Life will be cool again. We will recover. It’s not good for anyone’s health to focus on negative news or dwell on negative thoughts. BRIGHT intends to bring you positive news reports every week. The future is indeed very BRIGHT!
Positive thinking is contagious – pass it on!
Useful, positive links:
China reports no domestic cases of coronavirus for first time since outbreak began
Tom Hanks offers some good news
5 ways our world is a bit better from the global response to the pandemic
