The stealth of the 2019-nCoV pathogen is its unreported mild-infection of perhaps hundreds of thousands of people in China. Several epidemiologic and etiologic investigations have been conducted by many respected scientists by now and the data is being digested and used to create understanding, tests, and hopefully a vaccine in fairly short order.
Because of the stealth of most 2019-nCoV infections, its mellow indications in the midst of cold-and-flu-season raised little alarm thus delayed reactions around the world, including those of the World Health Organization.
As of 3 February 06:09 GMT there had been 17,388 2019-nCoV cases officially confirmed and 362 known deaths across at least 27 countries. Estimates of well over 100,000 cases of unreported, especially mild cases, are supported by anecdotal evidence submitted by hundreds of medical experts. Despite known statistics, the morbidity of 2019-nCoV is categorically unknown and may not be determined for some time.
by Sharon Santiago
2019 nCoV is A Pandemic by any Definition
On 24 February 2010, the WHO defined a pandemic as “the worldwide spread of a new disease”.
“There are at present two significant pandemics if influenza and its changing genome and heightened morbidity will allow people to think of it as ‘new’. The 2019-nCoV crisis is clearly no longer an ‘outbreak’ but a pandemic, said the CEO of The RINJ Foundation this morning.
World Health Organization Admits “Moderate nCoV Risk” was an understatement. The risk was “High” always.
The only entity in the world that got this right was the Chinese government in Beijing led by the medical people (not the politicians or bureaucrats) on the ground in the capital city of Central China’s Hubei province, Wuhan.
There is nother petition now circulating on Change.org for a “Call for the resignation of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General“. At the time of publication the latest petition against Dr. Tedros had 171,977 signatures.
“The petition on change.org, despite changing some racist content, is reprehensible, racist by intent and should be taken down by the site or the site should be closed by the Domain Registrar until the pandemic has dissipated,” said the CEO of The RINJ Foundation when asked by FPM.news.
“But that’s my personal opinion at this time,” the CEO added. “We need medical soldiers like Dr. Tedros on his best game, hence we must all chip in with our support for this global leader and the common goal of defeating these raging pandemic pathogens which will otherwise kill hundreds of thousands of precious lives, needlessly.”
Dr. Tedros is leading the global fight against two pandemics. Adhanom, Photo Courtesy World Health Organization. Photo Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine
“Dr. Tedros is adamant on fighting the 2019-nCoV as a unified humanitarian effort.”
The RINJ Foundation is a global civil society women’s group which sponsors and also operates humanitarian medical services including The Nurses Without Borders, in world trouble spots. The RINJ group has already launched a campaign of solidarity with all nations fighting the 2019-nCoV pandemic, particularly China, Japan and Thailand.
The words of Nurse Sara Qin inside Wuhan are instructive:
“Most patients are having a very good outcome,” she insists. “Yes, sadly the demise of patients who already have serious, and unfortunately chronic illness they did not treat, is hastened by the 2019-nCoV. We always told patients they must take their chronic illness medications and report any change. Now people should know how important that has become, to care for their chronic illness and not be vulnerable.”
“There are so many patients now,” Nurse Qin continued, “but they are very grateful and helpful to their case. I really love all my patients. I keep them from being scared. When they get well again, they bounce back. I mean they are very jubilant and it is as if they never were sick and just lost a little weight. Everyone, I hope will be fine,” she said optimistically. From: “China 2019nCoV cases near 12k but nurses say many Pts have a good outcome”
“70% Of all the world’s professional medical health workers are female,” claims both the World Health Organization and the Canada-based RINJ Foundation.
Photo, Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine
“Among the mildly infected patients,” notes Nurse Qin, “were some who already had underlying chronic health problems. Examples of chronic health problems include asthma, COPD, HIV, hypertensive heart disease, diabetes and more. These are just a small few chronic illnesses that if treated properly, will not change the longevity or the fullness of their lives,” she suggested.
But chronic illness is exploited by the 2019-nCoV.
“HATE 2019-nCoV if you want to hate anything. Certainly don’t hate your fellow man of any race,” says nurse devoted to fighting 2019-nCoV
“If you want to abuse, hate or discriminate against anything, hate the coronavirus that has been named 2019-nCoV,” says Sara Qin, a RINJ nurse in Wuhan City, China.
“In fact one can hate a few of its variants as well like the 229E, OC43, NL63, and HKU1 strains which typically cause everyone common cold symptoms, even in immunocompetent individuals,” Nurse Qin added.
“We trust the World Health Organization’s people including Dr. Tedros, but the patient will only see me and their Doctor, not administrators,” is the stiff response of a nurse team leader.
“Many RINJ nurses have worked for WHO projects, such as the recent draining battles against the deadly Ebola virus,” says one such nurse team leader.
“The most common complaint they have is that the World Health Organization is enormously bureaucratic,” adds Nurse Michele Francis, working in a health care project inside Venezuela.
“In our organization, which is a flea-size compared to the WHO,” quips Nurse Francis, there is a folder called Apology Directives. In it is a pre-scheduled apology release from the CEO, which says ‘sorry the paperwork did not get done before the care was given to a patient in need’.”
“We are all one in the fight against 2019-nCoV.”
This is simple. Like this simple flower, all are based on the one.
Simplicity = “We are all one in the fight against 2019-nCoV.”
We agree with President Xi Jinping:
“The epidemic is a devil. We will not let it hide.”
Bureaucracy is a bogeyman in health care. It must be made efficient.
“Our boss forbids bureaucratic failures at the expense of patients,” continued Nurse Francis, “and there is a rigid rule on triage. ‘Whatever it takes.‘ We use that anytime we had to jump a bureaucracy approval to follow a medical directive for an expensive procedure or medicine for a patient in need. We have never charged a patient a single cent for our care or the medications or prosthetics we have been able to provide, thanks to our donors. The point is that bureaucracy is a bogeyman in health care and it must be efficient.”
Somebody once said, “this isn’t the first time a shoelace was used to tie off an umbilical cord and it won’t be the last. And no, I did not requisition the shoelace. I was in a jungle village far from any paper, let alone public health care.”
With both monumental successes and monumental failures that amounted to calamities, the World Health Organization, like many UN agencies, has a “checkered past” according to a report prepared by Dr. Suwit Wibulpolprasert (MD) and Dr. Mushtaque Chowdhury (PhD).
“The World Health Organization’s leadership needs to pull up its socks,” says Katie Alsop of The RINJ Foundation
“We count on the World Health Organization’s administration to avoid such serious errors as underestimating the significance of the 2019-nCoV. That was a big mistake,” she added. “But it was an easy mistake given the stealthy nature of the pathogen enemy.”
China’s President Xi Jinping’s emotional call to action was on the mark, “The epidemic is a devil. We will not let it hide.”
“China’s response to the 2019-nCoV crisis has been, on close inspection, the best the world has ever seen, adds the RINJ director.”
Remember, this pathogen is the enemy.