A message from COVID-19
I usually ruminate about writing on this blog, but it’s been difficult to focus on something as “trivial” as my creative angst. As seems to be the case with everyone, my thoughts have been consumed by an organism we cannot see, touch or feel until it makes us ill, or kills us. Somewhere in the fear and frustration of understanding that my life will be different for a while—in ways I already dislike and many I have yet to find out—came a thread of thought I’d like to share. Hang with me while I go through the rudimentary explanation of what we are dealing with, and see if you agree with my analogy of how this may open us, as so many tragedies do, to something we already know but perhaps may serve to spur us to action or greater action than what we are already doing.
The COVID-19 virus is stampeding rapidly around the world, reminding us that we, as living organisms, are all connected: animals, plants, protists, fungi, bacteria, and archaea, with humans at the top of the line. So far. With all the jostling for power among the nations and tribes that goes on continuously, we have all been brought to our knees by a cunning yet essentially “non-living” entity, reminding us we are all inter-connected.
Viruses survive by invading healthy cells; they cannot capture or store energy themselves. Outside a host cell, a virus wraps itself up and becomes a particle called a virion that waits patiently, surviving for a period of time. In the case of COVID-19, the estimate is about two days. But if it comes into contact with a suitable host cell during this time, it penetrates and replicates at sometimes amazing speeds, by creating more virions which go on to infect more cells.
Scientists estimate there are 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of them. How they could know this is beyond my comprehension; suffice to say they numerous. Perhaps we should be astounded that all living creatures on earth have not been consumed. Yet. Obviously, we are able to live in harmony with the majority of these nano-particles. And they can be vulnerable: the COVID-19 virus is enveloped with lipids, a fatty substance that can be dissolved with something as simple as soap. Some viruses are species specific. For example, cats are susceptible to FIV, a version of HIV, but so far humans can’t be infected by their pet. But some can jump species, which is where the most virulent of viruses in the last few decades have come from. Rumor is that COVID-19 may have originated in bats and moved into other animals which then infected humans.
What this tells me is that we are surrounded, if not saturated, by viruses and potential viruses. They contain DNA or RNA, just as we do—the prescription of life. What a delicate balance of our existence as we thrive among other living things we don’t see or feel until we do, in this case a virus that wants to exist and is willing to damage and even destroy its host to do so. One with a high virulence can eventually destroy itself by destroying what it needs to live. Many viruses, however, can live in a host without creating harm. Some are even considered beneficial. A healthy gut microbiome can overcome harmful viruses. COVID-19 is able to overcome those with compromised immune systems, while those that are healthy can carry it, but not necessarily show symptoms.
Let’s look at another, bigger picture, the one in which 7+ billion humans live on a globe that gives life. We too replicate at a brisk clip. In order to survive we have to consume natural resources that our host, the globe, provides. If our virulence, or consumption, is rampant and indiscriminate, we will eventually consume our host. Our options are to stop reproducing (not likely) or to replace in some way what we consume. At the very least to consume slower and wiser. To replicate wisely.
We need to learn to become benign, if not downright beneficial to our host. The world has existed for 4.543 billion years. For most of that time, it was going through changes that made life impossible. The oceans formed about 4.41 billion years ago, and the first forms of life appeared about 3.77 billion years ago. To keep from boring you with more biology, let’s say that modern man came along about 200,000 years ago (could also have been 100,000, the argument rages on) and industrial man about 240 years ago, at which time the population was estimated at about one billion. Before that, population grew slowly, but with the advent of more food, medicines, better living conditions and so forth, mankind took off. In the last hundred years, penicillin and other medicines cut down on health-related illnesses and drastically cut infant mortality. If you are lucky enough to live in a developed country, chances are you can live a long life.
By now you’re probably thinking I should get on with my point, perhaps even hoping I may have some profound solution. Well, being of average intelligence, I don’t. Instead, I want to reiterate the urgency of being mindful of our daily consumption. Of literally everything. And of finding a solution to the pollutants we still use, of the plastics still in abundance, of the trade-off of industry versus our air and water…I don’t need to bore you with details; we all know what to do.
We all have to share air, space, food, and water, all of which is limited. Let’s not consume our host.
