Why is COVID-19 so Serious?

Key Points

• 1.   Covid-19 virus displays subtle to no symptoms. 
• 2.   It is proving difficult to self-recognise and for health-providers to diagnose (see point 6).
• 3.   Because infected individuals show/feel no apparent dangerous symptoms or feel unwell, the virus is spreading wider and more rapidly than other viruses. 
• 4.   When an individual is asymptomatic they are unmotivated and take no or little self-precaution to protect others.
• 5.   Globally there is no agreed way to manage a pandemic. 
• 6.   In many countries there is a lack of education, infrastructure and medical supplies and equipment, the response is uncoordinated or politicised.  This results in yet more individuals being infected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTWZXWkz25c

5 Reasons COVID-19 may soon spiral out of control

COVID-19 is a Corona Virus.  Corona Virus is a family of common viruses that typically result in the seasonal flu.  However, the COVID-19 virus is an organism that has mutated and 'jumped' from infecting animals (who may never have shown symptoms) to humans - this is called a zoonotic virus.  

Soldier On

Unlike the common flu, this virus comes with the ‘hidden danger” of spreading widely during a long and unsymptomatic incubation period – meaning many more people are exposed to the virus who do not feel ill.  

The virus has now spread to 60 nations around the globe.

Our familiarity with ‘just having a cold or the flu’ combined with our drive (or need) to soldier on, is especially apparent in developed countries.  Individuals who feel 'relatively fine’ go freely into the public and go to work or indulge in group activities -- all while they are infectious (able to spread the virus).

Longer ‘Shelf Life”

The virus is spreading long after an infected person coughs or sneezes virus-ladened droplets while near others, because of how long it lives once expelled.  

The COVID-19 virus is protected by a particularly hearty sleeve, bubble or barrier that allows it to survive longer on surfaces, within circulating air or through sewage.  

Current estimates believe this virus can survive for more than 14 days outside the body.  (See article in this blog about how the virus has been noted to be spreading). 

COVID-19 also seems able to easily change/adapt to new situations because it replicates RNA, not DNA (which is more stable against change – more on this in another blog article). 

Seven Step Invasion Strategy

For now, here is how the COVID-19 virus acts when it infects an individual:

• 1.   Attachment – the virus enters the body and attaches itself to certain cells.
• 2.   Penetration – it penetrates the cell wall and enters the cell.
• 3.   Uncoating – it ‘melts’ once inside the cell wall and takes up residence in the new host.
• 4.   Biosynthesis – it adapts to the new environment before the body can react and take defensive action.
• 5.   Assembly – it gathers ‘power’ and multiplies itself with the cells.
• 6.   Release – it breaks out of the weakened, host cells to invade other vulnerable cells.
• 7.   Repetition - It starts again in more cells, repeating the previous six steps as it spreads throughout an individual’s body until symptoms begin to show.