It's official. The World Health Organization has declaired COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, a pandemic! Here are some graphics floating around the interwebs to explain why this is a big deal...
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Sixteen years ago this month (on the 26th actually), I became what my sister fondly refers to as "Frankenface." This Throwback Third Thursday (#tbtt) I am looking back to when I got jaw surgery because when I went to the dentist this morning they showed me this and I thought it was kind of awesome. No... weird ailments and bazzarities are not a recent thing for me. This has been a lifelong endeavor.
Note how I have a "screw loose" (as Jordan put it). Not sure if it's always been like that or if it's gone rouge. I might need to scrounge up an x-ray or two from my old dentist in California to find out!
There are a number of theories rolling around about the specifics of the illness (kidney failure, parasite, disease) and with no autopsy there is no way to know for sure which is true. But, one running theory amongst scholars is a secondary flare up of the inflammatory disease acute rheumatic fever – as in the disease that I have (greeeaaat). But this new bit of trivia doesn’t make me too worried and here’s why...
In 1791, Mozart fell ill experiencing symptoms of pallor, weight loss, and painful swelling of the hands and feet (sound familiar). Unfortunately, Mozart was alive during a time of ill-thought-out medical practices and they did a bloodletting treatment to cure him of his ailments (whatever they may have been). But, even more unfortunately, bloodletting while suffering from severe inflammation apparently causes hemorrhagic shock and, in the 1790’s, there’s no coming back from that. So, the treatment intended to save the most gifted musical genius in history accidentally killed him. Fortunately for me, bloodletting isn't in regular practice anymore so I don’t have to worry about that kind of medical mishap! Whoops! There is another patient in the US with Ebola, marking the third to be diagnosed with the disease within our borders (also all in the state of Texas). But, there is still no need to panic (and this coming from someone who catches just about everything so, really, don’t panic). Here are some facts about Ebola: Patient #1 caught Ebola while traveling in Africa (kind of a dick move to bring it back with him). Patients #2 and #3 were his nurses. These nurses were in close contact with a dying Ebola patient in a quarantine facility. Although fully gowned and gloved, they were constantly handling very infectious material and the simple act of taking off gloves improperly after tending to the patient could have led to contamination and infection. Walking past someone with a fever won’t do it.
I love the movies Outbreak and Contagion but don’t go off and watch them, freaking yourself out to a point where you become a hermit sitting in a bath of hand sanitizer. Use them as a learning tool (mostly of what not to do). Ebola isn't airborne and it has an Ro of 2 (pictured; H1N1 (swine flu) is 1.6). There is always the possibility that the virus could evolve into something more serious (like the initial virus did in both movies) but, technically, that is true for any virus. Do you sit around worrying about when the flu is going to evolve into a flesh-eating zombie-creating virus? No, that would be silly and a waste of your precious mind-power.
So, go buy yourself some hand sanitizer, wash your hands regularly and don’t let people get their bodily fluids on you. Not only will you not get Ebola, you won't get the common cold or the flu either (BONUS)!
To whom it may concern: There has been a major overcrowding issue within the Consideration Seating area of Kyle Field this season. This section requires ticket holders to be seated but the amount of tickets sold for this section does not allow the space for the holder to, in fact, be seated. This is a major liability issue for the stadium and the Consideration Seating section needs to be renumbered taking into consideration that many of the ticket holders sitting in this section are not there because they don’t want to stand during the game but because they are physically unable. Breaking attendance records should not come before the wellbeing of your patrons. At this week’s game against Ole Miss (October 11, 2014) my ticket was for section 236, 3rd row, seat 7, however, I was unable to sit in my designated seat. This wasn’t an issue of other patrons sitting in incorrect seats; it was an issue of overcrowding. [Included] is a photo demonstrating how we were attempting to fit in the space allotted. There were four of us displaced from our purchased seats in my row alone. The other three ticket holders were able to stand on empty bleachers close to our section but I am physically unable as I am a physically disabled student and require Consideration Seating to attend football games. As pictured, I tried sitting on the edge of the seat, leaning forward but was in too much pain to endure this position for more than half a quarter. I asked the attendant, who was being as helpful as he could, to see a supervisor but the supervisor was of no help. All they did was check that we were all holding tickets for this section, which we all were, but did nothing to alleviate the situation. In pain, I asked the attendant if I could get a chair to sit in the wheelchair area but he said that is only available when set up before the game. Since I was under the impression my ticket would allow me enough space to sit, I could not have possibly been able to set this up before the game. I had to sit by myself on the ledge of the stairs, which I would assume is against fire code, as there were no other seating options available to me, as informed by said attendant. As mentioned above, this section requires ticket holders to be seated and, therefore, needs to provide enough room for ALL ticket holders in this section to sit. Actions should be taken to alleviate this situation to prevent any potentially more serious situations for disabled patrons from occurring. Thank you, Caitlin |