In August 2022 our trepidation about a virus that we thought would herald a doomsday apocalypse with cataclysmic mass casualties has appreciably waned. The world that went silent when our fear of a mysteriously novel and lethal microbe had us cowering in isolation, rigorously observing a discernible distance from our fellow humans when we dared to expose ourselves to the perilous outdoors, has morphed into a carefree universe where most of us have an insouciant disdain for a menace that we think no longer exists. Despite the fact that to date the coronavirus has claimed the lives of 6.5 million worldwide, which dwarfs the annual body count of those who succumb to the flu, a number running into the hundreds of thousands and continues to pose the ever-present threat of long covid, a uniquely pernicious and baffling condition, masks and social distancing have been jettisoned.
Mercifully vaccination and the fact that a lot of us have already been infected has ramped up our immunity to a virus that in its early incarnation took the lives of so many. For most of us it’s become a transient, mild illness. So, who cares if getting covid is tantamount to getting the flu. This flippant notion might be naïve and ultimately injurious.
Unlike the flu the coronavirus has the capacity to cut a swathe of destruction through every organ of our body and for those who have the misfortune of being besieged by long covid this can lead to a host of devastating symptoms including brain fog, crippling fatigue and even mental incapacity that appears to teeter on the brink of dementia. Hearts are especially vulnerable and though we have a range of go to natural remedies like ubiquinol, a Rolls Royce form of the antioxidant CoQ10, L-arginine sourced from walnuts, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts and pecans as well as pomegranates which offer some protective insulation often cardiovascular systems are so ravaged that only industrial strength medications can provide salvation.
It might be back to business as usual but our cavalier attitude to an invader that remains a clear and present danger might ultimately have grave consequences.