It’s been a long time since I practised microbiology, but Prof Eugene Cloete and his team at the University of Pretoria taught us well. As a result, I do not want to get into the medical debate of the potential dangers associated with the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, but rather engage some of the associated perspectives. For all practical purposes, the Coronavirus is little more than Influenza 2.0 (that is the flu virus), if even so dramatic. And yes, it is a novel strain that originated and mutated from its original animal host, but we get the same bird and swine transmutations on quite a regular base. To be quite truthful, the transmission of Influenza is significantly easier as it is fully airborne, where the Coronavirus requires a droplet carrier, such as mucus or saliva to effectively spread.

Statistically, we also seem to be missing the point. At this point, the new Coronavirus strain has an illness count of just over 100,000 individuals (of which over 80% is China-based), current recovery indicator at 55%, and approximately 3% or 3,000 fatalities occurred worldwide.  Perhaps I did not dig hard enough to find the Influenza illness and mortality rate in China; however, it was quite a shock to see that the U.S. figures for the previous session stood at an estimated 32 million illnesses, 310,000 hospitalisations and 18,000 deaths, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Now the U.S. has less than a third of the population of China and infrastructure-wise, a much more developed nation than China who still has extensive rural regions. One can therefore easily assume the figures are more than three times greater than the U.S. statistics.

All in all, this is not even scratching the tip of the iceberg compared to my home continent of Africa. Look, I have a great love for the U.S. and will be ever thankful of my years of doctoral education that I received from them, but the way their media can run with a story is quite extraordinary. Get strapped in for this one while I explain … 3,000 Coronavirus deaths over little more than two months compared to 15,000 children dying daily in Africa! Where is the continued widespread coverage of this continental catastrophic reality?

Now I am by no means an economist; however, considering the various financial forecast models that are produced by academic centres such as Harvard University to the mainstream news houses, it seems that it is always the Chines economy that will be worse off than the United States. As a result, does this not clearly indicate that such a tragedy can be made to play favourably in the ever-widening gap between the U.S. economic position compared to that of China?  I am not in any way alluding to foul play, rather highlighting the power of public perceptions. If Africa’s child mortality rate could have had such an impact on the U.S. economy, what would the media have done with that story?

Here are some of my concluding thoughts, the global economic playing field leaves little to be desired when it comes to human value. If the value of one life seems to have a lesser effect than another, we can easily turn a blind eye. But is this sustainable? And at what cost? All indicators are showing us how much progress we have made as a global village, yet it seems we have an equally long way to go. Personally, my influence is limited, but not null. Therefore, the challenge to my audience is what your influence can be pertaining to the establishment and dignity of human value. This is the position of synergy. Share the article if you must, but rather, share the sentiment and the thoughts with those you may influence. Let’s work to not only heal our world of the Coronavirus but the continued defamation of all human value.

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