It’s nice to think a coronavirus case in one country is the same in the number. But the criteria are not even close. China has generally gone on clinical criteria, the Koreans on PCR tests, America by PCR plus corroboration by CDC. The PCR tests can vary from lab to lab, university to commercial establishment.

And the numbers may not be what people think. I was told informally today that Sarasota Memorial, one place I work, had 16 presumptive cases, none of which were among the four listed as “confirmed”. In order to get CDC confirmation, only about 100 tests a day from Florida will be done, with a supposed daily backlog of 5000 a day.

If you don’t look for something, you won’t find it. Which may explain why the coronavirus caseload is 160 per million in South Korea, where about one in two hundred in the population has been tested, over 400 per million in Italy, and just 13 in the U.S.

So far. You can check out information collected at the Worldometer.com coronavirus site (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/)

, with useful graphs showing logarithmic changes over time, perhaps a little less prone to political manipulation.

 

Antidote to Cabin Fever

As more of America locks down, expect more and more folk to feel peevish, cooped up, or downright angry. One useful antidote is an activity the human body is built to do: walk.

And I do mean antidote. One old study done regarding colds, usually resulting from rhinovirus and coronavirus infections, showed walking 45 minutes a day decreased colds by half, and in those afflicted clinical severity by half.

Sunlight itself knocks up the numbers of natural killer (NK) cells, quite useful in knocking off viruses. Immunity improves in most of us with the most natural exercise we know. Plus people’s moods improve when they’re in nature, especially around water.

When family closes in and Netflix no longer entertains, walk on by.