It seems very possible that the coronavirus is spreading in Jerusalem already

The traditional Jewish approach is: think, don't panic

Yesterday, I spoke a friend of mine on the phone who lives in Jerusalem. There is a chance that he got the new coronavirus. And his partner. And everyone they’ve met the past couple of days. But before I tell you that story, please take 8 minutes to read the information in a recent blog post. After the story, I’ll quiz you to see if you properly understand the issues.

The story. I called up my friend who tells me: “I’ve been sick since yesterday but today I feel much better.” I joked: “The new coronavirus?” (What’s the chance?) He said: “Well, we did have a Chinese airbnb guest a week ago.” I said: “What? So you actually could have the virus.” He: “No, because he’s not been on the Chinese mainland for quite some time. And he was just here so there is not enough incubation time. And he wasn’t sick. And he passed the control at the airport.” I asked him: “Did you read my blog post with information?” He: “No, I was too sick to read anything.”

My questions to the reader (and after that my answers):
● What else would you ask him?
● Could he have the virus?
● What should he do and not do?

I asked him: “If not on the Chinese mainland, where did he stay?” He answered: “O, he works at a foreign embassy.” “A Chinese embassy?” “Yes.”

Do you know who come to any Chinese embassy? Inhabitants from China. (NB: Asian heritage is not suspect; only those who met people from China.)

My friend could easily be infected. The incubation time is 2 to 14 days, so his guest may have infected him and his partner. They did his dishes.

Carriers of the virus, is now known, can spread the virus before they get sick, after they recover, and even if they never develop symptoms at all.

Airport control a week ago was just asking people if they had been sick, without viral checks.

So, yes, chances are that he and his partner have the new coronavirus

So, yes, chances are that he and his partner have the new coronavirus.

Is it possible that they don’t have the virus?

Yes, that is possible but you must play it safe. They’re infected and infectious until proven otherwise. (Guilty as dis-charged.) Even if so far, there not have been confirmed cases in Israel.

What he should do is the following:
● Call his GP or health fund to have someone come and test him and his partner. Not go to his doc or a hospital, where he could infect others.
● Meanwhile, until they are cleared, they should stay home (no shopping sprees) and see no one.
● They should notify everyone they met two days or longer after they first met their Chinese guest to do all these three points too.

How guilty should they feel if they just continue with their lives as if nothing happened and take none of the above measures at all?

Well, this Chinese embassy worker has been traversing Jerusalem and if he’s a carrier has by now infected hundreds of people who also already each have infected hundreds of people. My friend would then be among the first links in the chains of infection in Jerusalem — not more. (But I could not live with myself if I infected people with a possibly deadly virus, rationalizing that if not through me, they would’ve died via someone else. )

Stay realistically hopeful. Even if infected. It seems that the virus is very contagious and therefore the hundreds of deaths in China need to be set off against hundreds of thousands infected — almost no one dies from it.
How sick one becomes though, might be determined by how many viral particles one got in. It’s important AMAP to try not to get or give the virus.

It may be impossible to avoid the pandemic. Still, try to minimize how much infection you get from and give to others. That could save lives.

And spread the information, not a panic, faster than the virus.

So often, the media and social media cry wolf. Not here, I believe.

***

Meanwhile, the WHO, much too late in calling this an international health crisis because there are economic factors involved (!), now has again shown that it has not the foggiest notion of what is going on. Their ignorance borders on the criminal since their job is to protect people and not send them into illness because that’s better financially.

Its director of global hazard preparedness reportedly now suggests that airlines, after proper instruction, might resume flights on China. Passengers infected with the coronavirus should wear masks, but not other people without signs of the disease, since “the masks will not necessarily protect them 100%.” Frequent hand-washing and other hygiene measures were required, she said.

First of all, plane rides make almost every passenger sick because by some antiquated ill-making idea, planes dry out the cabin air during flights. The rationale for this is that microbes cannot live without water. But the result is dried airways so that passengers upon disembarking catch any microbe that they pass which enters easily through the dried-out mucous membranes. This makes a majority of air travelers ill for decades already.

Now, they want to add travelling with people sick with the corona virus wearing masks. But the rest not because they don’t protect completely. Since when would we not use condoms because they they don’t help 100%?

And what do people sick with the highly contagious virus do on board a plane? They should be in quarantine in special facilities or at least at home!

She further said that the virus has remained “quite a stable virus.” Nothing is further from the truth. A report in the most reliable medical journal in the world, the Lancet, shows that the virus mutates at an unbelievable speed.

Then she reported that those who so far have died were “mainly” very sick and frail people. Tell that to the Chinese doctors and nurses now fighting for their lives. It is so irresponsible to reassure healthy fit people as if they don’t need to protect themselves. Flue always kills very sick people but also young, healthy, and strong people. As far as we know, the coronavirus is no different from that.

She did not know why there are only 2 deaths recorded outside of China with 153 people infected. I know. The virus spreads like wildfire but most carriers are asymptomatic and not reported by China. So, the mortality rate is low. But when you let it spread, many people will still die from it.

The author holds a BA in Medicine from the University of Amsterdam.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, an almost daily blog contributor to the Times of Israel, and previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is (partly) generated by AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. He doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit about what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and education contribute to his visions. * If you don't know the Dutch, get an American peek behind the scenes here: https://youtu.be/QMPp6h6r72M * To find less-recent posts on subject XXX among his 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. Yet, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people who don't deserve that. He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust, and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * His most influential teachers (chronologically) are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. * One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. He loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, anti-elitism, anti-bigotry and supremacy, for Zionism, Intersectionality, and non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, empowering therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids non-violently. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's being a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. He lives with his library in Jerusalem. Feel free to contact him. * His writing has been made possible by a (second-generation) Holocaust survivors' allowance from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1