When I was a child, I was mesmerized by magicians. I would watch magic shows and wonder how they did it. Where was that rabbit that they pulled out of their hat? Now of course I have realized that they were carefully practiced tricks of illusion. I know how some of the tricks are done. No the assistant was not really sawed in half in that box. Other tricks, I don't know how they do it, but I am quite sure it is not some magical force. It is okay not to know how they do the trick. It is ok to be entertained by a magician but I am pretty sure it is all just entertainment and not some unknown power.
I think during this time of the corona virus, many people are looking for that magic cure all. This virus seemed to appear out of nowhere and people want to be able to twitch their noses and poof it will all go away. People are looking for a magic bullet. Until their is a vaccine, or the virus mutates into something less harmful, I expect we will see many of these "cures" posted on social media.
In February, someone said that the virus did not like warm weather. Once spring comes, the virus would die in the heat. This baffled me. One of the hotspots of the virus at that time was Singapore. Being situated very close to the equator, weather does not vary a great deal in the city. Average monthly highs range from 31-32C (88-90F). Average lows range from 24-26C (75-78F). Warm weather had no effect on the virus. Yet people believed it.
Jim Bakker, the disgraced televangelist from the 80's, was busy selling his cure all- a silver solution. He told his followers that if they used this silver solution that they would be cured. While it had not been tested on COVID 19, Bakker suggested on his program that it had been tested on other forms of the corona virus and it killed them all in 12 hours. For $80, viewers could get a 4 oz, 100mL bottle of the solution. Missouri has sued the televangelist for spreading false information. Credit card companies are refusing to process charges to customer's cards to Bakker's ministry. Two weeks ago, Bakker said that he was facing bankruptcy.
A friend recently posted on Facebook that a corona virus cure had been found in 2001. Holding up a vial of medication, the bottle does indeed say that it is a corona virus cure. Why wasn't this headline news I thought? But then looking closer at the vial, I saw that it was a Canine Corona virus medication for kennel cough. It was not a cure for this particular virus affecting the world right now. It was a cure for another corona virus. I know my dog hated that medicine as it was not injected but squirted up her nose. I think scientists would have tested this medication right away when the virus started making people ill earlier this year. There has been no conspiracy to keep this cure from the public. COVID 19 is not kennel cough.
And of course the US President has been spouting off magic cures over the past month or so. First, was his attempt to get people to buy a malaria medication to try to treat COVID 19. The fact that his family held stock in the pharmaceutical firm that produces the drug should be overlooked he said. Tests proved that it was ineffective and the drug itself has nasty side effects. Then of course there were the bleach and UV ray comments that he made last month. Later denied as either the president thinking out loud or comments made sarcastically, several people were hospitalized and died because they ingested the magic cure.
The vast majority of us rely on medications to maintain our health. I take a medication for my diabetes. I take a medication for my arthritis. When I need it, I use my inhaler for my asthma. Others take many more pills each day. All of these medicines were discovered after years of trial and experimentation. None were discovered by accident. None were magic. All
Yes we would all like the power of magic. We would all like to just twitch our nose like Samantha on Bewitched and make this COVID go away. We'd like to think maybe the cure is just as simple as warm weather and sun, a little chlorox, or even a vaccine that is already out there. Vaccines are being tested now. But they won't be ready for common use for a long time. Why? Scientists need to know if the drug will indeed work on humans. What are the short term and long term effects of the vaccine? Will it cause side effects? Will the cure be worse than the disease? People though want magic.
We want a cure right now. Bleach works on surfaces, why not inside of me (in reality though bleach is poisonous). The kennel cough vaccine works on my dog why not on this corona virus in me (dog medications are not always effective on humans and this virus is different than that corona virus). It started in winter and so maybe like the annual cold and flu it will wane in the warmer weather (but that has not been the case- COVID 19 fluorishes in spring as well as winter). We want magic. But with apologies to David Copperfield and his ilk, magic is not real. Hopefully in a year or two, a vaccine will be available. Hopefully some day soon Dr. Tam in Canada or Dr. Fauci in the US, or Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization will announce that a vaccine has been found and will be distributed to people. But until then, I won't believe in any magic bullet. Blessings
