Day 9

Not much new to report today, except that we got Disney+ now, so I wont see much of the kids the next few days.

1425 infected in Franconia, and 13 deaths as of this writing. I will update that number tomorrow morning

********************UPDATE for Day 9***********************

1454 Infected and 14 deaths. The curve is flattening.

It is still too early to know if the lockdown measures are working or not. Yesterday (Day 9) I went to REWE to buy a few groceries and it was pretty empty. The shelves werent empty, but the aisles were empty, not a whole lot of people venturing out. So at least we know that people are taking the lockdown seriously.

Angela Merkel tested negative for COVID-19. This is great news for Germany. The support numbers for the CDU/CSU are increasing tremendously. Many politicians (from all parties) like to run their mouths when everything is going well, but when things get rough it is interesting to see which politicians ACT. Merkel and Markus Söder are two that have done just that, they acted when others wanted to have political debate about what to do. Their actions may save lives.

Yesterday a coworker made me aware of an interesting theory as to why there have been so may deaths in Italy and now also in Spain. The main cause of death among those who are infected by COVID-19 is the bacterial infection that creeps into the lungs. Now, I assume that the normal treatment protocol is antibiotics. However, the bacteria that infects the lungs may be resistant to most broad-spectrum antibiotics in those regions. Why? Because those regions with the highest number of deaths specialize in making a special kind of ham. Ham, huh? Read on.

In order to raise the livestock to produce that ham, the farmers give the animals higher concentrations of antibiotics. Those antibiotics remain in the meat and are transported to humans who eat them. The antibiotics are in trace amounts, but enough, that the bacteria that live in the throat can build up a resistance to them. Sooooo, if those people become infected with COVID-19, and then later are also secondarily infected with the bacteria already living on the throat, the antibiotics will not work.

I found this to be a fascinating theory. What the theory does not explain, nor can begin to prove, is what about the people who are eating the ham outside of those regions. I am not trying to connect any dots here, but I thought it was worth mentioning as I believe there could be some truth to it.

We still have enough toilet paper.