Common “Engineering” sense answers to Covid and living with it.

Since we all have a lot of time to spend with our spouses you should read this alone. You have the time; it may save your life and it has a lot of bad jokes and movie references. Read it to the end, use your mind, judge and think. Buddha may have said believe half what you see and a quarter of what you hear. I personally believe neither what I see or hear. So let’s try to beat this thing.

First of all, I am an Engineer that never practiced engineering and, not a doctor or a politician.

Take my words with that in mind, people who know me well know that I try to find the Truth all my life and I will only give you advice that I would do. If you read below you agree not to sue me or feel I tricked you into trying to be healthy or to use your common sense, and most of all do not comment on my grammar ( you know who you are grammar nerd ).

First of all, let’s start with an important warning. Other covid strains live in the freezer for 2 years! If you touch a freezer bag with corona hands and take it out a year from now, you could get infected. And if we have no inoculation by then or immunity this will start all over again. Take this warning seriously. This is not a drill private, the sirens mean the enemy is airborne.

The internet is slow what can I do to speed it up?

Nothing. Everybody is using it at the same time. Even if you can not speed it up you can enjoy a faster internet if you can sleep in the morning and wake up at night like I do.

Will the Internet stop?

Everything dies if you do not take care of it. The internet included. Rest assured all governments will try their best to boost internet companies because if they are not there the populace will get restless as they experience facebook withdrawal syndrome which could be more fatal than corona.

Do I need to worry? What is my risk?

You are sure to die. So am I. The risk of death in our species is to the best of my limited knowledge about 100%. Do worry that is over your lifetime, you have to die, or else you will not make space for the newer models and their Android phones, and if you have children that use iphones shame on you do you want them to be as technologically limited as you go get them a Samsung Galaxy Fold 44.5 oh sorry wrong year. Back in 2020 now, so, where were we? oh
Let me try to be serious for a few sentences.

You need to assess your risk. First of all choose a baseline statistic level you think is applicable to your situation. Italy which is an EU nation, makes Ferrari cars reached a close to 10% over all mortality, China where people are very organized and still have a good medical system lower than 2.5%. If your country has terrible doctors and medical systems increase this, if your country has a population that does not respect even traffic lights calculate on the larger number, if your country for example, has both then for all practical purposes you are going to haunt your home as a ghost soon. In that case you take the number of Italy and multiply it by a number you estimate based on how you think the medical system is better in Italy than and you come up with the number like 15% this is a personal risk assessment number not the truth, remember you are assessing your own personal risk for your own good. But if you are in a country where they do not have beds for patients in normal situations and the hospitals run out of surgical masks IN NORMAL YEARS then you might as well go up to 20%. Ok you might think it is high, but it will not be 10% of Italy. So, lets just assume 15% for easy calculation. ( this is just for calculation not in any way related to my own knowledge or anything )

If you have 9 brothers 1.5 of you exactly will die. Well actually a lot more if you are all between 60 and 70 2.5 of you will die, lets round it up to 8 lol! OFC you will tell me Italy has a lot of old people, and yes your right, the numbers will be lower but your country Algeria has a lot of stupid people, and they will not notice that their probability of dying is lower and will thus die anyway of stupidity. Jokes aside, such a fictional country will still be anywhere between just below 10 and up to 15% .

If you anyone has a life long disease like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, any lung issues, any lung issues again, any serious allergies that could stop them from taking needed drugs etc , the probability will increase may be even skip into the next age group or two. The more serious it is the more you should be afraid. If it is serious asthma, then be sure to treat that person as if they have AIDS and are not on medication. Be afraid, no be terrified. The closer it is to the lungs the worse, the heart feeds the lungs and body, serious diabetes slows healing, hypertension…. You get my drift

If you need a consultation about risk assessment, call me, first one is free so is the second and third if it is related to corona.

Can I do more than the World Health Organization guidelines?

Read this to the end. Let me ask you a question, have the WHO been effective in STOPPING the spread of this disease? No. Understand this, the WHO guidelines are the minimum you should be doing.

N95 masks are expensive what shall I do.

Do not buy N95 unless you are a doctor or are taking care of the front door (and staying inside ) of people who are high risk as shown above. And do not buy or use too much N95, since is usable for 8 total hours in a Medical Setting, so if you use it only when you open the door one mask is more than enough for months If you take care of it. N95 is not a toy, you will not know how to use it effectively.  And the odds are it will give you false sense of safety if you use it and that is where Homo Sapiens ( google your self ) excels, in falsely feeling safe just because New York is far away we will not be like them.

See the WHO knows that you WILL use it wrong and when that happens it is as useless as a donkey on an airplane to you and the other passengers.

So if you are taking a mask from a doctor saving lives that needs it, make sure you watch videos on how to use it and to understand what it does and does not do. So if we go back to your donkey on the plane, not only did you (not the donkey ) get a donkey on a plane which is useless enough to make me wonder who is the donkey you or them? You ran the risk of making the whole plane die if the donkey runs to the captain and eats his balls.

Still if you know how to use it or you do spend an hour understanding the basics of filtration ( more on that below ) and hours using it to get used to it you need to understand that elephants remember every thing. Now even I am confused.

Understand that if they say it is used for 8 hours on the pack, that is in a professional setting and you can wear it for 8X60/5 times or 96 times each time 5 min or even much more in a home setting.
Do not share masks, keep them clean not by washing but by having a good storage box for it that is sealed. And again, if doctors do not find the masks, the whole airplane will fall and it will be your fault and the world will rename your family name to Donkey Bin Laden till the end of time and shame will fall on all your seed and there will be famine and things of Lord of the Rings level evil. If you do not know Lord of the Rings do not ring my phone, I do not want to know you or your seed. Stop reading, since my jokes will expose your lack of imagination like the wind blowing up the skirt of Marilyn Monroe.

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But you said Who guidelines are not enough what can I do?

Google “skirt of Marilyn Monroe” and press on images when your wife is not next to you and when she comes vist this link and read it https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public .

No really read it, read it well (the link not the pics of Marlyn you are still looking at and imagining what she would look like if she were living now ). And if I contradict it think for yourself. I am as smart as Skynet “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” because I like it better than the first movie. Just kidding, my genetically engineered brain is not as good as Skynet, I am just very keen on knowing stuff and making people feel I am smarter than I actually am or they are, stupid inferiority complex. But that aside..

Corona is a novel virus, the doctors currently do not know everything now about it, if they did we would not have been in singing with pink Floyd “we are just two souls swimming in a fishbowl” to symbolize how densely packed we are in our homes with our children 24/7. Google pink floyd and listen some if you get a good internet connection and good speakers (send me pics of the speakers not Marilyn). Read this answer but know that you need to see how far you would go for staying extra safe. It depends on your household. Here we go

Treat everyone as if they are going to mug you. If you are a racist treat them as if they are not white and you are from Texas. Run if you have to from them lol. No keep as much distance between people. WHO say 2m, why not do as engineers and keep a safety factor to the safety calculation, so make it 5meters if you can. Why because wind, humidity and many variables come into play to calculate the behavior of gasses. This is what Engineers study not doctors. As an Engineer I was trained to put a safety factor, and when there are unknows like a novel Virus, you multiply the safety factor with another uncertainty factor especially when you design a shape never before done like the ugly shape of Corona may it rot and all it children die a slow and painful death like they are doing to our fellow humans.

 And mostly because Corona has won 4 rounds against the human race, a thing with no brain until now is smarter than us and handing us our asses. People die with doctors, every day , bridges fall once in a decade, who will you trust doctors or Engineers. Honestly, Doctors know more about this, I am not a doctor, but just be safe. And distance is free and easy. Just say after me, please keep your distance.

Treat delivery packages as if they are radioactive. This video is good. No it is very very very good. Every part below assumes that you watched this.

 I go further. For fresh foods keep a reusable big plastic box that can take all your orders on your door. Fill it half or so up with chlorine/water mix quarter glass chlorine bleach (not color since that is not chlorine or other stuff is added to it depending on brand) to one liter of water. Ask the delivery guy to dump the fresh stuff in it from a safe distance, then give him a BIG tip, they need it. Next keep the stuff in the water for 15 minutes, I put a little more cholorine, but much more will bleach your stuff and  you end up with black and white fruits, too bad if you are below 30 you might not know black and white movies lol. All this happens outside your house, on your front door. If your neighbors steal your fruits, let them, the one they took are the ones with corona.

Should I wear non n95 masks.

Maybe. Who knows? I mean what the WHO says is no. Do you trust them. I trust that they are balancing the needs of the medical systems of the world with the needs of the non-infected in what they think is a good way. Bullshit. Everyman for himself in this one. See non n95 will not be used in medical system, some industrial stuff is better and more expensive but needs training. For example, full hazmat suits used in the most dangerous biohazards can kill you if you do not know how to use them. Engineers could help, and this one says filtration is not easy, ask anyone who has a swimming pool and has never been able to get that crystal-clear water look, it is HARD. Filtration deals with percentages and given sizes, a filter will remove x percent from particles down to a certain size and will not remove smaller except at much lower efficiency. In general, for non pro gear the thicker the filter of the mask the better but it has to have smallest possible pores or wholes. Even HEPA air filters which are devices that filter hospital rooms and nuclear facilities and even your room air like AC cools it, will remove 99.9% after half an hour of circulating the air multiple times, not at the first circulation. Add to that dead areas etc. Filtration is hard. If what you want is to protect others, then yes is definitely helps.
But that delivery guy wearing a mask is still mostly uneducated at least in third world countries where even the educated are ignorant. So, tip them well, they are taking the risk of killing their parents so you do not have to get out of your home. Tip well these days.

Should I wear goggles?

Why? Oh to protect your eyes. Well the WHO said nothing about this, and I have not heard someone do that. Well while people where stocking n95 to the point where an 18LE mask now costs between 120 and 240LE because doctors wear them, those that know how infectious disease doctors and quarantine people usually wear goggles. Why because they deal with unknows, live covid 19. Now for that reason you do not need goggles unless…..

See me building suspense there like Quentin Tarantino, yes unless you like me touch your eyes without noticing. If you do that like many people wear goggles for 2 things both of which are common sense and not medical in any way. First to stop yourself from touching your eyes with your hands and secondly to TRAIN your self to stop this forever it is a bad habit and I cannot stop it lol.

Should I stock up?

I do, but then again I am the kind of person that has zombie apocalypse gear for the off chance that it will happen (hence why I know so much about this ). No do not, but please do.

What? Yes. Huh? Oh.

Look buy enough so that the number of times the delivery comes to your home is reduced. This will reduce the strain on the delivery system in your locality and will reduce your probability of doing an error while handling things. Also, if you can afford have a weeks’ worth of food. Please buy the most expensive stuff for this you can. Why, so that those less fortunate than you will not have higher prices. So caviar for me, that is if you send it to me.

Should I send you Caviar really?

No. Don’t be daft. Do not share stuff between households unless totally necessary. And if you have to ( share that is not bring me caviar )  you need to tell those you are sending the stuff to, to treat you like you treat the delivery people and the stuff to. No special treatment even if the delivery person is your son, he is still a delivery person, clean, disinfect and tip lol.

What is your fixation with tipping?

These people are taking a risk for you. This is the least you can do. They are prime vectors for the virus, but even then, they are much less riskier than going to a supermarket! Believe me, the world is not perfect, and this is the state of it. Keep your distance so that they do not infect you and that you do not infect them with corona or anything else.

Why should I care about non corona spreading?

Oh my, did your parents not teach you manners. You do not infect people that have a high probability of getting corona with any other sickness not even yourself, we learnt that in kindergarten. Oh crap I told you something that I should not have in this timeline. Butterfly effect I disappear.

Why did you disappear?

Google butterfly effect for fun or go watch Dr Who (time travel documentaries lol), and no he/she has nothing to do with the World Health Organization. And Dr Who is a woman now, deal with it. Go now watch Dr Who just for the fun of it, nothing about Covid there or is there? David Tennant was the best Doctor. And no he is not a medical doctor, like me he travels across time. Only both of us play pretend, he is an actor and I have no excuse for that except trying to imagine what new technology will look like.

Will summer kill novel Covid 19 and we can all go to work?

Nobody knows. Hence the word novel. It is from the family Covid but nobody knows the mother since she left 19 with the father who was obviously Chinese. Even if so you will not go out right away, they do need to wait until 14 days to see the effect and after that they need to study the numbers, send them to me print them and make paper planes out of them. It might take time for them to tell us that summer makes 19 run, still even in summer we do not know how weak it will be.

What shall I take if I suspect I have covid 19?

Take a paper and write this number down if you live in Egypt, 105 and 15535. I said I am not a doctor all the above is just common sense and relativistic physics and quantum computing (joke not stroke).

I am coughing, do I have Covid 19?

I am not a doctor, but do not panic. There are hundreds of other infectious diseases that can kill you not just covid 19, so do not fixate on it. In all probability you have one of them, it is math. Up till today 28/3/2020 the probability of you getting covid-19 in Egypt is much lower than getting a normal garden variety heart attack at 35year of age, I just made that up but you get what I mean, common sense much?

Still take it seriously, any infection during this outbreak is dangerous. Treat it with no mercy, I know bacteria are people too, not. Kill that infection like an American sniper killing Iraqi insurgents in IRAQ! What? Do whatever you need to get the oil, I mean better. You do not want to fight on multiple fronts when Corona storms in your house and kicks you with their rifle and points the gun at you.

This is a war, be ready and healthy.

What should I take to increase my immunity?

OMG. Are you on drugs? Do you have any experience with them? No? You do know I googled you in 2050 and know you do. I do not, not now anyway, I mean not this moment right now, no this is not a joint in my hand. In nature like in drugs whatever goes up must go down unless its Voyager 2 which is outside of solar system now. We sent a probe outside our solar system but can not kill a virus in our body.

There are drugs and herb that can increase your immunity, but they will only work for a while. And since you do not know when you will get infected as I do, or do not, taking such is like playing Russian roulette, one wrong spin and you can increase your immunity when safe and decrease it when you need it.

Given that things like ginger, turmeric, lemon, multivitamins, and garlic do not really increase your immunity but some do help you fight certain bacteria and stuff since some of these have antibiotic effects and some just keep you healthy and inflammation free. Turmeric needs fat and a little black pepper to be absorbed so a curry (which includes turmeric ) is an amazing way to get it. If you go for pills the good turmeric comes mixes with oils (fats ) and has some black pepper in mg doses and they sometimes call it peprine or so for marketing. The rest you can enjoy any way you like, any safe way that is. We do not want fifty shades of bats that may have started this mess.

Oh and one more thing, as Douglas Adams said in his biography called the “Hitch Hikers guide to the Galaxy” Do not panic ( oh it was an SF book not a biography I know can a guy not dream that these things are real without going to the mad house these days? ).

Yes panic and depression will reduce your immunity, this is not the end of the world, just the end of a really bad article.

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