How The Reaction To Covid-19 With Fear and Dehumanization Affects Our Immune System

"I am not a number. I am a free man." This line from the 1960s British TV program, "The Prisoner", is spoken by Patrick McGoohan. He finds himself on an island village confined in a dystopian world, dehumanized as "Number 6".

In the book "1984", the main character, Winston, is also imprisoned in a totalitarian, dehumanized world of fear in which physical contact and the spoken word has severe restrictions. Even engaging in a sexual relationship can be risky and can result in vaporization unless the government grants a couple the right to procreate.

We think that both of these works of fiction could never happen in a free democratic country. If we look carefully, we see that slowly but surely, the unthinkable manifests itself in our society.

Worldwide, government impositions in the face of Covid-19 have elements of totalitarian states, the likes of which we never thought we would see in our lifetimes. Such impositions for a disease or infection have never been implemented other than in times of war.

Fear

Fear is a powerful motivator. The constant drum-beat of Covid-19 news is doing nothing but instil fear in the populace. To hear people lining up to receive a vaccine with what is an experimental genetic chemical is astounding. We have lost all perspective about this infectious illness which is just one of many more lethal than Covid-19.

The following are some of the pandemics in modern times with the global population in brackets:

• 1889-90 flu pandemic killed 1 million people (1.2 billion )

• 1918-19 Spanish Flu 100 million deaths (1.8 billion)

• 1957-58 Asian Flu 1 million deaths (2.7 billion)

• 1968-69 Hong Kong Flu 1 million deaths (3.5 billion)

• 2009 Swine Flu 500,000 deaths - mostly children and young adults (6.8 billion)

• 2020-21 Covid-19 2.4 million deaths?? (7.8 billion)

Pandemics such as the Swine Flu killed mainly children and young adults. Meanwhile, Covid-19 is not an illness of children. So why are schools closed, businesses shuttered? Why is there a plan to vaccinate children who don't die and who are not spreaders? The only people for whom the virus has a higher degree of lethality are those such as the elderly and others who are immunocompromised—for whom all viruses and infections are potentially lethal. Dr John Ioannidis of Stanford University stated, "Even some so-called mild or common-cold type coronaviruses that have been known for decades can have case-fatality rates as high as 8% when they infect elderly people in nursing homes".

So what does fear do to us? Sustained fear puts the body into a fight-or-flight state where there is a surge in stress chemicals production. These are mainly adrenaline, norepinephrine and cortisol. These chemicals increase both heart rate and blood pressure, but over time decrease the immune system's functioning and things like libido and sleep.

For some reason, the media fails to inform people what helps to prevent and treat Covid-19. Sunshine (Vitamin D) is an excellent disinfectant of the virus and enhances your immune system, and there are other therapeutics that work. Studies show that most Covid patients are deficient in Vitamin D levels.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-treatment-vitamin-d-deficiency-risk-a4556891.html

Dehumanization

Everywhere you go, the signals are there: Keep a distance of 1.5 metres from others, wear a mask, and put a tracking app on your phone. A cynic would say this has nothing to do with health but more about control and power.

Social distancing is having a profound effect on society. School closures prevent children from interacting with each other. We know from studies that children who grow up in isolation do not do well. We are all social beings, and without interaction with others, we wilt. Isolating people reduces the normal functioning of the immune system. Human interaction is vital. Of course, the mental damage from isolation is apparent

When children see adults camouflaged by masks, they cannot read facial expressions, whether a smile, frown or smirk, not to mention dealing with muffled spoken voices.

We have other evidence of how Covid has dehumanized us. There have been devastating business closures worldwide, such as restaurants, bars, resorts, and gyms. In the U.S. alone, several hundred thousand businesses have permanently closed. The opportunity for people to interact as well as to maintain financial security is gone in many instances. Hugging and handshaking are discouraged. Everywhere you go, sterilization is the order of the day. We are all germaphobes obsessively cleaning with the hopes of creating a sterile environment. Our immune system needs interaction with germs to function efficiently.

Yes, it's a strange world today, like nothing we have seen before in our lifetimes. Viruses are a part of us, part of our make-up in our evolution, and to treat Covid-19 with such fear and disengagement from one another is a troubling direction for our global society. Ironically, what we are doing is having detrimental consequences to our immune system. Many believe that this will be the new normal for the next viral illness that afflicts us? Only time will tell.