Containing the coronavirus is proving to be difficult in spite of efforts by some governments and health authorities. This newly found virus, officially designated “2019-nCoV” is similar to two previously known deadly coronaviruses – SARS and MERS. Here is the testimony of one of our colleagues from a SARS outbreak.
“All passengers from the affected area should be quarantined for at least a week. I know first-hand the devastating effects of SARS. I almost died from it in 2014 and my amazing husband did die from it. The only reason I survived was my husband demanded the antibiotic clarithamycn for me. I was sent home with a virus as my diagnosis. I was barely conscious for 3 days as my husband would wake me and give me the antibiotic and a sip of boost. My husband presented to the hospital at the end of day 3 at the emergency only to be put in a cubicle telling him he had a virus. He sat in the cubicle for 7 hours then his sister screamed he needs help. She was given a paper bag by a nurse saying he was hyperventilating. Finally a doctor put her head in and said oh my God. 5 Hours later my sweet adorable husband who was a fit and healthy 57 year old passed away in the ICU.
Three days later I was told we had the virus SARS. If only the emergency department had not been so apathetic saying…it JUST a Virus…if only they had done some testing in those first hours he was in the emergency department. Ken would still be here. This is a call from one who knows to emergency departments not to be apathetic towards their patients.”
Editorial Comment. Like SARS, the 2019-nCoV coronavirus seems to have moved from an animal host to humans in a crowded Chinese food markets where live animals are kept in unhygienic conditions. Eating bats, rats and/or cats have all been blamed thus far. After the virus spread from animals to people via human handling and consumption, it spreads from person to person, most likely by droplets sprayed into the air from coughs and sneezes.
Our colleague’s comment on quarantine reminds us the most effective ways of stopping the spread of infectious diseases are the same the Creator God gave to Moses some 3,000 years ago – simple but thorough cleanliness and separation. Clear, practical rules about washing following the handling of potential sources of infection, and quarantining people with potentially infectious diseases. (See Leviticus 13-19, Numbers 5, 19, Deuteronomy 23)
Sceptics often use diseases like SARS and MERS to claim that God is not good. However, we would remind them that such diseases would never have occurred in the original very good world, because humans were instructed to eat plants, and not to kill or eat animals. Since then man’s rebellion against his Creator has led to our slack attitudes towards handling and cooking animals covered in their own poop. The emergence and spread of deadly infectious diseases are products of the degeneration of the world, not from its original Creator or creation.
Evidence News vol. 20,
No.1
29 January 2020
Creation Research Australia