‘Magic’ hospitals for the virus

By Alex P. Vidal

“A building has integrity just like a man. And just as seldom.” – Ayn Rand

VERA the wailing historian told me in Brooklyn yesterday (February 4) she was amazed by the ability of the Chinese people to build two hospitals in 10 days.

It was reported that Chinese authorities were rushing to build two new hospitals in Wuhan, the city at the heart of the coronavirus outbreak, in a matter of days to help combat the fast-spreading virus.

The outbreak has reportedly strained the resources of Wuhan’s front-line hospital staff, who have been forced to turn patients away because of a lack of beds and basic medical supplies.

The 1,000-bed Huoshenshan facility was completed and ready to receive patients on Feb. 3, while the second—a 1,600-bed hospital called Leishenshan—was supposed to be ready by Feb. 5, just 10 to 12 days after plans for their construction were first announced.

“It’s the first time that I heard about a hospital being constructed in 10 days,” Vera the wailing historian quipped. “I’m curious how these hospitals look like.”

The hospital is a two-story building consisting of prefabricated units, according to China State Construction Engineering Corp.’s website. Videos and images of construction at the Huoshenshan site began appearing online on Jan. 24, showing dozens of excavators, bulldozers and other earthmoving equipment rushing to level the ground.

The construction companies then added several layers of matting and poured concrete.

The hospital units are on pillars to keep them off the ground. The units are made of flat boards that hook together.

 

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Vera, 86, a half German and half Hungarian, said she admired the government of China “for its efficiency and effectiveness in responding to the need of its people” calling the building of the hospitals as “magic.”

Vera was amazed that two hospitals could be built in 10 days while the United States was to able to rebuild the Twin Towers (destroyed during the 9/11 terroristic attack) for more than 10 years (the ill-fated towers in the World Trade Center is now the One World Trade Center and the tallest building in the U.S.).

Vera the wailing historian added: “I remember the story of a noble dictator whose leadership provides satisfaction to his people while leaders in the free world sometimes can’t finish a simple infrastructure project on time.”

Vera has the habit of wailing each time she discusses the issue of climate change.

She worries a lot for the planet “because I care a lot for my loved ones who will be left behind when I am gone.”

 

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We’ve been talking a lot about the Wuhan coronavirus for several days now, but many of us still don’t understand why this “monster” exists and how it survives on this planet.

Can a virus be seen? A virus is the smallest organism that produces disease.

It cannot be seen directly by the ordinary microscope.

But this doesn’t mean that science hasn’t been able to study the structure of a virus.

Today there are ultramicrospcopes that enable these tiny organisms to become visible, according to the Big Book of Tell Me Why.

And science can know quite a bit about the sizes and shapes of various types of viruses using the electron microscope.

The electron microscope uses beams of electrons instead of rays of light.

The electrons pass through the specimen being observed and strike a photographic plate on which a picture is obtained. In this way, it is possible to magnify an object about 100,000 times.

By using the electron microscope, it has been shown that viruses range in size from about 300 millimicrons to 10 millimicrons.

 

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What is a millimicron? It is one-thousandth of a micron. And a micron is about one twenty-five thousandth of an inch.

Nobody is quite sure yet exactly what viruses are. Some scientists think they are like elementary particles, similar to “genes.” Still, others believe viruses are possibly midway between living and nonliving matter.

As far as we know, viruses can grow and reproduce only within living tissue. This means it’s impossible to cultivate then away from living tissue, and it makes it difficult to study their growth habits.

That’s why they are classified by their ability to infect living cells and by the reactions they produce in the body of animals and humans.

Does the virus produce poison or toxin?

It is now believed that they do produce toxins, but the toxin and the virus particle cannot be separated. And we still don’t know how these toxins produce disease if they do.

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)