In science, if one draws a rational conclusion from series of observations that were not drawn up by planned and formal experimentations, then those valid conclusions drawn up thereof are rooted in empirical observations. Empericity transcends all facets of human endeavours, the sciences or the arts. Now, the way it is with the coronavirus outbreak in China, one can correlate empiricity in mortality amongst the elderly who were already suffering from some other respiratory ailments; however, infestation is usually across all age grades. It is in its spread and mode of dispersion that the coronavirus interests me.
Essentially, the spread of the coronavirus is principally airborne and secondary transmission can reasonably be facilitated by contacts involving exchange of mucus, and in this respect the aspects and clinical description of the coronavirus resembles that of the common cold up here in Northern Nigeria (suffice to point out here that, so far, the common cold has been generally non-lethal). The recurring ailments I have come to dread most are malaria and the common cold; before I adopted unorthodox prophylactic measures that ensure that I keep these duo illnesses at bay, either of malaria or the common cold infestation in me brings me down for a couple of days and I get to lose man-hours that I sorely needed in my daily pursuits.
For the malaria-attack profile, these days I usually hit bottles of Guinness stout at the onset when I senses I am feeling unwell (instead of opting for chloroquine-based medications) and this therapy has worked really well for me; this quinine-heavy Guinness stout therapy, sometimes done informally while socialising, could be carried out in frequency spurts that a chloroquine-based therapy should not be done. For the common cold-attack profile and its concomitant sneezes and runny nose that I live in dread of, and one for which the risk of contraction is so great in the hygieno-phobic public spaces of Minna, I resort to smoking. Uh, for real, you’d want to say? I reckoned that exposure to virus with “cold” designation should be fixed by a “heat” source and, surprisingly, it works for me. But, smoking, uh? I had comforting statistics to help face this late-onset habit; Barack Obama smoked eight sticks of cigarettes daily while he was POTUS and his annual health-check result was always outstanding.
In the science and arts of smoking, one could opt for the Bill Clinton Mode that basically involves puffing to create a thermal flux in the oral space without the accompanying inhalation that is not good for the lungs in the long run. Recall that Bill Clinton was POTUS, too. Thus far, these past couple of years, I have been spared the inconvenience of spells of drawn-out episodes of sneezing and accompanying runny nose to hold me up for days. Also, when I feel I have been exposed to unsafe ambience where a person has not stifled fits of sneezes, off I go to my bathroom at the earliest convenience to create that “thermal flux” in my oral space as a first-step and as a very, very cheap prophylaxis. Could this “very, very cheap prophylaxis” technique help push back the spread of the coronavirus in people who are not already suffering from some other respiratory ailments?
Sunday Adole Jonah
Department of Physics,
Federal University of Technology,
Minna, Niger state
