Sailing into unchartered waters

The COVID 19 pandemic remains the major news item since it began to get worldwide attention from late January, this year. Since the 1918 Spanish Flu, our modern history has been painted with the likes of SARS, H1NI, Ebola, Chikungunya, Avian Influenza, MERS-Cov, Zika, AIDS, Cholera, and a host of others that did not gain the prominence of our current pandemic.

As it stands now, COVID 19 pales in comparison to the Spanish Flu of 1918, an H1N1 virus that appeared during the First World War. It killed anywhere from  17-million to 100 million people and about 500-million people or one-third of the world’s population then, were infected. It wreaked havoc on many countries, just like what COVID-19 is doing now.

But you look at the total number of infections of COVID-19 at 14:3-million and deaths at 603,000, with 8-million recovering and you get a picture of what the 1918-19 pandemic must have been like. However, there are a number of considerations to take into account when we look at our current pandemic; its trends, impact in all facets of life, and its future implications. The latter being the area of concern for everyone.

The year 1918 was much different than our current age in the 21^st Century. We have much more developed economies, major technological advances in medicine, travel, food production, industry, education and the flow of information.

We are already hearing that COVID-19 could be around for another 2-years. Our modern way of thinking, believing that we have conquered, and are able to solve all the ills of society, makes a 2-year recovery or eradication date seems ludicrous. The hope of many lies in the development of a vaccine; the earliest date being projected for one is in another year.

Given the big pluses mentioned above, why do we continue to hear of record-breaking cases almost daily of coronavirus infections? Developed economies and advanced medical opportunities in countries such as the U.S., some European nations, and to a lesser extent Brazil, India, South Africa and Russia, have not been able to come to grips with controlling the spread or reducing the death rate for this virus in recent weeks. Even countries such as Spain and South Korea, which reported earlier decline in infections and death rates, have had to re-introduce lockdown measures in some areas.

If you listen to or read the daily reports from the World Health Organization, one gets a sense the virus is out of control and the inability of countries like the U.S. to do anything about COVID- 19. In the U.S., the spread has taken on a political overtone, in light of a looming presidential election in November. The leadership continues to give misleading information about the disease.  How can you have a president telling its citizens, to cheers, that the virus is 99% harmless when 135,000 people have died from it?

These are some of the ramifications of the coronavirus that are cause for concern. With the attitudes being displayed by some people in authority, the 2-year recovery/eradication date is certainly not far-fetched.

Already the IMF-World Bank are predicting serious economic declines for most countries in 2020. Do we grasp the implications of that? Are we heading for a collapse of the world economy? If the coronavirus trends continue, it’s not implausible.

Our health care workers and institutions, especially in the U.S., are already overwhelmed with the mounting cases, how much longer can they cope with the rising cases? Several medical observers have openly expressed concern about a second wave hitting in the winter months, as was the case with the Spanish Flu?

As we face coming months of uncertainty in the fight against the virus, are we sailing into unchartered waters?  From all appearance, we are if current trends continue. May God have mercy on us and His people, who know and understand this is just a warming of worst things to come, pray for His kingdom to come sooner rather than later.  For more on this subject, download FREE our booklet, EVIDENCE OF THE END TIMES.