Gaps in knowledge: Unmasking post-(Acute) COVID-19 syndrome and potential long-term complications in COVID-19 survivors
BhaskaraP Shelley
Abstract
What's true of all the evils in the world is true of plague as well. It helps men [sic] to rise above themselves. – Albert Camus, The Plague “Each individual is an expression of the collective consciousness of humanity, and the collective consciousness of humanity is an expression of the one universal consciousness.” – Eckhart Tolle Man in his entirety has been governed by his own created philosophy based on the orthodoxy of scientism and the empirical knowledge from the tangible scientific methodology. Thus, the phenomenal progress of Man's Science and the Industrial Revolution has impacted on the multitude facets of humanity, where man has become the master of destiny of the human species and the collective life of humanity on our Terra Madre (Mother Earth). Perhaps as a deluge of my naive (pseudoscience) thoughts through the lens of Greek mythology of Goddess Gaia (Earth Goddess) and James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, I ask “Is Nature's mother God sending us a message with the COVID-19 storm?” “Is COVID-19 a symptom of Gaia's sickness?”[1] On the 50th anniversary of the Earth Day, 22nd April 2020, the Pope Francis reiterated the need to protect “our garden-home, our Mother Earth”, that creation must be protected and not exploited, and that nature will not forgive our trespasses. He recounted a Spanish proverb “God always forgives, man sometimes forgives but nature never forgives” in the context of COVID-19 and made a proclamation for Environmental stewardship. It is my steadfast conviction that coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is perhaps one such reality of a catastrophe stemming from Man's ideology of Anthropocentrism, an absolute decry of Biospheric egalitarianism and Planetary health, and Man's dereliction of moral responsibility for an Earth-Environmental Stewardship strategy. Humankind should envision “One Nature” Post-COVID-19 Planetary health governance. This will certainly transcend our current astigmatism of 'false binaries' i.e. Humans versus Nature, and Humans versus Non-Humans. This co-existentialism and harmony of different species of living creatures, including plants and animals is notably embraced in the Indian tradition, the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam that originated initially from ancient Sanskrit text of Maha Upanishad and later in the literary works of Hitopadesha. To my soulful mind, this renewed philosophical view, would be pivotal in paving the way for Environmental justice and Biospheric egalitarianism. Such a post-anthropocentric conceptualization would be a progressive and transformative futuristic policy to prevent zoonotic spillover emerging infectious disorders, and future ecological crisis. The humanity of Humans must be re-awakened so as to avert a dystopian future and possible human and biological annihilation on Planet Earth. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is undoubtedly a cataclysmic health crisis, but its ripple effects have traumatized and fractured almost all the pillars of our dynamic and thriving human society. To “hit the nail on the head,” I would only reiterate that the COVID-19 pandemic is indeed a grim “SOS signal for the human enterprise” on Planet Earth for a “One Health” concept (rethinking health at the Human- Animal-Environmental-Ecosystem Interface). The 'One Health' Perspective was in fact a key focus session as part of the COVID-19 Summit in November 2020 by Cornell University researchers in the United States. I would state that the future of Mankind and Earth systems needs an exit from the Anthropocene and an entry to an era of Symbiocene that resonates with the mindset of Ernest Hemingway, “TheEarthisafineplaceandworthfightingfor.” It has been my steadfast philosophy that science and technology alone cannot solve the panoply of challenges imposed by COVID-19 pandemic, but pluralistic approaches, most importantly humanities and behavioral and social sciences, must help and be on the top of the COVID-19 research agenda. This notion resonates with the affirmations made by Viktor Frankl, i.e., “Whenwearenolongerabletochangeasituation,wearechallengedtochangeourselves.Everythingcanbetakenfromamanbutonething:thelastofthehumanfreedoms–tochooseone'sattitudeinanygivensetofcircumstances,tochooseone'sownway.Betweenstimulusandresponsethereisaspace.Inthatspaceisourpowertochooseourresponse.Inourresponselieourgrowthandourfreedom.” The acute COVID-19 illness, human sufferings, and the catastrophic loss of lives unequivocally do represent large collective wreckage in human history. COVID-19 pandemic underscores how emerging infectious diseases are presenting an existential threat to humanity. At the time of writing, the rapidly evolving SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has spread across 217 countries that have led to a cumulative total of 52,454,684 confirmed cases with over 1,289,983 global deaths and a recovery of 36,685,543 cases. After a dip in new cases during June–August, Europe and the United Kingdom are now reporting a second wave with a far higher number of cases than during its previous peak. The United States, too, is going through resurgence. As the tragedy of acute COVID-19 infectious disease is ravaging across the globe, the world now seems to be pinning all of its hopes on the COVID-19 vaccine race. Scientists around the world are working at an unprecedented pace to develop safe and effective vaccines that could generate long-lasting protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and provide population immunity, thus reducing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Not sounding too Pollyannaish, I would now like to draw attention to the two dark sides of the prevailing COVIDomics. (i) the acute illness of COVID-19 and (ii) the hidden (unexpected) long-term health complications among COVID-19 survivors. COVID-19 has spread worldwide since first being recognized in Wuhan, a city in Central China, in December 2019. Even though the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide now has approached astronomical numbers, we are still amazed how little we know about this very complex disease. The clinical spectrum varies widely. Up to 40% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 never develop symptoms. About 80% of those who do become have a illness that not about are to only in an for to respiratory in the pandemic, people that COVID-19 was a the acute COVID-19 was of was in the first is now emerging knowledge of and long-term health and in the a COVID-19 The of long-term complications is not and only become in the and to in the November of has a and of the spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 The for the spectrum of COVID-19 illness could be (i) acute COVID-19 (ii) illness, and and It is possible that the of COVID-19 represent from the spectrum of disease. Such a would have for health clinical future and health The of this is to the long-term health the illness of the that are now to the of knowledge on I would reiterate that the health not with the first COVID-19 I would not to state that seems to be a that could be The of a clinical acute COVID-19 disease to be the of a wave of long-term a second wave of the of COVID-19 the COVID-19 This recovery to be a and indeed the of a certainly not the of the crisis, and a The on COVID-19 pandemic is far from over to the not over This for the to our and health to be to provide and a of life in such survivors. 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