The Red Velvet Lawyer

Eighty-Seven Years of Research  Unlocked Some of the Mysteries of the Virus  that Killed 50 Million People Worldwide I finished the book on the Spanish flu: "Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused it" by Gina Kolata.  Over the last two months, I have read books on Ebola, Cholera, the Black Plague, and malaria.  My reading list still includes books on HIV, smallpox, and the risk of coming pandemics.  Scientists have learned that the virus causing the Spanish flu was genetically similar to viruses found in birds.  It mutated in pigs, then infected humans. The Spanish flu virus was probably circulating (in a less virulent form) in the population for several years before the deadly 1918 outbreak that killed 50 million worldwide. The weird mortality curve , with younger people dying at higher rates, may reflect that older people had antibodies from the 1890 flu (developed when they were baby o

We Won't Know for Several More Weeks,  and the Uncertainty is Too Much for Some Folks! Can I still say that Qatar is flattening the curve? At the end of March, I began tracking the Qatari government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.  That post provides context, background, and daily updates through the end of April.  In light of the ongoing pandemic and recent changes in the data coming out of Qatar, I decided to start a new post for May 2020. As noted, the situation in Qatar has changed significantly in the last two weeks.  Qatar reported its first case of COVID-19 on Feb. 29 in a young Qatari returning from Iran.  Until April 2, new cases per day had not exceeded 115.  On April 3,  total  cases finally exceeded 1,000.   On April 4, the number of new cases doubled, hovering around 250 per day for several days. Qatari officials said that new testing technology explained the jump. Then, on April 17, officials began reporting cases exceeding 500 per