Surprise - Its Snowing

The one thing about the weather in Canada is that snow can come at any time here although it does not normally snow in July and August in the southern parts of Canada. It was just a light dusting which actually did cover the ground for a short time but busy melting now.

Chromosome 3 occupied me this morning. I finally have a result that looks good but still the question of assurance around the assignment of maternal grandparents is a bit light in terms of a match. The only definitive known to me match is a 4th cousin and the length very short (around 10 cM). I will once again assign that one to my maternal grandmother's line and the rest to my maternal grandfather but dearly wish I had a good result for Chromosome 3 on the maternal side. I actually have very few results (a total of four with three being unknown but possibly fitting into the pattern mentioned above). Time to move forward onto Chromosome 4. It takes me longer and longer each time it seems to add in all the new matches since last August. For the most part I am not making spectacular changes; just a little revision here and there which gives a better fit and eliminates my comments from last time questioning the placement. That is a move forward at least!

My husband has had a rough week with his illness although feeling stronger today. He is 77 years old now and I really do not know all that much of his family history. I do know some but not all. It would be helpful probably to know more. Finding that information from far away though is not an easy proposition. Overall he is much healthier than his brother who died at 61 years of age. His father died at 43 years of age but that was the result of a fall (he was a farmer and working in the barn he unfortunately suffered an epileptic seizure and hit his head on a cement floor). His mother though lived to be 93 years of age and his mother's father was 89 years of age. Good aging genes there for both of them. I think he is a lot like his mother and it is just a matter of resolving his chronic illness which I think came down from his mother's father's side of the family. He needs a quiet life unfortunately as he enjoys getting out and about. Praying for him as always.

COVID-19 has sort of moved to the back of my mind this week. I see that there is ongoing discussion of the origin of the virus. The creation of the virus I have no doubt at all that Mother Nature created this virus as she has created all such things from time immemorial. She will continue to create such things and the reason why I have no idea really but we do need to live with Mother Nature and not in opposition to her. Is it just DNA expressing itself as a living organism and seeking new hosts; simple as that? After all we have had smallpox, bubonic plague, poliomyelitis, and SARS.

Poliomyelitis was a dreadful disease and London had a particularly difficult period with it during the mid 1950s. It was truly scary I can remember as a child. I can hardly imagine anyone bringing up a child and not vaccinating them for poliomyelitis. The damage is horrific in a child.

But what of COVID-19 and its origins? Can we really in the midst of all of this pinpoint the actual location where this disease leapt from its animal host to a human host? It is something that time will provide more clues on for sure. The responsibility and the ability for the World Health Organization to thoroughly research and study COVID-19 once the disease has been harnessed is an absolute. No one should stand in the way of discovering and understanding this pandemic's causes and effects. But right now all of our mind must concentrate on a vaccine and treating COVID-19. WHO has said we are at the beginning of this pandemic. The numbers today globally 2,501,156 (increase of 85,021 over yesterday), with 171,810 deaths (increase of 5,871 over yesterday) and recovered 659,732 (increase of 26,749 over yesterday). The population of the world is estimated at 7.8 billion and so COVID-19 has affected 0.0003% of the world's population thus far. It's effect on the G-20 countries thus far is the vast majority of the cases. But the rest of the world is increasing steadily according to the WHO site.

In Canada we have 37,398 cases (increase of 1736 over yesterday), 1,729 deaths (increase of 111 over yesterday) and recovered 12,915 (increase of 766 over yesterday). But we have only tested as of Tuesday (today) morning 559,500 which is only 0.01 % of our population. We need to do a lot more testing especially antibody testing to see who has had the disease and recovered. Once we know that then we can go back to work. Well I guess not me; I am retired. But I keep busy with projects even health care projects that I have been invited to share in as a Patient Partner. These projects have been so rewarding intellectually and mentally. I miss being part of the Health Care System; I didn't realize it until I suddenly became part of a project.