From The Mind of Merc - Pandemics

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics ad occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about pandemics (inevitable, really).

A lot of people have been highlighting the theory about a pattern emerging in major plagues that seem to strike around every 100 years:

Year	Occurrence
1720	Plague
1820	Cholera
1920	Spanish Flu
2020	Coronavirus

Two things to note from this:

1)   They (sadly) are not the only plagues to strike – if you want to really depress yourself visit the Wikipedia epidemics page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_epidemics

2)   On a brighter note, we are able to improve our response to it

The death toll from each of these plagues reads thus:

Year	Occurrence	Death Toll
1720	Plague	c. 1,000,000
1820	Cholera	c. 1,000,000
1920	Spanish Flu	c. 17,000,000
2020	Coronavirus	c. 40,000*

So (with the exception of the Spanish Flu) the mortality rate is improving against pandemics and contagions – especially when you consider the ones that don’t ‘fit the pattern’

Year	Plague	Death Toll	Average per year
541-542	Plague of Justinian	c. 25,000,000	12,500
1347-1351	The Black Death	c.25,000,000	5,000
1855-1960	Third Plague Pandemic	c. 22,000,000	209.5
1960-2000	All reported plagues	52	1.3

Also:

- Smallpox (which killed 500 million in the last 100 years of its existence) was eradicated in 1977

- Polio cases decreased from 49,293 to 74 between 1975 & 2015 (eradicated in Europe in 1998)

- Malaria mortality fell by 60% between 2000 & 2015 (38 countries so far declared Malaria-free)

- Rubella cases dropped from 670,000 in 2000 to 15,000 in 2018 (Australia eradicated it in 2018)

I sincerely hope there will not be another repeat in 2120 but if there is hopefully we’ll again improve our fight against it.

*While admittedly the full toll of the current outbreak is not yet known, so long as people start using common sense rather than selfishness this should start stabilising - i.e. not increasing soon

I Won't Stay Here At Home - !!!NEW!!!

I said it wouldn’t be the last

(I was going to use Alice Cooper’s School’s Out but it’s too late for that now)

(I was also going to use Jojo’s Get Out but she beat me to it)

I Won’t Say I’m In Love I Won't Stay Here At Home not from Hercules

If there's a prize for rotten judgement,
I guess we've already won that
Nothing is worth contamination
But look what’s out there - sunlight, all that

Just what are you thinking?
Is this all a big joke to you?
Stop us all from sinking
Before it all comes home to you
‘Cause we really mean it
We’ve already seen it
And it must stop now

But still today I might go out, oh oh
(You’re mad! Please stay. Don’t blow out no no)
It might dismay - I won't stay here at home       

I thought this virus was no big deal
It doesn’t seem to affect me
It seems so silly to be stuck here
Others are dying but I’m still healthy

Boy, you must be joking
It’s not about how you're feeling
What is it you’re smoking?
From your statement we’re still reeling
Please do not disgrace it
When you gonna face it

That you can’t can’t can’t go out

But still today I might go out, oh oh
(You can’t, you won’t, we say don’t - stay at home)
I won’t delay I won't stay here at home
(Do not proceed – won’t succeed – stay at home)                           
It’s just too hard I won't do it
I won’t be barred I won't do it
(Please see some sense and today stay at home)
Well, I’m not dense perhaps I’ll stay at home

You Give A Little Sneeze - !!!NEW!!!

In light of the current situation, I guess it was unavoidable to write a Coronavirus themed parody song. I doubt it'll be the last. Stay safe!

You Give A Little Love You Give A Little Sneeze not from Bugsy Malone

We could have gone anywhere that we wanted to go
But now at home we must stay
To stop the virus we’ll all do our bit
And to help the world we all will self-isolate

We could have gone anywhere that we wanted to go
But now that’s too dangerous
Don’t complicate it
We’ll all tolerate it
And stay at home without a fuss

We could have gone anywhere that we wanted to go
But now they’re saying we can’t,
Everything’s closing, it’s very imposing
But still we will do our best to stay safe

Do not be a dunce
You might think you’re safe but

All it takes is just once

Stay safe

Don’t shake any hands
Because that’s how it spreads
You must try to understand

No doubt about it

It must be worthwhile
Please don’t empty

The entire aisle

We could have gone anywhere that we wanted to go
But now that’s too dangerous
Don’t complicate it
We’ll all tolerate it
And stay at home without a fuss

You give a little sneeze and they all run away from you
A a a a a a a (choo)
Don’t wanna be contaminated by a selfish person like you
Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah