A British pilot who went to Vietnam to work as a commercial pilot was one of the first people there to contract covid-19. The country has had very few coronavirus cases and not a single death in spite of having 95 million inhabitants. The pilot who is from Motherwell in Scotland believes that had he not been in Vietnam he would have died. His was the worse case the doctors had seen and they published news of his treatment in national newspapers. Most of the people followed the story and he became known as patient 91. He spent 68 days on a ventilator in a coma but has now regained consciousness and said that he was grateful for the bloodymindedness of the doctors for not wanting him to die on their watch, The Vietnamese government over reacted at the beginning of the pandemic and therefore were able to halt to virus before it got out of hand.
Isolation and social distancing have been recommended and for a short while implemented in many countries. Now a scientist is saying that too long spent in this type of vacuum can cause several problems Well we could have guessed that, couldn’t we? For years we’ve been told to get out, exercise, socialise, use our brains etc. etc. it’s good for our health and well being and to be fair, we found that it was so. Now apart from isolation affecting our mental well being it seems that it can affect our immune system which needs to learn to protect by contact with other humans. And while we are on the subject, I went to the shop this evening and I was the only person wearing a mask.
A young teacher has become a real hit with her pupils after receiving a bionic arm. Vicki Smith who is 25 years old was born without her left forearm and while she has learnt to live a normal life, never having known anything different, certain tasks she was unable to carry out. She was chosen by a charity to receive the first bionic arm they were going to donate. The arm works by picking up signals from muscles in her upper arm and then behaves like a regular limb. She can now hold a knife and fork at the same time, cutting up her own food. She can curl her own hair without burning herself as she once did. And she can even do cross stitch which is a favourite pastime for Vicki. Her pupils are fascinated by the robot arm and like to ask her to do things that she couldn’t do before. They have named her Super Teacher. The organisation who donated the arm is The Worshipful Company of Glovers which was set up by London glove makers in 1638. I find this very apt. Good night. 😴💤😴