Happy Hour

Don't get me wrong, it is a difficult time here in Italy.  Today was the worst yet for the number of new positive cases and the number of deaths related to Covid-19.  It is a lot to contend with.  I am so very grateful to the doctors, nurses, the government, military, grocery clerks, warehouse operators and logistics providers - and everyone that is helping to carry  us through.  We are doing our part to stay at home.  I still see quite a few people outside walking or running.  I still hear a lot of ambulances passing by... The situation is so dire at the hospitals it is unimaginable and I don't fathom to share here on Blip the stories that are coming in first person from people we know.  The televised news this morning showed multiple military transports taking the trip from the hospital to the cemetary in Bergamo.  It is just heartbreaking.  I pray that all my family and extended friends across Italy, Europe, America and the rest of the world take the situation with the utmost vigilance and care.

On the flipside, being an engineer and problem solver in general, I read an interesting article this morning in my news feed from an Israeli industrial engineer who is a specialist in creating mathematical models of epidemics/pandemics specializing in respitory diseases.  He had an interesting take on the pandemic.  I don't think the article was maybe fully developed and not a news outlet that I typically follow. I am not saying I agree with everything, but I felt was a good read learning about the math behind infectious disease.  In any case, we need to protect our health services with this crisis not to overload the system which I think has been the main culprit of the high mortality.  If you're interested - Dr. Dan Yamin