During our weekly global zoom session about a society based on cocreation of sustainable wellness (Sustainocracy) regularly mathematics is mentioned as source for modeling a variety of situations and outcomes. We were pointed to the 3Blue1Brown YouTube channel for the most comprehensive video explanations about mathematical topics. There we came across this impressive general explanation about disease spreading. Enjoy.

With this as a basis it is of course interesting to also study why a virus would develop an R of 2 or bigger among human beings? Does it have to do with the virus itself or with the weakening of human defenses due to pollution and lifestyle issues? Are there other variables that need to be considered, such as climate, poverty, etc? This is especially interesting in the case of Covid 19, a coronavirus. Coronavirusses have been known scientifically to humankind since the 60´s as part of the 5000 known virusses that exist. So theoretically the human body has developed immunity already for a long time. Why then could it jump to a high spreading frequency and impact other than the normal level that our bodies can handle (the weak and elderly to a lesser extend)? The concentration of people in cities, airports, markets is one but that is also the case for the other virusses. How about the effects of our lifestyle (overweight, diabetes, cancer, bad air, processed food, lung problems, disrupted immune systems, etc) on R?

All this is relevant to develop our resistance and resilience in a preventive and even proactive way. A lot of questions remain but the issues of social distancing, commuting and other actions have been beautifully simulated and compared.