Everyone’s lives have been totally changed by the COVID 19 virus. To date, it has infected 1,638,216 people across the entire globe — almost nowhere has been safe from this nasty virus. And one of the most frustrating parts of the entire pandemic is that China definitely tried to downplay and coverup how serious of a problem they had. As much as the US is being roasted by the global community for PPE shortages and lack of good health care for all, at least they are reporting their numbers as accurately as they can.
This leads one to wonder what else is China hiding from the global community? There are reports and whispers that China’s death toll from COVID 19 could be much higher than its reporting. And now it has come out that China has been battling a nasty bout of African Swine Fever! This is reported to have happened 19 months before the COVID 19 outbreak. Reuters reports that, “the meat industry estimates has shrunk China’s 440-million-hog herd by more than half.” That’s an astounding number of dead animals.
What’s more is now ASF is being reported in Poland. The Guardian has confirmed that the area of Ponzan has confirmed cases of this deadly disease. And it is not just the pig farms that are being hit by ASF, wild boar populations are also being hit hard. This, on face value, might not seem like a big issue, but it is. ASF is thought to be able to transfer from pigs to humans — if humans come into contact with wild boars, they can bring it into their domestic pig populations. This can be disastrous for not only small pig farms, but large ones as well.
The big question here is “will this be another COVID 19 pandemic?” And that is quite a bit more difficult to answer than it should be. A lot depends on whether China, and other countries, are up front and honest about the issues they are having. Will they ask for help early enough or will they claim all is well until it’s too late? Only time will tell.
For now, it might not be a bad idea to finally start exploring those vegetarian options on Pinterest! With everyone’s quarantines extended through the end of Spring, we all definitely have time to look into non-meat options. Sound off in the comments about what you’re take is on all of this. And from all of us at Trill!, stay home, stay healthy and don’t forget to wash your hands!
Featured image via Unsplash | Pascal Debrunner
