The numbers are staggering.

Quoting CBS News, "The United States reported more than 4 million coronavirus cases in November, which is higher than the total number of cases seen all year by any country in the world except India and Brazil."

Why, in heaven's name, did this have to happen? The US is the richest, most powerful country in the world with access to the best, most advanced health technologies -- or so we thought -- yet it has been brought to its knees by the pandemic.

If the numbers are staggering so are the consequences. One third of the total number of nurses who died of Covid-19 are Fil-Ams; we imagine there are many more Fil-Am frontliners, not just in the health industry, who have gotten the virus.

Covid-19 is a formidable foe, blind and disrespectful to barriers and divisions (race, economic status, political and religious beliefs) created by humans. But, as science and human ingenuity have proven throughout history, it can be defeated. All of us just have to do our part in making it happen. ALL. OF. US.

Our stories this week offer rays of hope for sickness and health.

Critical Care Pulmonologist Learning New Ways To Save Lives, Improve Outcomes
Reprinted from the UNLV Medicine Newsletter

Ana’s Chemo By Bella Bonner

Of Chicken Wings And Chicken Feet: The Traveler In Today’s Trying Times
By Carolina Esguerra Colborn

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 12 By Mona Lisa Yuchengco

The Happy Home Cook: Munggo With Ham By Myrna Montera Lopez

Video of the week: The Marcos Gold Wealth: Is It True?