Our misery continues! Today, I went to buy my mother toilet paper at 6am and the local grocery store shelves were emptied. Do not fear, as I found it later at a different store. Later today, mom tasked me with finding eggs. That took two different stores as well before I found them! But, this is a time not to panic. It is a time to pull together and support each other. Many are recovering uneventfully–we just don’t hear about it. I have seen numerous patients over the past month that may have had it. I couldn’t test them because of a lack of kits, but they all recovered. Of course some are very sick and dying. Overall, I believe we will come through this with a death rate similar or slightly higher than the rate for the common flu. But, we will never know the true numbers because of a lack of test kits. I do not think this crises will persist into the summer months. As we begin to test more patients, we will see the mortality rate decline. Of course, those are only my predictions we know that viruses can mutate. This virus is very contagious but it is a flu-like illness for most who get it. That must be kept in mind. And, eating a healthy diet and maintaining optimal hydration can help dramatically. More about that later.
We are in this mess due to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If the CDC had done their job, COVID-19 would be contained and manageable. The Powers-That-Be at the CDC failed miserably compared to other countries. My recent blog post “Coronavirus VIII: Why Does S. Korea Have Lower Death Rate Compared to US?” was about the success in S. Korea at fighting COVID-19. Taiwan is another example for the US CDC to learn from. As of March 13, Taiwan has 50 COVID-19 cases and 1 death. (1) Keep in mind that Taiwan is 81 miles from mainland China and has 24 million citizens. A March 3, 2020 JAMA article detailed the rapid and complete response the Taiwanese health authorities implemented at the beginning of this crisis.
December 31, 2019 was the day Chinese officials notified the WHO that Chinese citizens were suffering unusually severe cases of pneumonia. That same day Taiwan began monitoring all passengers who arrived from Wuhan. A few days later, they started monitoring all people who had travelled to Wuhan since December 20. They increased their surveillance and testing and the rest is history; 50 cases and 1 death as of March 13, 2020.
I have discussed what our CDC did in previous blog posts. They refused test kits from the WHO, developed their own faulty kits and refused private labs from testing sick individuals. The postmortem on this story will be ugly for the CDC. We are in a mess now with COVID-19 spreading across the country.
But, all is not lost. As I have detailed in other posts, there are many things you can do to improve your immune system and help you avoid COVID-19 problems:
– Eat a healthy diet FREE OF REFINED SUGAR! It should also be free of all refined food sources including salt, flour, and oils. Remember, refined sugar paralyzes the ability of white blood cells to perform their duties for hours.
– Make sure you always STAY WELL HYDRATED with clean water. Take your weight in pounds, divide the number by 2 and the resultant number is the minimum amount of water in ounces to drink per day.
– NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS can help to improve the immune system’s ability to fight off an infection and to help it kill an active infection. I have over 25 years of practicing holistic medicine to back that statement up. I have seen it work. My partners have seen it work. My patients have seen it work. We have used this approach successfully for many viral infections. I have no doubt it will work for COVID-19 as well.
In my blog post “Coronavirus Part Vl: Why COVID-19 Is More Deadly to the Chinese” (3) I told you why COVID-19 was more deadly to younger Chinese males. Most Chinese men smoke cigarettes. Smoking increases ACE2 receptors in the lungs where COVID-19 has been shown to bind to. Similarly, ibuprofen has been shown to increase ACE 2 expression. (4) Ibuprofen should be avoided as it may enhance the infectious capabilities of COVID-19. Ibuprofen also causes problems for the kidneys and the GI tract. It is best to let the body utilize its innate abilities to fight an infection. One of the body’s main ways to do this is by mounting a fever. The increased body temperature is a way to mobilize the immune system into action as well as to enhance the killing effect of a foreign invader. Fevers can often be managed by tepid baths, lots of hydration and rest. It is important to maintain electrolyte balance with any infection but particularly when there is fever involved. Supplementing with unrefined salt is crucial here. It can be added to each glass of water. Again, it is best to work with a knowledgeable health care provider before doing any of the suggestions I have written about.
Acetaminophen should also be avoided for fevers. It depletes a crucial antioxidant–glutathione. In fact, acetaminophen should be severely limited for any condition. It has a poor safety profile.
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