COVID-19/Coronavirus Facts and Prevention

Global Pandemic

COVID-19 or Coronavirus Disease discovered in 2019, which is responsible for a global pandemic. The main country affected has been China, but it spread to a number of other countries around the world to a varying degree.

The World Health Organisation names the disease COVID-19 because it doesn’t refer to geographical location, in animals, a person, or a group of people, all of which can lead to stigma, they also wanted to make it pronounceable and related to the disease, which is not Syndrome Coronavirus 2, because it's genetically very similar to the SARS coronavirus which was responsible for the severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS outbreak in 2002. 

Normally coronaviruses that circulate among humans are benign, and they cause about a quarter of all common cold illnesses. But occasionally coronaviruses that circulate in an Animal Reservoir mutate just enough to where they are just able to start infecting and causing disease in humans if they are given an opportunity.

As of 1st April 2020, there have been 785,779 cases of COVID-19 and 37,816 deaths with a fatality rate of 3.4%, but there are 177,141 recovered causes according to the Worldometers. The vast majority of cases infected in the USA and most deaths have occurred in Italy overtakes China.

For a little perspective, the 2002 SARS outbreak resulted in 1098 cases, and 774 deaths, so the fatality rate was around 9.6%, and the 2012 Morris outbreak resulted in 2494 cases and 858 deaths, bringing the fatality rate 34%. Finally, for the 2014 Ebola outbreak which was granted not due to a Coronavirus, there were 20639 cases and 11316 deaths, the fatality rate was a whopping 40%.

What is Coronavirus?

At a microscopic level, coronaviruses are single-strand positive-sense RNA viruses with protein spikes on their surface that look a little bit like a crown under a microscope. In fact, Corona is Latin for Crown. Besides just looking Majestic, these spikes allow the virus to invade cells lining the respiratory tract and lungs, after the binding, the coronavirus enters and takes over the cellular machinery to make more and more copies of itself, so it can spread to the surrounding cells and get into the mucus.

Sometimes the infection is mild and some people won't develop any symptoms at all. For others, they can develop symptoms that range from pretty mild like fever, cough and shortness of breath, all the way to serious problems like pneumonia. Severe lung damage can cause Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome or ARDS, which occurs when the lung inflammation is so severe that fluid buildup around and within the lungs. The severe infection can cause septic shock, which happens when the blood pressure falls dramatically, and the body's organs are starved for oxygen. ARDS in shock is the main cause of death for people with the infection, and this is more likely to occur in those over the age of 60s, smokers and people with previous medical conditions like hypertension.

Ways of Spreading

In addition to causing disease, coronaviruses can spread quickly. Usually, the virus spreads when people cough or sneeze and about 20,000 tiny droplets containing the virus are released. These droplets can land on another person's mouth, nose, or eyes and that allows the virus to enter a new person.

Once a person is infected, symptoms develop an average of 5 days later. This is called the incubation period. However, the incubation period varies from person to person, and in some studies, it's lasted as long as 24 days. Now, there is debate about whether or not symptomatic people can spread the disease because these people typically have low levels of circulating virus, but even if they do, symptomatic transmission likely plays a minor role in the overall epidemic.

Viruses are given a Basic Reproduction Number or R0 based on how quickly they spread and person to person transmission has been confirmed both in and outside of China. And R0 of 1 means that an infected person passes it onto one new person, and R0 of 2 means that one person spread it to 2 new people and so forth. if R0 is below 1 the infection peters out if it's one, it stays steady and if it's above 1, then it continues to spread. 

The current estimate of the SARS-CoV-2 R0 is between 2 and 2.5. Of course, that's an average with some spreading the disease less, and others called Superspreaders spreading the disease at a much much higher rate. The exact cause of these superspreaders is unclear. Perhaps, they’re just in contact with more folks, perhaps, their bodies naturally shed more virus, or perhaps, there is some other reason altogether. 

To confirm the diagnosis there should be a real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction or RT-PCR test which is a quick test used in many Labs and hospitals that can detect a very small amount of viral RNA.

Supportive Treatment

Treatment is focused on supportive care such as providing fluid, oxygen and ventilatory support for really ill people. There are also early data showing that three medications are highly effective against SARS COVID-2 in the laboratory settings. These medications are Chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, Ritonavir an anti-HIV medication and Remdesivir an antiviral drug, previously used against Ebola. Remdesivir was given to the first US patient with COVID-19 and on day 11 of his illness as he was clinically worsening, and he began to improve the very next day. Large-scale clinical trials using Remdesivir are already underway in China.

Unfortunately, there's no vaccine currently available to protect against COVID-19, at best it looks like the vaccine will be many months away. So for now, the goal is to avoid human to human transmission, starting with isolating individuals with COVID-19. Coronavirus doesn't usually spread over long distances in the air, but they can travel roughly 3 feet or 1 meter from one person to another on tiny droplets of saliva, which are produced when someone is coughing or sneezing.

Susceptibility to the Coronavirus

COVID-19 is now reaching consensus among infectious disease experts that it is out of control. Because it is very different from the previous SARS (MRS) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) viruses, it has a high transmission rate from person to person. The SARS and MERS viruses are controlled because they have a strong transmission rate from animal to human and a low transmission rate from person to person, so they can be effectively controlled as long as they limit contact with infected animals.

The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus-infected 1 billion people worldwide in 6 months, and the COVID-19 coronavirus is a similar influenza virus, but its transmission rate is stronger than H1N1. So what we are seeing is only the initial stage of virus transmission. COVID-19 new crown virus has come to this world, it will not disappear, it will become a part of our human beings.

In fact, there are many kinds of coronaviruses. Each of us has been infected with some kind of coronavirus. Common cold viruses are caused by coronaviruses 15-25% of the time (Coronaviruses from other coronavirus families, not new coronaviruses ). However, the outbreak of the new coronavirus - COVID19 is more severe than ordinary coronaviruses, and its case fatality rate is 0.5-2% (compared to seasonal influenza 0.1%), but the final result experts speculate that it will change, it will eventually become the same as other coronaviruses that cause flu.

Although we are now seeing a decline in new cases in China, an increasing number in Europe and the USA. Experts predict that 20-60% of the U.S. population will be infected with the virus within 18 months. The best case is that if 20% of the 340 million people in the U.S. will be infected and 0.5% fatality rate, then 340,000 people will die. Under ideal conditions, 60% of the population is infected and 1% of the fatality rate is 2,040,000 deaths.

According to the data collection in the past few days, a global infection with this virus cannot be avoided and it is only a matter of time. Of course, the longer you can hold back, the better the chance because there will definitely be better treatment options in the future (mainly the development of antiviral drugs). At present, there is no effective antiviral drug globally. Hundreds of clinical trials are underway to find effective antiviral drugs. To ensure that you are not infected and that the chances of waiting for the vaccine to go to the market are extremely small, we must be fully prepared to analyze our own risks. 

Everyone has different risk perceptions. A fatality rate above 0.5% is already very dangerous. The above chart shows that the risk of being younger than 40 years old is extremely low at 0.2%. By the age of 40-50 years old, the risk doubles to nearly 1%, the risk of 60-70 years old is 3.6-8%, and the risk of 80 years old The highest is 14.8%. Age is one aspect. Let's take a look at the following chart to see what other health conditions increase the risk.

The death rate of patients with cardiovascular disease infected with COVID19 is 10.5%, compared with 7.3% in patients with diabetes, 6.3% in patients with chronic respiratory disease, 6% in patients with hypertension, and 6% in cancer patients. The mortality rate is 5.6% and 0.9% for people without the disease. There are other data showing that the mortality rate of middle-aged men who smoke is 8-10%, while that of women who do not smoke at the same age is less than 2%. If you are 50-60 years old, then you have to start worrying about your risks. If you have high blood sugar or high blood pressure again, then this is a very urgent situation.

There are only two end results: 

1. Everyone was infected and recovered by winning the fight with their body’s own immune system with the virus, they became immune to it. This virus became part of the common seasonal cold virus. 
2. The vaccine is currently expected to be available as early as 18 months, but it may not be successful through clinical tests.

Prevention

• Some strains of coronavirus can survive on surfaces for over a day. With that in mind, if you're a healthy person living in a non-outbreak area, the recommendation is to avoid travel to disease outbreak areas. Generally, stay away from crowded places and stay at least 6 feet or 2 meters away from anyone with symptoms.
• Always careful hand washing is the key and it should be done with soap, or alcohol-based hand sanitizers and scrubbing. Also avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, this area is known as your t-zone, and it's a common entry point for viruses into the body.
• Wearing a mask is useful. In general, you must wear a mask when you go out because this prevents the viruses floating in the air from in contact with your face, nose, mouth and eyes. If you have mild symptoms or you are a carrier of the virus, you can also prevent the virus from spreading to others. Medical N95 or 99 type masks are very effective in preventing viruses and they are used by medical staff. The best preventative measure is to avoid hand-to-face contact and minimize touch face with your hands after wearing a mask, and wash your hands soon after you get home. All the evidence have proved that countries wearing masks, such as China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, etc., have low infection rates. Even South Korea had a large number of infections in the beginning, and it is now well controlled. But looking at the Europe countries and the United States, who didn't like to wear masks are out of control in this epidemic. Therefore, many of WHO's announcements are wrong. Countries that believe in WHO, the epidemic is developing terribly. If the WHO announced the global epidemic pandemic earlier, it would not be as bad as it is now.
• Avoid contact with many people. This is a respiratory-borne virus that attaches to water droplets in our breathing, coughing and sneezing. Once the water droplets evaporate, the virus can no longer spread. So the virus spreads highest in winter and lowest in summer, because when summer temperatures are high, water droplets are faster and easier to evaporate. In the winter, the virus can maintain life on the surface for several hours, sometimes it can be effectively transmitted throughout the day, but in the summer, it can only last for a few hours at most, and the distance between people is 1-2 meters.

Strategy

You have at least one year to strengthen your immune system because, after one year, this will most likely affect 50% of the population (ideally 20% of the population). No country is safe and it will maintain long-term existence.

Strengthen the Immune System

• Good quality of sleep
• High-protein, good nutrition diet
• Regular exercise 
• Cold exposure (cold water shower), heat exposure (sauna) 
• Breathing exercises to relieve stress (chronic stress can cause immune disorders). Respiratory methods can help you relieve stress at any time, regulate your nervous system and strengthening your immune system.

Supplement

• ASEA Redox Signaling Supplement can improve the redox signalling within the cells to boosts efficiency of the body's own antioxidants by up to 500%, hence can improve immune function, regulates the inflammatory response, restores hormonal balance, protects against free radical damage, 100% kill in under 30 seconds for all tested bacteria and viruses, completely native to the body, zero toxicity. 
• Ionic zinc (supplement) - if used properly, there is a great potential to completely cure the virus
• Chloroquine - currently the only antiviral drug approved by the FDA
• Selenium (garlic, broccoli, beef, eggs, supplements) - the most effective nutrition to reduce toxicity
• Probiotics (supplements) - regulates the immune system
• Mushroom (supplements) - regulates the immune system
• Ginger Tea - Anti-Virus
• Vitamin A (Liver) - Regulates the immune system
• Vitamin D (sunlight, supplements) - regulates the immune system

Hopefully, people will take the initiative to get healthier and win this fight with COVID-19 globally.  Learn how to improve our health from the cellular level by using Redox Signaling Molecules to repair damaged cells.