Stay Healthy! Research Nutrition & Public Health Policy

On Facebook I’ve shared dozens of articles on pandemic, public health, and lockdown debates Here is are recent shares:

• Irish Scientists and Doctors Inveigh Against Lockdowns (AIER, Nov. 19, 2020)
The paper shows that testing and lockdown strategies are ineffective in lowering Covid-19 deaths. PCR tests are not reliable and tend to overestimate the number of people sick with Covid-19, which misinforms policy decisions. The 2020 mortality and virus-related hospitalization rates also do not deviate drastically from previous years, suggesting Covid-19 did not create a significant increase in mortality. 

• How Taiwan’s Unlikely Digital Minister Hacked the Pandemic (WIRED, July 23, 2020)

• 94 people test positive in second big coronavirus outbreak at Washington care facility (Seattle Times, Nov. 14) Elder care home in Stanwood, WA with 94 positive tests (41 staff and 53 residents). Sounds serious, and yet may be. Said: “…in an email Saturday that at least “a few” of the infected people have been hospitalized. She was unsure whether any have died.”

• On B and T Lymphocytes (Cato at Liberty, October 29, 2020)
The New York Times had an excellent article on October 27 discussing the role of B lymphocytes–which produce antibodies to viruses and other invading pathogens–and T lymphocytes–some of which directly attack and destroy the pathogens, and others of which develop memory for components of the invading pathogens.

• Covid: Mouthwash ‘can kill virus in lab in 30 seconds’, BBC News

• A Sensible and Compassionate Anti-COVID Strategy (Imprimis, Oct. 2020)
Author: Jay Bhattacharya is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, where he received both an M.D. and a Ph.D. in economics. He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and director of the Stanford Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. A co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, his research has been published in economics, statistics, legal, medical, public health, and health policy journals.

• New Saliva-Based COVID Antibody Test Is Highly Accurate, Johns Hopkins Study Says, (CBS Baltimore, Nov. 13, 2020). What do we want? Spit tests. When do we want them? Now.

• Belgian researchers link vitamin D deficiency to serious cases of Covid-19 (Brussels Times, Nov. 9, 2020) U.S. and E.U. continue to mislead public on Vitamin D levels (with way low daily guidelines). Everyone with symptoms for Covid should have vitamin D checked. How is this not standard U.S. and E.U. policy?
The biologists leading the study said that results which are set to be published on 20 November will further show that almost half of a pool of 16,274 patients were vitamin D deficient and that ‘male Covid-19 patients, in particular, showed severe vitamin D deficiencies.’

• So the Florida economy has been open since September 25. Any sign of disaster? Positive tests up but death rates down since Sept.-early Oct. Uptick from Nov. 5, but still 1/2 of Sept. rate and 1/4 of early-mid August. NYT Covid page for Florida

•  Anyone think more lockdowns will help address this challenge? Better would be to focus on metabolic health and maybe vitamin D deficiencies. The virus is everywhere, or soon will be, but only some people get serious or critical cases. Why? Mostly people of color with pre-existing issues like insulin resistance/metabolic disease. High percentage of Americans already with or on path to diabetes. Covid Race Tracking.

• Why people with diabetes are being hit so hard by Covid-19 (STAT, Oct. 1, 2020) …more than three-quarters of people who died from Covid-19 had at least one preexisting condition. Overall, diabetes was noted as an underlying condition for approximately 4 in 10 patients. Among people younger than 65 who died from the infection, about half had diabetes. 

• A Low-Carb Strategy for Fighting the Pandemic’s Toll (WSJ, May 30, 2020)

• The Children Never Had the Coronavirus. So Why Did They Have Antibodies? (New York Times, Nov. 10, 2020)

• Lots of documentaries listed in Diet Doctor page making the case for lowering carbohydrates, sugars, and statins. Federal nutrition standards and policies have caused or contributed to a nationwide metabolic disaster.

• The Mystery of Taiwan (AIER, Nov. 7, 2020)
A paper from the Lancet aims to answer this question by providing a few explanations. The authors’ main claim is that Taiwan’s rapid mobilization is ascribed to pre-Covid medical institutions, which include the Taiwan CDC, established in 1990, and the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC). In addition, Taiwan’s outbreak of SARS in 2003 allowed them to create plans for managing a similar disease later on. 

• SIX REASONS THE NEW LOCKDOWN IS A DEADLY MISTAKE (Matt Ridley, from Daily Telegraph, Oct. 31, 2020)
Covid is not a very dangerous disease for most people. The death rate is probably around 0.2 per cent of those infected, and most who die are elderly and suffering from other medical conditions. The mortality of those in hospital with Covid has almost halved for the over 80s since the start of the epidemic as treatment has improved.

Lockdowns are lethal. They cause more deaths from cancer, heart disease and suicide as well as job losses, bankruptcies, social disintegration and mental illness especially among the young, who are at least risk from the virus. In April sunshine, many people and firms could cope for a short period – once. Today, in November rain, the pain will be far worse. I will be all right, living in a rural area and able to work online, but what of those who started restaurants or live alone in small flats?

• Dogs can detect COVID-19 quicker and more accurately than nasal swabs, study finds (New York Post, Nov. 5, 2020)

• Lockdowns: The Great Debate (AIER, Nov. 6, 2020)
Tonight, the Journal of the American Medical Association is finally permitting some debate on lockdowns on their very influential YouTube channel. The debate will be between Harvard’s lockdown architect Dr. Marc Lipsitch and Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya of Stanford, one of three primary authors of the Great Barrington Declaration.