COVID-19
- Apr 20, 2020
- 7 min read
In response to the COVID-19 epidemic that has greatly affected the world, I’m putting out some info from the CDC and WHO. I’m also going to point out some observations I’ve made about what’s happening. This virus spread suddenly and seemingly came from nowhere. 3 months ago, the dominating topic on the news was the impeachment hearings. That’s what you heard daily on the news. Before that, it was the Ukraine issue with Joe Biden and President Trump. There were no obvious warning signs before the COVID-19 outbreak. We now have information from Chinese doctors that state the virus was 1st transmitted to humans from the Horseshoe Bat. The horseshoe bat was not seen on sale at the open markets in Wuhan, China like other larger bats. The Horseshoe bat is widely used in Chinese laboratories of the military in Wuhan. The Chinese government will not confirm any information regarding their experimentations on the bats. It’s not reasonable to see how anyone outside of China could be blamed for the outbreak of this disease since the virus was introduced to every nation by a traveler from China. The 1st death in the US didn’t occur until Feb. 19 in the state of Washington. It would have been unwarranted to shut down the country based on that if the past national protocol is any indicator. The SARS, MERS, Avian Flu (Bird Flu), and Swine Flu didn’t draw cause a governmental reaction or declared a national emergency for 6 months, even though their fatality rates were much higher. Since little known about COVID-19 which originated in China, China was responsible for notification of the severity of the disease based on WHO rules. China is currently under investigation for not warning other nations about the severity of the COVID-19 or taking proper steps to contain it. Some European and Asian nations have accused China of weaponizing the virus.
When comparing COVID-19 to other viruses, it is important to look at its lethality and number of cases. Determining the reaction based on the threat is determined from this data. Looking at history, it’s surprising to see how many other pandemics that have occurred. Even more surprising is how lethal other pandemics have been. Tuberculosis is rarely mentioned as a pandemic or global threat, yet in 2020 is ranked 10th globally as a cause of death even though TB has a vaccination treatment. The nation did shut down during the Tuberculosis pandemic. TB killed 1 in 7 of all people that lived during that time. TB is more contagious than COVID-19. Estimates for cases and deaths in the US in 2020 were over approx. 460,000, which is a fraction of the actual number of deaths for TB. The estimated deaths in the US for 2020 has been lowered to 60,000 from 300,000. The number of patients contracting and dying from COVID-19 has begun to fall significantly, except for NY and New Orleans, which are seeing cases decline at a slower rate. I’ve included some statistics of cases of viruses to help put the effect of COVID-19 into perspective:
Influenza
Global cases: 500 million
Global deaths: over 50 million (675,000 in the United States); the death rate was around 2 percent
H1N1
Global cases: about 24 percent of global population; 60.8 million U.S. cases
Global deaths: over 284,000; 12,469 in the United State
SARS
Global cases: 8,098 cases Trusted Source across 29 countries; 8 U.S. cases
Global deaths: 774; 15 percent mortality rate
Ebola
Global cases: 28,652 cases Trusted Source across 10 countries
Global deaths: 11,325 deaths; death rate was about 50 percent Trusted Source
Tuberculosis
Global Cases: 10.0 million (range: 9.0–11.1 million) new TB cases.
Global Deaths: 1.3 million (range: 1.2–1.4 million)
COVID-19
Global cases to date: Over 127,000 cases
Global deaths to date: Over 4,700; the global death rate is estimated at 3.4 percent
To decrease the spread of COVID-19 facial masks and social distancing are advised and, in some cities, enforced. Because of the highly contagious nature of COVID-19, a change in the social behavior of people has changed. Until 1/3 of people have been exposed to this virus and have developed a resistance to it, social distancing will be the norm. The CDC has reported that the COVID-19 mutates at a slow rate which means the vaccines will work for a long time. The question must be asked, then why isn’t there an equally aggressive requirement for change in behavior for STDs which are killing far more Americans annually than COVID-19 ever will. The CDC is reporting a significant increase in STDs annually, over 95% are caused by behavior and environment:
Data suggest that multiple factors are contributing to the overall increase in STDs, including:
Drug use, poverty, stigma, and unstable housing, which can reduce access to STD prevention and care
Decreased condom use among vulnerable groups, including young people and gay and bisexual men.
Data are for the U.S.
Number of deaths: 2,813,503
Death rate: 863.8 deaths per 100,000 population
Life expectancy: 78.6 years
Infant Mortality rate: 5.79 deaths per 1,000 live births
Number of deaths for leading causes of death:
Heart disease: 647,457
Cancer: 599,108
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 169,936
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 146,383
Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404
Diabetes: 83,564
Influenza and Pneumonia: 55,672
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis: 50,633
Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,173
The coverage of COVID-19 by the media varies base on which network you watch. One consistent thing is which data about the virus is reported the most. The daily number of deaths and new cases is regularly updated. The current number of confirmed cases is estimated at 460,000 with approx. 16,600 deaths. That puts the number of people who have contracted the disease and recovered at approx. 420,00. The approx. 420,00 are rarely mentioned quoted. The good news that globally approx. 91% of patients treated with HCQ recover with no symptoms. It’s been reported that countries in the Southern Hemisphere where they’re transitioning from periods of high-level UV sunlight are experiencing a fraction of the cases in the Northern Hemisphere.
Libya, right across the Mediterranean Sea from Italy, has reported less than 1% of the cases than Italy. Good news about COVID-19 is in short supply even though there is plenty of good news following all the bad. There seems to be a resistance against reporting anything positive in the media. The doctor who successfully treated over 350 patients, with a 100% rate of success, with HCQ and Z-packs, has received little coverage. Thousands of doctors are reporting that HCQ with zinc is healing patients within 8-12 hours with no symptoms. Yet no one is claiming COVID-19 has a cure. Globally COVID-19 has a 90% success rate by doctors using it with Zinc in the US. The FDA has a slow bureaucratic process that didn’t approve of HCQ in COVID-19 until April 2020. HCQ has been used since the 1920s. I’ve included a chart to illustrate the current place COVID-19 stands amongst other diseases in lethality:
New Study Supports Use of HCQ As Effective Treatment For COVID-19
By Alan Lyndon
A study released today supports the use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a treatment for COVID-19.
The relatively small trial conducted in China included 62 patients positively identified with the COVID-19 disease. All of the 31 patients given HCQ experienced improvements in cough, fever and pneumonia as compared with the 31 patients that did not receive the drug.
“Despite our small number of cases, the potential of HCQ in the treatment of COVID-19 has been partially confirmed,” said the authors of the study, which was published on MedRxiv, an online server for medical papers. “Considering there is no better option at present, it is a promising practice to apply HCQ to COVID-19 (patients) under reasonable management.”
The authors specified “partially confirmed” to allow for “large scale clinical and basic research” to confirm their findings.
The results of this study are “going to send a ripple of excitement out through the treating community,” Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, told the New York Times. “I think it will reinforce the inclination of many people across the country who are not in a position to enter their patients into clinical trials but have already begun using hydroxychloroquine,” he said.
The study authors also highlighted additional findings to support the use of HCQ. First, in a follow-up survey that included 80 patients taking oral HCQ for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), none of those patients had contracted COVID-19 or any related symptoms.
“Also, among the 178 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia in our hospital, none were receiving HCQ treatment before admission.”
Where is our Hope???
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5.
In summary, I’d like to say that the perspective of this crisis should be different. We believe that God is in control of all things. We are to fear nothing. My mother, Barbara Lewis, used to quote Romans 8:28:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
We don’t know how God will work things out, but He will take care of His people. Christians are responsible to encourage and pray for everyone. In a similar context, during a battle or war, a commander wouldn’t give all the bad news about a battle. That would hurt morale and cause the troops to have a defeated mentality although they may be winning. Christians should have a winning attitude. Remember, pestilence, war, and natural disasters will occur with greater frequency right before Jesus’ return (Matt.24). Another catastrophe will likely follow this one. We must be ready. Jesus could return at any second. Be encouraged our eternal future is not in this world.
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India has enough HCQ capacity to serve demand, clinical trial outcome is crucial
Pennacchio to NJ State Health Department: Begin an Immediate Retrospective Analysis of the Effectiveness of HCQ as a Prophylactic Treatment for COVID-19
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