If you are wondering “how do I protect myself against coronavirus near me” then here are a few useful tips. Their aim is to move you as far away from an immunocompromised position as you can. Meaning that your body, like those 30,000 people in Wuhan who have recovered from coronavirus Covid-19, will be able to fight off the infection should this occur.
In Emergency Medicine speed trumps perfection. An ounce of hygiene trumps a pound of cure.
You are alert for symptoms of coronavirus
A cough + fever + body ache + fatigue + progressive shortness of breath are symptoms of coronavirus viral infection. Bar the shortness of breath, such symptoms are similar to common viral episodes such as a cold and seasonal flu. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose. Coronavirus first infects the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3-4 days. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs. The latter causes pneumonia which develops within 5-6 days. It is imperative you then seek immediate attention. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing. Coronaviruses strains 229E and OC43 are associated with various respiratory illnesses ranging from the self-resolving common cold, to severe pneumonia in immunocompromised patients (bilateral pneumonia in 75% of cases). Antibiotics are of no use and existing antiviral drugs will not work because there is no match. Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system and below tips help you with that, sensible stuff to put the odds in your favour.
How do you get infected, be sensible, plain hygiene works best
| What we know about the coronavirus | Sensible things that you should do |
| Respiratory transmission occurs mainly by droplets disseminated by unprotected coughs and sneezes. | Cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow; or cover your mouth and nose with a tissue (not your hands) and put used tissues in the bin immediately. |
| Short-distance airborne transmission of influenza viruses may occur, particularly in crowded enclosed spaces. | Avoid crowds if at all you can, keep a polite 6-foot distance, look and don’t touch, be vigilant about unprotected coughs and sneezes by people around you. |
| Hand and direct inoculation of virus is another possible source of transmission. | Wash your hands with soap and water often and thoroughly (20 seconds minimum). Use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser containing at least 60 percent alcohol if soap and water are not available. Do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean. |
| Airborne coronavirus first infects the throat. | Make your throat as inhospitable to pathogens as possible: regularly gargle with lukewarm saturated salt solutions (at 20°C the maximum amount of NaCl that will dissolve in 100 gram of water is 36 gram – NaCl shown in vitro virus inactivation). Salt inhalers are a useful adjuvant therapy in COPD. |
Coronavirus recovery depends on strength of immune system
If you are worried about catching the coronavirus then take the following to heart to improve the strength of your immune system. The big advantage of doing that is that your immune system can cope with virus mutation because your own immune defenses can and do mutate along with such changes. Vaccines cannot do that.
It is commonly known that vitamin C and Natural Killer Cells are closely related to the prevention of common cold and the flu. [Sources: The significance of the evidence about ascorbic acid and the common cold. Pauling L. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1971 Nov; 68(11):2678-81. and Activation mechanisms of natural killer cells during influenza virus infection. Hwang I, Scott JM, Kakarla T, Duriancik DM, Choi S, Cho C, Lee T, Park H, French AR, Beli E, Gardner E, Kim S. PLoS One. 2012; 7(12):e51858.] Damages through the replication of influenza viruses can be effectively prevented, when vitamin C concentration is sufficiently high at the initial stage of viral infection. If it is insufficient, however, the pathogenesis of influenza virus could not be prevented. This means that vitamin C should be your forethought and preventative action, and not an afterthought. This correlation with redox potentials and inhibitory effects on viruses was known from the Epstein-Barr Virus already. Respiratory viruses are known to induce Reactive-Oxygen-Species-generating enzymes (e.g. Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate Oxidases, Dual Oxidases, Xanthine Oxidase) and to disturb antioxidant defences. Vitamin C is an essential factor on the in vivo anti-viral immune responses through the production of interferon-α/β at the initial stage of influenza A virus infection.
Vitamin C comes either in tablet or powder form. Powder can be mixed in with the daily clever smoothies. Tablets are easy to take throughout the day. Minimum dosage is 5,000mg per person a day but more effective (and safe) is the maximum dosage of vitamin C is determined by bowel tolerance (when your stools become looser) which tends to be around 10,000mg/day. You can buy 500g or 1kg bags of vitamin C powder online from Just Ingredients or such.
Vitamin C and Infections
Vitamin C Infusion for the Treatment of Severe 2019-nCoV Infected Pneumonia
Larger doses of vitamin C may lead to a greater reduction in common cold duration
Vitamin C Is an Essential Factor on the Anti-viral Immune Responses through the Production of Interferon-α/β at the Initial Stage of Influenza A Virus (H3N2) Infection
Vitamin D and the anti-viral state
Vitamin D and Influenza—Prevention or Therapy?
Vitamin D increases the antiviral activity of bronchial epithelial cells in vitro
Preventive Effects of Vitamin D on Seasonal Influenza A in Infants
Stop coronavirus as it comes in contact with the mucous membranes of your airways. To make these membranes as inhospitable to microbes as can be, use a (porcelain) saltpipe. Breathe in sharply and deeply (saltpipe in mouth) and breathe out via you nose. So salty air travels through as much of your airways as possible. Repeat often throughout the day (some 15-20 minutes in all). It is a safe and useful tip for those with Chronic Obstructive Respiratory Disease (COPD). Research on the Hungarian Sópipa and speleotherapy is sparce but there is plenty of empirical evidence that it is beneficial. The 2019 Edinburgh and Lothians Viral Intervention Study on upper respiratory tract infection (i.e. URTI common cold coronavirus) showed that those who did nasal irrigation and gargling with the salty solution had a shorter cold, were less likely to pass it on to their family, had faster viral clearance and were less likely to use medicines from a pharmacy. This study is published in Scientific Reports. Empirical data about the health benefits of salt dust was first published in 1843 by Dr. Felix Bochkowsky, physician for Occupational Health in Poland.
Optionally you can add two or three drops of Iodine solution to the rock salt or sea salt and shake to distribute it evenly. Lugol’s Iodine, 15% is 100 mg/mL of potassium iodide and 50 mg/mL of iodine, is approved for use as a topical antiseptic. In that case, hold your thumb and finger to either side of the top opening, place the saltpipe’s mouthpiece against your nose and inhale sharply and deeply. You will smell the Iodine and the air mixed with Iodine will make contact with the membranes of your airways, making it a lethal landing ground for microbes. If you want to add Iodine then first test that you aren’t allergic to it. Place a tiny droplet on your forearm, if you are allergic a red rash will appear and no harm is done.
Coronavirus numbers
On 03/03/2020 World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that globally about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. The WHO had mentioned 2% as a mortality rate estimate in a press conference on 29 January and again on 10 February.
Whatever you read in mainstream media about coronavirus COVID-19, read it whilst bearing in mind that the official 2019-2020 US seasonal influenza Preliminary Burden Estimates are 36-51 million illnesses, 17-24 million medical vists, 370,000-670,000 hospitalisations, 22,000-55,000 deaths. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recorded that the 2018-2019 US seasonal influenza was associated with more than 35.5 million illnesses, more than 16.5 million medical visits, 490,600 hospitalizations, and 34,200 deaths. This burden was similar to burden during the 2012–2013 seasonal influenza season. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) World Health Organisation Situation Report – 52 (12/03/2020): Globally 125,048 confirmed (6729 new) and 4,613 deaths (321 new).
UK Chief Medical Officers are advising anyone who has travelled to the UK from mainland China, Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia or Macau in the last 14 days and who is experiencing a cough or fever or shortness of breath to stay indoors and call NHS 111, even if symptoms are mild.
You too may find the data and infographic of the History of Pandemics interesting, it may help to put matters in perspective. Oxford University has a dedicated website updated daily to Coronavirus COVID-19 https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus with up-to-date number of people infected and number of people passed away per country. A first coronavirus study links comorbidity to severity of condition. It was carried out at two hospitals in Wuhan and showed that of 191 people admitted, 137 were discharged and 54 died. Of those that died 48% had a comorbidity, hypertension (30%), diabetes (19%), coronary heart disease (8%). Which means that 52% didn’t have comorbidity issues, their immune system evidently was too weak to fight off this virus. This page was written so you can put the odds in your favour.
Coronavirus origins
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which causes COVID-19, is a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it came from animals (current virus spread rapidly within the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, China). Worldwide 81,296 cases have been reported with 2,770 deaths (mostly mainland China*) and 30,359 cases that have recovered. World Health Organization officials and US experts say that it is too early to declare the coronavirus a pandemic. Mainstream Media on the other hand makes you believe that it already is. Cui bono always is a useful question to ask (to whom is it a benefit).
Dr. Jeremy Samuel Faust MD MS MA (Emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School) wrote that there are many compelling reasons to conclude that SARS-CoV-2 isn’t nearly as deadly as mainstream media and officialdom suggest. Aboard the Diamond Princess (the quarantined cruise ship made an unintentional yet ideal ‘laboratory’ to study the virus), only 1 person boarded with the virus, all other passengers were healthy enough to travel. Out of 3,711 on board, 705 caught the coronavirus. More than half of these 705 didn’t show any symptoms or signs of illness, 6 people died which makes the death rate 0.85%. Not a single death among passengers was under 70, showing the rate is lower still in younger cases. Compare that 0.85% CFR to SARS’s 9.38% CFR or to MERS’s 35% CFR. A useful site for up-to-date coronavirus statistics is ourworldindata.
Coronavirus precedents
Both Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) also were caused by coronaviruses. In 2002, SARS-CoV spread to 37 countries infecting some 8,000 people and killing approximately 750 (CFR 9.38%). MERS-CoV was less easily passed from human to human but had greater lethality, infecting some 2,500 people and killing approximately 875 (CFR 35%). Often viruses that spread easily tend to have a milder impact. Predictably the coronavirus, any virus really, hits older and infirm people hardest, with few cases in children.
Influenza A virus precedents
In 1918 H1N1 influenza A virus (Spanish flu) caused an influenza pandemic. Worldwide approximately 500 million people were infected resulting in 50 to 100 million deaths (3% to 5% Crude Mortality Rate, this divides the number of deaths from the disease by the total population. Note that the Case Fatality Rate would have been much higher). It was one of the most deadly pandemics in human history.
In 2009, a new strain H1N1 influenza A virus (Swine flu) spread worldwide. Again the World Health Organization labeled it a pandemic. In contrast to 1918, the 2009 virus was not zoonotic swine flu because it was not transferred from pigs to humans. Instead, it spread through airborne droplets (like SARS-CoV-2 does now) from human to human, and potentially, through human contact with inanimate objects contaminated with the virus and transferred to the eyes or nose. Worldwide approximately 700–1,400 million people were infected resulting in 150,000–575,000 deaths (CFR 0.01-0.08%).
Coronavirus vaccination
Vaccine effectiveness varies. Recent studies show that flu vaccination (trivalent/quadrivalent) reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60% among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well-matched to the flu vaccine. No match equals no protection. A virus mutating reduces the chance of a match. There is a strong possibility that SARS-CoV-2 will continue to mutate. Being an animal virus, SARS-CoV-2 has already likely mutated as it adapted – first animal-to-animal, then animal-to-humans, now human-to-human. This mutation process may even vary in different parts of the world. There is no SARS-CoV-2 vaccine yet and whichever one hits the market, it cannot mutate.
