by Mark B., Survival Blog:

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice, just information provide for educational purposes.

What have you done to stop COVID-19 from sickening, permanently injuring, or killing your loved ones? This disease isn’t just like the flu, COVID-19 can leave the “recovered” with long-term debilitating physical, cognitive and psychiatric damage, sometimes even in people who only suffered mild symptoms. The current US toll from this disease is about 130,000 dead, with an 8% infection mortality rate. The elderly or those with common high-risk factors, like high blood pressure, diabetes, or a compromised immune system have suffered the most, but young and otherwise healthy people are dying or being handicapped for life.

Most cases go untested, undetected and with mild or no symptoms; the CDC estimates there are 10 unrecorded cases for every known infection, so the US’s tested 1% infection rate may actually mean a 10% infection rate. This is nowhere near the 80% infection rate needed for herd immunity; there are plenty of healthy people for COVID-19 to spread to, and plenty of damage to come to our society.

Being asymptomatic does not mean that Covid-19 is harmless to healthy people, however. There is much that scientists don’t know about the disease:

• Could asymptomatic carriers suffer symptoms later on? We don’t know.


• Are asymptomatic carriers as likely to spread the disease as symptomatic carriers? We don’t know.

• Could those who have “recovered” from Covid-19 be more vulnerable to other diseases as a result? We don’t know.


• When/can an effective vaccine be created, and how long would it last? Would it be effective against all current strains and mutations? No one knows.

This article will discuss the knowledge, methods, preparing the terrain, and supplements you can use to protect your family during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

KNOWLEDGE

Virus Biology

The SARS-CoV-2 virus (the Coronavirus) is usually contracted when the victim inhales droplets/aerosol exhaled or ejected by a cough or sneeze from an infected person. There is a lower transmission rate possible from touching objects like doorknobs, keyboards and light switches that an infected person has used, and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth. The virus lives on surfaces like these from several hours to several days, depending on the material, the temperature and humidity.

The virus floats around in the victim until it contacts epithelial cells that line capillaries and arteries in the lungs, arteries, heart, kidney, and intestines.  The walls of these vessels are normally smooth like Teflon, nothing sticks to them.  The vessel cell membranes contain Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as part of a system to keep blood pressure in control.  When the SARS-CoV-2 virus contacts ACE2 on the vessel cell membranes, some of the time a coronavirus spike will slide into the ACE2 like a key into a lock and give the virus entrance into the cell. About 75% of the time, the original COVID-19 virus spike structure will fall apart before it has had a chance to infect someone.

[However, a recent coronavirus mutation called D614G has been discovered, that has a more flexible spike structure, and this mutation has proven to be more infective to the victim causing more damage, and more infectious for higher person-to person-transmission.]

At this point, infection has occurred.  The cell‘s reproductive machinery is taken over by the virus, and the human cell starts reproducing more coronaviruses, which are released into the body.

While scientists still haven’t determined how a Covid-19 infection leads to life-threatening clots throughout the body, it seems reasonable that the human immune system recognizes the injuries caused by the coronavirus and reacts to destroy the intruder. White blood cells attack the viruses, fibrin and platelets are called into duty to plug the damage inflicted on the epithelial cells, and this ends up generating clots in blood vessels that starve the organs of life-giving oxygen-rich blood. If the infected person is not treated effectively at the earliest signs of distress, the body’s immune system can be overwhelmed or start a cytokine storm, when the immune system gets confused and starts attacking human cells as well as the virus.

The usual symptoms of COVID-19 include:

• Fever or chills


• Cough


• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing


• Fatigue


• Muscle or body aches


• Headache


• New loss of taste or smell


• Sore throat


• Diarrhea or other GI problems

There are no vaccines approved to prevent COVID-19, although accelerated human trials on vaccines are scheduled for later this year.  Having an effective vaccine in a year or two just isn’t realistic; The typical length of time for a vaccine to be developed is between 10 and 15 years. “The fastest vaccine that has ever been developed was the one for Ebola.  That took between four and five years.”  We have to learn to live with the virus as safely as possible.

METHODS

Limit Your Exposure
The most extreme and safest example would be for you and your family members to seal the doors to your home, draw on your larder and stockpile for food and supplies, and wait out the pandemic until a vaccine or cure has been discovered. However, this would very impractical, uncomfortable and demoralizing for most folks. Most of us don’t have everything stored that we may need over the next year or two, we still need to go to work somewhere for income, and humans crave the company of others for information, physical help and companionship.

Let’s break down how to limit your exposure and discuss more practical methods for your family.

1. Reduce the number of visitors to the home. Limit your exposure if they must visit. This includes friends, family members that do not live in your home, home maintenance people, etc.

Most business can be handled through phone calls, Zoom phone meetings, or email.

Folks visiting for pleasure and company can sit in chairs on the front yard, while you and

your loved ones are on the porch a safe distance away. My parents and siblings have a Zoom meeting once a week for “Game Night”, and it’s nice to stay connected that way.

Reduce your unnecessary trips out of your house. The collapsing airline, cruise and other travel industries are evidence that most people are taking this advice to heart.

Many grocery stores, retail stores and restaurants are surviving the ever-changing operating restrictions by providing curbside delivery and at-home delivery, while Amazon, UPS and other delivery services make most shopping in person unnecessary. Many public and charter schools (like my sons’) are converting their curriculum and policies to provide a choice of on-line only, in-person only, or a combination education.

1. Reduce the chance of cross-contamination, by washing your hands frequently (about 10 times a day) for 20 seconds, and training yourself to not touch your face so often. In one study, subjects unconsciously touched their faces an average of 23 times an hour! The coronavirus can infect you only through your “face holes” (your mouth, nose and eyes), so wearing a facemask in public covers these vulnerabilities.


2. Reduce exposure at work. Many service and knowledge-based industries are adapting their work policies to encourage working from home. This protects their workers educes company liability, and if this continues long-term, reduces the amount of office space needed for operation. Workspaces are also being redesigned to increase personal space for each worker and reduce needed worker interaction.

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