Covid 10/18/20 | COVID 19 Information Page

The Global Burden of Disease report has been released for 2019 results. This report is important as it puts issues such as Covid-19 into perspective of the bigger picture. https://www.thelancet.com/gbd#2019GBDIssue

There is a lot in this report so enjoy on your free time. Below brief snippets of importance – for perspective current global deaths for covid-19 1.1 Million and rising.

“The largest increases in risk exposure were for ambient particulate matter pollution, drug use, high fasting plasma glucose, and high body-mass index. In 2019, the leading Level 2 risk factor globally for attributable deaths was high systolic blood pressure, which accounted for 10·8 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 9·51–12·1) deaths (19·2% [16·9–21·3] of all deaths in 2019), followed by tobacco (smoked, second-hand, and chewing), which accounted for 8·71 million (8·12–9·31) deaths (15·4% [14·6–16·2] of all deaths in 2019).”

Largest increase risk exposures:

The particulate matter pollution is a function of growing economies (e.g. China and India) but this is being balanced with growing lifestyles and amenities.

Drug use likely a function of abused pain killers.

High fasting plasma glucose directly related Diabetes which then relates to the final growing risk – High body-mass index (BMI) – which then is our obesity epidemic.

10.8 Million deaths heart related issues! Function of lifestyle.

8.7 Million deaths from smoking! This is elective and can be changed much easier than controlling covid-19. We have come a long way with reducing smoking as can be seen in the chart below comparing 2010 to 2019

High SDI – Socio-demographic Index – are first world countries like the US. You can see environment is no longer an issue its our lifestyle choices and we have done well reducing smoking.

Changing our lifestyle not how we socialize will likely have more of an impact of LIFE than the current policies of quarantine and limited capacity.

Fauci speaks out against the Great Barrington Declaration but offers hardly any alternatives – https://www.newsweek.com/fauci-cautions-against-herd-immunity-through-widespread-infection-youre-going-wind-lot-dead-1540018

“The declaration, Fauci said, implies that state and health officials would "do nothing to block infection," like enforcing face mask mandates and social distancing measures, because the primary focus would be on creating measures to protect people in extended care facilities.

This is problematic because as much as 30 percent of the general population falls into the category of "vulnerable"—meaning they would face severe consequences if they are infected with coronavirus, including hospitalization and even death, Fauci said.”

“"So, if you think that you have the capability—which we have shown thus far we are not capable of doing that—of all of a sudden magically protecting all the obese people, the people with diabetes, the people with hypertension, the people with chronic lung disease," Fauci said, "I say, and many, many, many of my public health colleagues say, if you think you’re going to do that, you’re going to wind up with a lot of dead people.

"And that’s something we really want to avoid."”

Why not add a plan to get those 30% out of that category – Fat Sick and Nearly Dead https://www.rebootwithjoe.com/joes-films/ showed one could get out of that category in relative short time (60 days) – LA has been in lockdown since March.

Altering social habits likely harder than lifestyle – do we really want to tell people who and how many people they can talk and how long and how they socialize – https://covid19.ca.gov/stay-home-except-for-essential-needs/

“As of October 9, 2020, outdoor private gatherings are allowed under the following conditions:

Attendees must be from no more than 3 separate households

Duration should be 2 hours or less”

On the good news front – perhaps biased but at least they finally produced something – https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/risk-covid-19-exposure-planes-virtually-nonexistent-masked/story?id=73616599

“United Airlines says the risk of COVID-19 exposure onboard its aircraft is "virtually non-existent" after a new study finds that when masks are worn there is only a 0.003% chance particles from a passenger can enter the passenger’s breathing space who is sitting beside them.

The study, conducted by the Department of Defense in partnership with United Airlines, was published Thursday. They ran 300 tests in a little over six months with a mannequin on a United plane.”

“"99.99% of those particles left the interior of the aircraft within six minutes," United Airlines Chief Communication Officer Josh Earnest told ABC News. "It indicates that being on board an aircraft is the safest indoor public space, because of the unique configuration inside an aircraft that includes aggressive ventilation, lots of airflow."”

“the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released new research, saying the risk of contracting the virus on a plane appears to be "in the same category as being struck by lightning."”

This actually PROVES/SUBSTANTIATES my point that there is a mechanical solutions to our issues – lets get going Mechanical Engineers – modify/adapt/retrofit existing HVAC systems to reduce viral load similar to an airplane – its not rocket science!

2 Day or less still not occurring for many people – perhaps a monetary incentive will change this – also we now know how much money the testing facilities are generating from this article – https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/10/16/covid-testing-medicare-cut-payments-labs-slow-turnaround/3677717001/

“The agency overseeing Medicare will pay labs $100 per coronavirus test completed on a high-volume machine within two days of collecting a specimen. Labs that take longer will get only $75 per test next year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”

130 Million test in US so we potentially spent $13 Billion and rising on testing!

US leads but only 711