Clarifying Some Facts About the Covid 2019

Clarifying Some Facts About the Covid 2019

Laurence T. Gayao MD

Today the most talked about subject in social media is about the Covid 2019. There are varying opinions about it. Many say it just like the flu while others talk about it as though it is the beginning of the end of world. Even among us medical professional I have observed misconceptions about this infection. I hope to clarify some of these misconceptions.

To large extent it is true Covid 2019 is like the flu except that humans have not been exposed to the Covid 2019 and that makes it possible to have it passed faster from one human to another. So almost all humans have no immunity against this virus which accounts for how fast it could spread because we have not built up a natural resistance to it because we have not developed specific antibodies to fight against it. It is like the 1918 flu pandemic which kill about 50 million worldwide, it was new strain of virus that people did not have antibodies to fight it. Fortunately we have means today to broadcast information and have preventive measures to contain the infection.

There are far more deadly viruses than the Covid 2019 which has a mortality rate of 2.8% compared to SARS 9.6%, MERS 34.4%, and Ebola 40.4%. The swine flu in 2009 infected about 700,000 to 1.4 billion worldwide and had a mortality rate of 0.02% which means the fatality rate of the COVID 2019 is about twenty-eight times more.

The risk of serious illness due to Covid-19 is far higher for people who are older and have underlying medical conditions. People 60 and older accounted for more than 80% of the deaths in China, according to a major study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The new coronavirus is not an equal-opportunity killer: Being elderly and having other illnesses, for instance, greatly increases the risk of dying from the disease the virus causes. 

Overall, China CDC found, 2.3% of confirmed cases died. But the fatality rate was 14.8% in people 80 or older, likely reflecting the presence of other diseases, a weaker immune system, or simply worse overall health. By contrast, the fatality rate was 1.3% in 50-somethings, 0.4% in 40-somethings, and 0.2% in people 10 to 39.

If you are young and healthy your chances of recovery if you get the Covid 2019 infection is good but if you are 80 or older the mortality risk is greater. Just like the flu observe all the infection precautions. There is no specific medication for it to date nor vaccination for it.

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I came out of medical school in 1971 and after residency in Family Medicine at Texas Tech University Health and Science Center I practiced for forty over years traditional medicine in the specialties of family and later in emergency medicine. All along I accept being called a health care provider. Most of what I did however was acute intervention of the results of illnesses that were mostly brought about by an unhealthy life styles. If the patient had high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, congestive heart failure, and other illnesses I prescribed them medications and mentioned that they needed to loss weight and exercise, in a perfunctory manner. Patients kept on coming back mostly getting worse with time. There was no systematic effort to alter the life styles that lead to these problems.Early in my career I studied on my own exercise physiology and nutrition, and diligently applied it till I got too busy in my profession and I gradually gained weight and eventually had elevated blood sugar and hypertension just like most of my patients. I after retirement I got back into the fitness program and delved into study of life style induced illnesses. It has made me realize as expensive and highly technologically advance our health care is, it has basically is neglecting promoting health as evidenced by the fact we in the US have the highest per capita expenditure for healthcare but our life expectancy is among the lowest among developed countries. Health business is misdirected in its focus and it is one of the largest industries in the US, good for profit for providers but bad for consumers. I now desire to share as much as possible the gospel of a healthy life style which is the key health and happiness.

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