Covid 19 Update

[up148]

Just passing this along and who knows if its true or false. It does address a question raised earlier on this forum of why the fatality rate is not as high now as it was in the beginning.

A professor of pharmacy at U of Toronto sent this clearly worded update to his family.

For this pandemic, there’s a greater chance of survival for those
getting infected 3 months later like June 2020 than those who got
infected 3 months earlier say February 2020. The reason for this is
that Doctors and scientists know more about Covid-19 now than 3 months
ago and hence are able to treat patients better. I will list *5
important things* that we know now that we didn’t know in February
2020 for your understanding.


1 COVID-19 was initially thought to cause deaths due to *pneumonia- a
lung infection*- and so Ventilators were thought to be the best way to
treat sick patients who couldn’t breathe. *Now we are realizing that
the virus causes blood clots in the blood vessels of the lungs* and
other parts of the body and this causes reduced oxygenation. Now
we know that just providing oxygen by ventilators will not help but we
have to prevent and dissolve the micro clots in the lungs. This is why
we are using drugs like *Aspirin and Heparin ( blood thinners that
prevents clotting) as protocol in treatment regimens in June 2020. *


2 Previously patients used to drop dead on the road or even before
reaching a hospital due to reduced oxygen in their blood- OXYGEN
SATURATION. This was because of *HAPPY HYPOXIA*- where even

though the oxygen saturation was gradually reducing the COVID-19 patients did not
have symptoms until it became critically less, like sometimes even
70%. **Normally we become breathless if oxygen saturation reduces
below 90%. **This breathlessness is not triggered in COVID patients
and so we were getting the sick patients very late to the hospitals in
February 2020. Now since knowing about happy hypoxia we are monitoring
oxygen saturation of all COVID patients *with a simple home use pulse
oximeter and getting them to the hospital if their oxygen saturation drops
to 93% or less*. This gives more time for doctors to correct the
oxygen deficiency in the blood and a better survival chance in June
2020.


3 We did not have drugs to fight the coronavirus in February 2020.
We were only treating the complications caused by it... hypoxia. Hence
most patients became severely infected.
```**Now we have 2 important medicines
FAVIPIRAVIR & REMDESIVIR**```


These are ANTIVIRALS that can kill the coronavirus. By using these
two medicines we can prevent patients from becoming severely infected
and therefore cure them BEFORE THEY GO TO HYPOXIA. This knowledge

we have in JUNE 2020... not in February 2020.


4 Many Covid-19 patients die not just because of the virus but also
due the patient’s own immune system responding In an exaggerated
manner called *CYTOKINE STORM*. This stormy strong immune response

not only kills the virus but also kills the patients. In February 2020 we
didn’t know how to prevent it from happening. Now in June 2020, we
know that *easily available medicines called Steroids,* that doctors
around the world have been using for almost 80 years *can be used to
prevent the cytokine storm in some patients*.


5 Now we also know that people with hypoxia became better just by
making them lie down on their belly- known as prone position. Apart
from this a few days ago Israeli scientists have discovered that a
a chemical known as Alpha Defensin produced by the patients White blood
cells can cause the micro clots in blood vessels of the lungs and this
could possibly be prevented by a drug called Colchicine used over many
decades in the treatment of Gout.


So now we know for sure that patients have a better chance at
surviving the COVID-19 infection in June 2020 than in February 2020,
for sure.


Going forward there’s nothing to panic about Covid-19 if we remember
that a person who gets infected later has a better chance at survival
than one who got infected early.


Let’s continue to follow precautions, wear masks and practice social
distancing Please distribute this message, as we all need some
positive news...

[Neil]

Overall correct, but wrong in many details. Don't think he's involved in treating these patients or talking regularly to the physicians who are treating them. We're still a long way for being sure how to treat these patients and having definitive antivirals or other medications that we know will prevent severe illness and death. But we are indeed much better off than in March-May.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Overall correct, but wrong in many details. Don't think he's involved in treating these patients or talking regularly to the physicians who are treating them. We're still a long way for being sure how to treat these patients and having definitive antivirals or other medications that we know will prevent severe illness and death. But we are indeed much better off than in March-May.

Agree. Nothing has really been approved for broad general use yet and won't be for a long time. But we are better off now and know much more.

[up148]

Doubt if anyone has a handle on this yet. But, some information there that might be useful.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Doubt if anyone has a handle on this yet. But, some information there that might be useful.

If anything, hope and that progress is being made.