Putting COVID-19 Risk Into Perspective
by Alan Saly
The new normal is shaping up to be something like the old normal, if we look at it from a risk perspective. Even if a vaccine isn’t developed soon, the new rules just add another layer of risk that we can handle, along with all the other risks, acknowledged and unacknowledged, that we take on a daily basis.
Knowing whether you have or have had the virus, with or without symptoms, and whether you carry antibodies to it, is the place to start. If you’ve come through and recovered, with or without significant symptoms, you can count yourself lucky. Having antibodies to the virus is also good news, although doctors are still not sure how long those antibodies will protect against reinfection.
Coming back into the workforce and into close contact with others will depend on three things: If you have or had the virus, if you have antibodies, and if you have underlying health conditions that predispose you to serious illness or death.
We will have temperatures taken at the door, and may be prevented from social situations not only if we have a fever, but if we are positive or have no antibodies.
The virus has taken the greatest toll on older people (over 50), and those with underlying and contributory conditions including, diabetes, heart disease, and respiratory disease. Add inflammatory syndrome to the mix, as well — that is, an immune system that is out of kilter which reacts to the virus by releasing what is called a cytokine storm — a flood of chemicals that can cause “vascular hyperpermeability, multi organ failure and eventually death,” according to The Lancet.
The Lancet study also noted that smokers, who have less healthy blood vessels, have been more vulnerable to the virus. The study analyzed just 3 cases, but autopsies on other COVID-19 patients not in the study also show blood vessel linings “full of virus.”
Inflammatory disease is partly caused by diet, and it’s well known what the inflammatory foods are, which you should avoid. They include: sugar and high fructose corn syrup, artificial trans fats, vegetable and seed oils, refined carbohydrates, excessive alcohol, and processed meat.
This is why, if you watched Mad Men, why all the folks who smoke, drank, and ate like the Madison Avenue executives in the show are dead now, and those who survive in nursing homes are sitting ducks for COVID-19.
Risk occurs everywhere. We just don’t like to think about it. Things like dying in a lightning strike (very unlikely) or dying in an automobile accident (that’s 38,000 of us each year) are risks we have learned to live with. Many other risks are much greater if we are not in good health. Illness, air pollution, infections, and over-exertion without being in good shape first, are much more likely to kill us if we have inflammatory syndrome caused by poor diet and lack of exercise.
Not being in good health is itself taking a grave risk. That’s what the Covid-19 pandemic has made clear. We are all going to die. Let’s not go before we should.