Definition of HCID
In the UK, a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) is defined according to the following criteria:
- acute infectious disease
- typically has a high case-fatality rate
- may not have effective prophylaxis or treatment
- often difficult to recognise and detect rapidly
- ability to spread in the community and within healthcare settings
- requires an enhanced individual, population and system response to ensure it is managed effectively, efficiently and safely
So what would you think?
If you looked at this list of criteria and applied it to COVID-19, what would you think? You would probably surmise that COVID-19 fitted this description perfectly. After all, this is what the media has been feeding us over these lockdown months. But is it true?
Status of COVID-19 on 19th March 2020
This is the status of COVID-19 according to the British Government website At GOV.UK on 19th March:
As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) in the UK.
The 4 nations public health HCID group made an interim recommendation in January 2020 to classify COVID-19 as an HCID. This was based on consideration of the UK HCID criteria about the virus and the disease with information available during the early stages of the outbreak. Now that more is known about COVID-19, the public health bodies in the UK have reviewed the most up to date information about COVID-19 against the UK HCID criteria. They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, more information is available about mortality rates (low overall), and there is now greater clinical awareness and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase.
The ACDP say…
The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is also of the opinion that COVID-19 should no longer be classified as an HCID.
4 days later…
4 days later on the 23rd March 2020, the UK was put into lockdown. What happened between the 19th and 23rd?
Meanwhile…
- Many have lost their jobs
- Many will have difficulty getting other employment.
- Suicide rates have soared.
- Domestic violence has escalated.
- Schools have been closed and student exams cancelled.
- The economy has been devastated.
- Many restaurants, pubs and cafes will never recover.
- Service industries left in ruins
- Holiday industry badly affected
- Mental health problems escalated, especially in the younger generation
- The most vulnerable are dying unnecessarily
Sweden never locked down
Businesses, restaurants, pubs and bars, primary schools and their borders were never closed down. Masks were never mandated and yet Sweden claims that 99.998% of all their citizens under 60 years survived. Their hospitals were never put under pressure. The only action Sweden took was to keep events to no larger than 50 people.
Sweden’s death rates
Although lower than Spain and Italy, Sweden is classed at the higher end of reported death rates. But Sweden’s anti lockdown plans have helped keep the population reasonably relaxed about the virus. Images of Sweden show people enjoying themselves and having a good time in restaurants and outside cafes. Chatting with friends and family and having a reasonably normal life. Unlike the UK and other countries where much of the population seems anxious, fearful and confined, unable to see loved ones.
This graph gives an idea of the daily death rates in Sweden. There appeared to be a spike around 23rd April, but the trend is definitely downwards, with 12 new deaths for 18th June.
Sweden stuck to their guns
What about our future
The damage caused by the UKs procedure will have consequences for years. Sweden, on the other hand, has left their population free to live their lives, the only Western country to buck the trend. Although their economy is obviously suffering, they may get away with a quicker recovery. Also, as they will not be coming out of lockdown, they will surely not suffer another spike?
The media feeds fear!
Sweden looked at history and other past pandemics and took stock. As for the UK, never has a population been so systematically frightened and panicked by the media and our governments, to the extent that many are now terrified to even seek medical help for fear of catching this disease in hospital or at the doctor’s surgery.
Detailing deaths will not calm the population
Reporting deaths in detail on national news is not helpful in my opinion. It only serves to stress out the viewers and cause alarm, anxiety, tension and unecessary suffering. Those living in nursing homes and their relatives, must be frightened to death!
Ethnic minorities
Then there is the problem with ethnic minorities being more likely to succumb to the virus. They offered no help at all to those brave ethnic NHS workers. They should have been given priority PPEs, regular tests and advice on how to keep themselves safe. Just taking some simple supplements would have helped their immune system cope with any infection.
Nursing homes scandal
According to The Telegraph**
On March 25, just a day after Britain shut down, economist Professor Philip Thomas, of Bristol University, made a grim prediction.
If the country remained in lockdown for longer than two months, he warned, any lives saved would be wiped out by those lost from the impact of the inevitable recession.
Britain hit that timeline more than a fortnight ago, but restrictions largely remain in place and there is growing alarm among economists that the cure has become far deadlier than the disease.
We have to live with all diseases
In my humble opinion, we should start living our lives with this disease, as we do with other flu-type viruses and life threatening medical conditions. Dying from the consequences of human interference as well as the disease, seems to be a ludicrous master plan!
Protect the vulnerable
Why not concentrate all our efforts on protecting the vulnerable such as this homeless mother and child. Those of us who are young and strong with no medical conditions, can cope on our own if left to work and carry on with our lives. Bringing the economy back, gives us the means to safeguard our sick and elderly. Giving our NHS nurses and our nursing home carers a decent living wage would be a big step forward.
As a guide…
To keep things in perspective:
- As of 19th June 2020, 456,458 have died worldwide from COVID-19 according to Statista
According to the World Health Organisation, for the year 2016, there were nearly 60 million deaths worldwide. Here were the top killers.
- The biggest killer worldwide is still Ischaemic heart disease at 9 million.
- Stroke is next killing 6 million.
- 3 million people died worldwide of respiratory infections due to communicable diseases, such as Corona viruses.
- 3 million died in the same year of COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
- 2 million deaths were due to dementias.
- Lung cancer (along with trachea and bronchus cancers) caused 1.7 million deaths.
- Diabetes killed 1.6 million people.
- Road injuries killed 1.4 million people in 2016, about three-quarters (74%) of whom were men and boys.
PART TWO – Protect yourself and your family
Pharmaceutical drugs are the only methods recognised by the medical fraternity. If it’s not patentable, then the drug companies aren’t interested. Consequently, many of our vulnerable citizens are falling short of being healthy, purely because of their lack of proper nutrients. Doctors and nurses are not taught about what our bodies need to keep healthy. If it’s not drug related, it’s not in the curriculum. Medics are generally hog-tied, it’s not their fault! If they do try to use non standard protocols, they are reprimanded. What is little known is that pharmaceutical drugs often deplete nutrients which if not repleted cause untold problems.
Treatment protocols
If a treatment for COVID-19 is not deemed to be an established medical protocol, it is thrown out as quackery without even a second glance. The pharmaceuticals are to blame for this response. This despite these treatments being far superior and saving lives to boot!
Protect yourself with simple nutrients
I give below some important nutrients that will help keep you healthy. In particular they will help with immune function, inflammation, calcification, heart and respiratory health and digestive health. With regards to digestive health, avoid taking any PPI medications which will affect your digestion and absorption of your nutrients. For those with diabetes type 2, have a look at this information to help control this debilitating disease. It is reversible and those that say otherwise are wrong!
Vitamin C
A most import nutrient is vitamin C otherwise known as ascorbic acid. If you are low in vitamin C, you will easily succumb to inflammation and it’s inflammation that is a major symptom of this virus. Fruit is good yes, with kiwi being one of the highest in vitamin C. But you do need to supplement as well. You can buy this vitamin at any health food shop in powder form, so you can adjust it to suit your body. High doses can cause the laxative effect so take as much as you can tolerate. For those with funds, Liposomal is best, next to intravenous (IV), but the problem for most is the expense.
Vitamin D3
Particularly for those of us who are of ethnic origin, a vital vitamin to take is vitamin D3. This is particularly important for people with darker skin. Vitamin D3 is known as the sunshine vitamin because it’s the sun on your skin which activates absorption of this vital nutrient. (Vitamin D is actually a hormone).
If you live in sunny climes then getting out in the sun for a good 15 minutes a day for lighter skinned people and more if you are olive skinned or darker. Those with very dark skin can and need to stay in the sun for much longer periods of time. For those living in cooler regions or in areas with little sun, a supplement is essential. One of the reasons ethnic minorities are so susceptible to COVID-19 is their lack of this essential hormone. Also magnesium levels have to be replete for D3 to be activated.
Magnesium
As well as vitamin D3, you must be replete in Magnesium (Mg). It is estimated that 80% of the population is low in Mg. This is mainly because of how our food is produced, with soils being devoid of many of our basic nutrients of which Mg is of the most vital. Mg is necessary to activate the stored form of vitamin D in your body. Without it your vitamin D will remain inactive. Also, Mg will help asthmatic symptoms. Mg is essential for producing our energy in our mitochrondria. Mg is vital for good heart health. Mg is necessary for hundreds of bodily functions to be activated. A Mg deficiency will be expressed by a plethora of unpleasant conditions.
Ca without Mg is positively dangerous! These two antagonistic minerals need to be in equal measures to work at their optimum. Ca without enough Mg is a recipe for disaster, see below.
Vitamin K2MK7
Vitamin K2MK7 is one of those vital vitamins that remain mostly unknown by the general public and, of course, the medical fraternity. This vitamin is important to ensure your excess Calcium (Ca) which is often deposited into your soft tissue, such as arteries, valves of the heart, kidneys etc., does not settle in these areas and cause untold damage. We are plied with Ca excessively. It is put into many foods and added to most indigestion tablets to a dangerous degree. It is unlikely that any of us needs even more Ca. We are already overun with it, hence the calcifications deposited in our bodies.
Other nutrients
The above I consider to be of the utmost importance but of course there are many other vitamins and minerals that many of us are deficient in. Do your own research and get to know your health and the state of it. Don’t leave it up to a stranger who is under the thumb of the pharmaceutical industry. It doesn’t take
long to realise which nutrients could help your particular problems. Taking nutrients that the body needs to do its job and keep you fit, is the best treatment. After all, we were born with these in our body. We weren’t born with pharmaceutical drugs! Natural first, drugs if there is no alternative.
Eat Well, ditch the junk!
Lastly, try and eat more healthily. This is a good time to cook your own food. Recipes that will have just the ingredients you put in, not a whole lot of GRAS (generally regarded as safe) ingredients which the food manufacturers fill our processed foods with. GRAS ingredients are a cheap way of filling your food with unsuitable and sometimes harmful contents along with sugar, processed salt and artificial sweeteners. When an ingredient is labelled GRAS, it means it has not been safety tested, so it’s a loopehole for food manufacturers. Also, try and buy as much organic as you can afford.
Our body craves nutrients
If we all had the correct nutrients our bodies crave for, the hospitals would be half empty. Many deficiencies of nutrients, vitamins and minerals are the cause of medical conditions. For instance, “diabetes is a magnesium deficiency state”. A famous phrase from Diabetes researcher Dr Jerry Nadler of the Eastern Virginia Medical School who was given the ‘top scientist’ award for 2016.
I applaud, for the most part, your stance on trying to fight Covid19 with natural foods and vitamins. However, you have to keep in mind that the people who suffered from Covid19 were causes due to weak immune systems. I blamed the pharmaceutical industries with their drugs for such weak immune systems. Just look at their prescription based drugs as advertised on TV. They are literally telling you that their drugs will weakened your immune systems as you take them for the intended cause.
The CDC also try to shield themselves, as they pointed out that Covid19 mostly attacks people who have weak immune systems, without investigating the real cause for weak the immune systems. When people are uneducated on what they consumed, they will cause themselves to get sick. Please look up Olive leaf extract, Beta Glucan 1/3,1/6, and Astragalus Extract with high amounts of polysaccharides, which have numerous studies on them. These three combinations worked well for my whole family and friends. We don’t take the flu shot, ever. We don’t get sick. Thank you for putting this article out there.
Hi there John, I agree with you totally about how pharmaceutical drugs drag down your immune system by depleting your nutrients. Many nutrients are there to help fend off ingested toxins and consequently are working overtime and being depleted trying to neutralise chemical concoctions which are prescription drugs.
The natural products you mention as well as other nutrients like vitamins and minerals, are what our bodies need to do their job of keeping us well. Our bodies are built to be healthy not sick. Thanks a lot for your input
Hi, I agree with you concerning Sweden’s approach to this corona virus crisis. Building up our immune system is a must and continuing working too.
I never imagined I would live to see so much panic in so many people worldwide. And media played an important role.
I definitely need Vitamin K2MK7. Thanks for your reminder.
Hi Ann and thanks for your comment. More and more people are waking up to the reality of this pandemic. In effect, it is no worse than a flu virus as stated on the UK Gov website. It just has different symptoms. Many doctors are on top of this disease with natural (and some old pharmaceuticals) which work together well to rid the body of the inflammatory response. It is not actually the virus that kills, it is the body’s response to the disease, which causes a cytokine storm.
Of course, this and other remedies with cheap and easily obtainable ingredients, are utterly demounced by the pharmaceutical lobbyists, of which there are many. Their bottom line could be adversely affected if these efficient remedies became the new medical protocol. Follow the money!
As for the media, they are much controlled by the pharmaceutical industry, because of the massive income the media get from their advertisements and more. You have to take what the media tells you with a pinch of salt and wonder where the comments originated from! As for the medical industry, our medical workers are just pawns. Again, the pharmaceutical industry controls much of our medical fraternity and many universities and colleges which it puts vast amounts of money into. They also heavily fund most of the large disease charities, such as heart disease, cancer, lung disease, diabetes etc.. This in turn gives them control of what is being taught in our medical schools and it isn’t vitamins, minerals and nutrients. No wonder the world is getting sicker!
Hi,
COVID-19 is not an HCID. Your article is both timely and full of great information about Covid. i commend you for such detailed research.
Your suggestion that simple nutrition is what really matters and works, is absolutely correct. Even in India, we have deep knowledge of vedic nutritional practices and all point to the fact that Vit c, magnesium and other nutrients work best.
Good research and the Swedish case study is most apt.
Aparna
Hello Aparna and thank you for your input. Yes, I know that India is the country that embraces nutritional medicine; I have always wanted to visit your wonderful land, to learn more about naturopathic treatments.
Despite India’s troubles and disparities of wealth, the population seems generally joyful and happy. I sincerely hope you and your family are not badly affected by this imposed world event.
Hi Ches – I really enjoyed reading this article. I think the panic for COVID19 is caused by the fact that is spreads quickly and there isn’t a vaccine yet. What happened with Sweden is great but different factors come into play. Case in point, I’m in the US; New York City specifically and we have a mass number of travelers coming in from all over the world penetrating our population and then they also go on to other cities. This creates a different dynamic. New York by the way is doing better with lowering cases and starting to reopen while other states are suffering surges in cases.
Let’s face it, the world got caught with its pants down!
It is vitally important for us to take responsibility for our health by being proactive instead of reactive with pharmaceutical drugs. One good thing about the virus is that it got folks familiar with their kitchens again! Personally, I like knowing what goes into my meals.
I love what you wrote, “Natural first, drugs if there is no alternative.” We should all live by that equation.
Thanks for this opportunity!
Thank you for your valuable comment Nathaniel. I quite agree that much depends on the infrastructure of each country. Still, I think that Sweden did what was best for them. Hopefully the worst is over for this brave country who will be less likely to suffer a spike seeing that they aren’t coming out of a lockdown.
I also envy their citizens who are carrying on with life and are certainly not suffering the consequences of lockdown like other countries. As for Wales in the UK, we still cannot go more than 5 miles from our home. Like many, my children, grandchildren and other relatives are further than 5 miles away. Not seeing family is a real hardship and causes much stress and anxiety. Many are suffering depression, including the youngsters, most of whom are not attending school.
Yes, ingesting good quality food is a must and keeping up with supplements that you know you need will keep that immune system in good fettle!
As for the vaccine, my husband worked with vaccines in his professional career. He says he knows what goes into them and will be avoiding the new vaccine and prefer to take his chances with the virus. He says corona viruses are notoriously difficult to produce a safe vaccine for. In the past, they have failed and actually exacerbated the effect of the disease if the vaccinated person comes into contact with the wild virus