The ‘Good and Not So Good’ of COVID-19

Let us visit the “Not So Good” part early. 

The spike of COVID-19 is huge across the sunbelt of the US. Several southern states are massively infected due to the COVID-19. The virus is seeing a massive resurgence in the UK, EU, and Australia. It is still in its ascendancy in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and several southeast Asian countries. The Middle East is just catching the fever. Brazil and Latin America (currently in their winter) are seeing a heavy toll. 

Intrinsic Vulnerabilities are in our mind

You may be thinking, our body is vulnerable and weak and so we catch the infection. While, most amongst us are following precautions., precautions are not enough. We see at least two major vulnerabilities despite following precautions – 

1. Strictly following precautions and giving up occasionally
2. Not understanding the innate immunity and how that helps

Let us talk about the occasional vulnerability that we create and expose. 

Restless Inside Home

Several amongst you are restless inside the confines of your home. You are frustrated, bored and some are just angry enough to throw those precautions to disdain. You want to step outside, you are thinking the risk is not what it sounds like, you may be thinking you are young and have a very low probability of acquiring the viral infection. You may be thinking some socialization is ok, more is not good, so let us go for a walk, maybe pub, may have a blast with a limited circle of friends, maybe shopping, etc. etc. 

Are you Alone? 

Think like this – 

1. If the risk is low, why do we see the resurgence or ascendancy of COVID across the globe? 

2. If you are young, have no risk factors, why are young people succumbing to illness?

3. If you say, your ethnicity provides protection? Can you check the mortality data for those exposed within your ethnicity? 

You may be thinking little social interactions are good (walks, pubs, dinners, outings, little shopping, little business, etc.). It is exactly these vulnerabilities that are perpetuating the spread of viruses. 

Do you know?

For every symptomatic patient, we have anywhere from 5 to 10 asymptomatic patients. Are you sure you are interacting with someone asymptomatic (carrier) and have no virus? I have seen several cases where the person stepping out got the asymptomatic carrier, infected those innocent parents/kids/spouse/family members and the later died. Consider these scenarios

1. I don’t think you can live with the guilt of being responsible for the death of near or dear one. 
2. Presuming you will survive, what is the guarantee that your organs will not be compromised for a long time? 
3. Let us presume, you die from illness, have you thought of the implications of your loss on those surviving? Please read surviving with COVID stories and make your choice. 

How do you protect yourself?

CDC has given guidelines for protecting yourself. Every Government has made the best attempts in guiding their citizen from COVID-19. Following those is the utmost while undertaking any activities for your local area. 

Activate your Internal Resilience 

First and foremost, please decrease your exposure and risk. However, boosting your immune system with Yoga, Physical Activities, Sleep, Balanced Diet (and avoid refined diet), and meditation are great ways of doing so. I also saw some interesting read on Mayo Clinics. However, several educational institutions are providing a wealth of knowledge on those. However, reaching out to your doctor at the first instance of suspicion is best. 

The Good News

In its July 7, 2020 issue, Nature Immunology carried an interesting article on why the disease burden varies differently across regions. Simultaneously, the same paper has speculated that previous infection from Common Cold Coronaviruses (CCC) exposure also provides protection, against SARS CoV2. Excerpts from the article below

‘Pre-existing T cell immunity is related to CCC exposure, it will become important to better understand the patterns of CCC exposure in space and time. It is well established that the four main CCCs are cyclical in their prevalence, following multiyear cycles, which can differ across geographical locations. This leads to the speculative hypothesis that differences in CCC geo-distribution might correlate with the burden of COVID-19 disease severity. Furthermore, highly speculative hypotheses related to pre-existing memory T cells can be proposed regarding COVID-19 and age. Children are less susceptible to COVID-19 clinical symptoms. Older people are much more susceptible to fatal COVID-19. The reasons for both are unclear’. 

If these speculations are proven, it can rightly be said that T Cells have a lasting memory towards previous CCC that may be reactivated during a SARS CoV2 infection and offer protection. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-0389-z

Shashank Heda,

Dallas, Texas

(On behalf of CovidRxExchange) 

a nonprofit initiative to help global doctors fight Covid-19

Visit – https://www.covid-19rxexchange.org/)