Advanced Mediterranean Diet

…at least in terms of deaths, according to researchers at the University of Southern California and the RAND Corporation. Lockdowns are also referred to as shelter-in-place orders, which were implemented with the mistaken idea they would reduce deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic. Note that viruses can kill, but so can lockdowns via social isolation, loss of jobs/income, delayed or no treatment for non-virus illness, etc. The study at hand looked data generated by 43 countries and all U.S. states.

“…the implementation of shelter-in-place policies [SIP] does not appear to have met the aim of reducing excess mortality [deaths]. There are several potential explanations for this finding. First, it is possible that SIP policies do not slow COVID-19 transmission. As discussed earlier, prior studies find only a modest effect of SIP policies on mobility. A potential reason for the modest impact on mobility may be that individuals change behavior to avoid COVID-19 risk even in the absence of SIP policies. It is also unclear whether modest reductions in mobility could slow the spread of an airborne pathogen. Second, it is possible that SIP policies increased deaths of despair due to economic and social isolation effects of SIP policies. Recent estimates in the U.S between March and August 2020 show that drug overdoses, homicides, and unintentional injuries increased in 2020, while suicides declined. Third, existing studies suggest that SIP policies led to a reduction in non-COVID-19 health care, which might have contributed to an increase in non-COVID-19 deaths. For example, one study in the United Kingdom predicts that there will be approximately an additional 3,000 deaths within five years due to a delay in diagnostics because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Reference: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w28930/w28930.pdf?utm_campaign=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&amp%3Butm_medium=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&amp%3Butm_source=PANTHEON_STRIPPED

The write-up at the Foundation for Economic Freedom may be more digestible for you.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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The Last American Vagabond posted an interview with what appears to be a well-qualified Canadian pathologist who is very wary of the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. Essentially he says that we don’t know if they’re adequately safe, especially for women of child-bearing age, pregnant women, and young folks. Dr Hodkinson reminds us that the survival rate for COVID-19 is generally very high, so why take chances with a vaccine of dubious safety.

The interview above is 120 minutes. Here’s a 38 minute one with Anna Brees.

Look, I don’t know for sure whether hydroxychloroquine is effective for prevention, early treatment, or late treatment of COVID-19. If you’re interested in the clinical studies regarding this issue, here’s a list of pertinent articles. I have no idea if the articles are comprehensive or cherry-picked. The authors of the list wish to remain anonymous, citing concern about death threats and loss of jobs.

I considered the few clinical studies available in Spring 2020 and was not impressed with the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine. The hospital where I work may not let me prescribe hydroxychloroquine even if I wanted to. I recently admitted a patient who needed the drug for a non-COVID diagnosis and the ordering software would not cooperate, which is very unusual. I had to go through the hospital pharmacist; the patient got the drug.

I do think it’s highly suspicious for politicians and others to second-guess and supersede the judgment of physicians. This, plus censorship and deplatforming by social media companies of folks who don’t toe the line of the authorities, adds fuel to the fire of conspiracy theorists. In my decades of medical pracitce, I’ve never seen anything like it.

We’ve seen enough government screw-ups and lies recently and over the years that you should always question the official narrative.

From the same authors of the first list, here’s their list of ivermectin articles. The also consider zinc, vitamin C, remdesivir, and several other therapies for COVID-19.

Here’s an assignment for an energetic investigative journalist. Find out who’s making money, and how much, on the development and distribution of the coronavirus vaccines.

Steve Parker, M.D.

h/t Paul Craig Roberts

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My colleagues and I often wonder why we see otherwise healthy 35- to 50-year-olds come into the hospital pretty sick with COVID-19. After all, isn’t it the 65 and older crowd with multiple chronic illnesses the ones that develop critical COVID-19? A recent study provides at least a partial explanation why some folks get much sicker than others.

First off, note that 30-40% of head colds are caused by coronaviruses. Most of us get one or two colds a year. SARS-CoV-2 is the particular coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Another human coronavirus, called OC43, commonly causes infection, which leads to antibody production. It turns out that these antibodies help protect us from severe disease caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus. Some of these otherwise healthy but now critically ill middle-aged COVID-19 patients just don’t have antibodies to OC 43. So SARS-CoV-2 spreads through them more virulently.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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The May-June 2021 issue of American Journal of Therapeutics has a meta-analysis of various experiments using ivermectin both as prophylaxis against and treatment for COVID-19. I’m starting to think ivermectin is effective. Not only that, it’s inexpensive and relatively non-toxic.

From the aforementioned article:

Background: 

After COVID-19 emerged on U.S shores, providers began reviewing the emerging basic science, translational, and clinical data to identify potentially effective treatment options. In addition, a multitude of both novel and repurposed therapeutic agents were used empirically and studied within clinical trials.

Areas of Uncertainty: 

The majority of trialed agents have failed to provide reproducible, definitive proof of efficacy in reducing the mortality of COVID-19 with the exception of corticosteroids in moderate to severe disease. Recently, evidence has emerged that the oral antiparasitic agent ivermectin exhibits numerous antiviral and anti-inflammatory mechanisms with trial results reporting significant outcome benefits. Given some have not passed peer review, several expert groups including Unitaid/World Health Organization have undertaken a systematic global effort to contact all active trial investigators to rapidly gather the data needed to grade and perform meta-analyses.

Data Sources: 

Data were sourced from published peer-reviewed studies, manuscripts posted to preprint servers, expert meta-analyses, and numerous epidemiological analyses of regions with ivermectin distribution campaigns.

Therapeutic Advances: 

A large majority of randomized and observational controlled trials of ivermectin are reporting repeated, large magnitude improvements in clinical outcomes. Numerous prophylaxis trials demonstrate that regular ivermectin use leads to large reductions in transmission. Multiple, large “natural experiments” occurred in regions that initiated “ivermectin distribution” campaigns followed by tight, reproducible, temporally associated decreases in case counts and case fatality rates compared with nearby regions without such campaigns.

Conclusions: 

Meta-analyses based on 18 randomized controlled treatment trials of ivermectin in COVID-19 have found large, statistically significant reductions in mortality, time to clinical recovery, and time to viral clearance. Furthermore, results from numerous controlled prophylaxis trials report significantly reduced risks of contracting COVID-19 with the regular use of ivermectin. Finally, the many examples of ivermectin distribution campaigns leading to rapid population-wide decreases in morbidity and mortality indicate that an oral agent effective in all phases of COVID-19 has been identified.

Parker here again. My understanding of Emergency Use Authorization, which applies to all COVID vaccines used in the U.S. today, is that they are authorized only if there are no other proven effective treatments available. In which case, the Big Pharma vaccine manufacturers may want to suppress the study at hand.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: There is no consensus on the dose of ivermectin for the patients I see, i.e, those sick enough to be in the hospital. Single dose of 0.4 to 0.15 mg/kg? Subsequent dose seven days later “if needed”? I see multiple different dosing regimens in the article.

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