Maybe this thing is going to be like Beta, and stay in South Africa?
We all saw how Omicron did
just that right?
Not seeing any immediate alarm:
Washington (CNN)The Biden administration is issuing a new warning that the US could
potentially see 100 million Covid-19 infections this fall and winter, as
officials publicly stress the need for more funding from Congress to prepare the nation.
Not sure how to interpret that. It might be a negotiating position to secure funds. It might be a defensive position to backstop a potential disaster as the infection rates go up then, and we cannot predict what variants we'll have. It doesn't seem to match any of the existing modelling I've seen. Presumably, the health planners at the level of the US White House would be using the best available long range projections. Europe and UK plans don't seem this pessimistic. Nobody is thinking that the South African numbers are immediately going to pose risk.
BA.4 and BA.5 were listed at over 1000 UK cases, but that has been corrected down. It does
not seem like these variants are actually getting traction there. Global rates continue to decline. It might just be a localized problem, like Beta again in SA.
But let's assume that the long term Winter warning is correct for a minute. What should individuals (who can adapt, are not burned out, and still have resources) do? There's a few months we have to prepare for this projected rise. Locally, our infection rates follow outbreaks on the American continent, similar to UK's tracking of Europe.
It's estimated that 40% or so of the US Covid deaths were in diabetic people.
Experts explain the link.
www.prevention.com
Our diabetes rates are even higher than the USA. Also, our Covid death rate is higher - but given poor testing, that might be a statistical artefact of just undercounting cases.
Nontheless-
I'm losing weight and reducing heavy exercise to something more sustainable, looking for a lighter leaner build with better insulin sensivity.
Cell ( tech paper linked) printed a recent review of a dietary intervention called the Longevity Diet,
which you can read about ( brief simple summary) if interested. This is in line with known previously reported data -
WebMD's chief medical officer, John Whyte, MD, speaks with Dean Ornish, MD, president and founder, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, about the potential impact of dietary habits on COVID-19 severity and overall health.
www.webmd.com
- which shows a 73% reduction in severe Covid disease in people eating plant based. The biochemistry of lowering diabetic state seems to be a pretty curative factor vs Covid, so the logical extrapolation is that plant based approaches can reverse diabetes severity. That is of course not in question.
Useful data-
those following a high animal protein, high fat-- Atkins, paleo, Keto-type diets-- were 400% more likely to get moderate to severe COVID
Those approaches stabilize blood sugars ( no carb intake) but the fat really totals insulin sensivity, worsening the biochemical basis of diabetes
being obese, for example, can raise your risk of mortality by 300%
Predictably, high blood fats also mess up insulin sensivity even if you are not eating fat. Blood doesn't know or care where it comes from.
3X and 4X are pretty big, but remember simply being unvaccinated has something like 9X worse outcomes, and it's a lot easier than eating broccoli and running staircases daily.
