Odd (COVID) Lots
- Here’s an excellent summary of studies of SARS-CoV-2 mask effectiveness from Swiss Policy Research. It’s not an article so much as a list of research studies and papers from mostly European sources, all with links. A number of very clear graphs indicate how infections have mapped to mask mandates. The news is all bad for mask fetishists: Masks do not appear to have any significant effect on the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Be sure to watch the video, which supports my long-term contention that masks propel aerosol viruses via jets around their edges. Given how far air from those jets travels, I’d guess that being next to a person jetting around a mask is more dangerous than standing the same distance from somone not wearing a mask at all.
- Here’s another solid item from Swiss Policy Research on COVID-19 treatment protocols. The US seems peculiarly reluctant to actively treat the disease with known protocols like zinc plus an ionophore or (for no reason I can discover) ivermectin. Yes, ivermectin does work. There is some recent research suggesting that HCQ + zinc will not work, but against that is a fair amount of research, some pioneered by Dr. Zev Zelenko in New York. Here’s the study to which Dr. Zelenko contributed.
- If masks don’t work, what’s the best thing to do? Our doc suggested taking quercetin plus 50mg zinc gluconate every morning as a preventive. Quercetin is a strong ionophore that escorts zinc into cells where it can stop viral replication. Note that not all zinc is created equal. The bioavailability of zinc oxide is essentially zero. Stick with sulfate or gluconate. Quercetin is OTC; we use the NOW formulation that includes bromelain. Whether quercetin is as strong an ionophore as HCQ is something I’ve researched and found nothing useful. I find it interesting that quercetin is used in Erope to treat existing infections, and not merely as a preventive.
- Nitay Arbel posted a link to a study suggesting that the Moderna vaccine’s protective effect is longer-lasting the the Pfizer vaccine’s. If you’re interested in pandemic science at all (as opposed to pandemic politics) bookmark his site and check it regularly.
- Here’s a paper that discusses the differences between ivermectin and HCQ against COVID-19. The TLDR summary is that ivermectin acts against both early cases and more advanced cases, while HCQ+zinc work far better in early cases than advanced cases. HCQ alone doesn’t work at all. I’d suggest bookmarking the page because it contains a huge number of links to pertinent research of all kinds.
- If you’ve never supplemented zinc before and are confused by all the options, this page will lay it all out. It’s a subtler business than I originally thought.
Posted in: None Of The Above.
Tagged: COVID · health · SARS-COV-2
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Jeff,
I very much appreciate your willingness to look at many aspects of many topics. Something that scientists often seem very reluctant to do. I just came across a youtuber that goes by DrBeen, that had an article 8 months ago that I just came across. He reviews a study that shows the effectiveness of Honey and Nigella Sativa (Black Cumin seed). If this interests you check it out at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOwa6-EOohI&t=1s
He posted this about 8 months ago, but I and many others have just seen it. He’s one of a few doctors that are willing to show studies that show alternative info.
Amazon seems to be out of stock of the quercetin/bromelain supplements, but I found one that’s quercetin with zinc (as zinc mono methionine chelate complex), so it can’t hurt to try it out. At worst it’s just 1-2 extra pills in my nightly batch. (But I might want to hold off, as I’m on amlodipine for my blood pressure and there might be some interaction there.)
You’re going to have to talk to your doc on this one; I’ve never heard of zinc mono methione chelate. Key with the zinc factor is its bioavilability. I wonder if the forumlation you found was put together in the wake of the pandemic.
As to why the US is so opposed to authorizing HCQ and Ivermectin, my understanding of the situation is this:
– No emergency use authorization is possible for an incompletely tested medicine to which there alternatives.
– Ivermectin and HCQ would be alternatives.
– The “vaccines” are immensely profitable, while HCQ and Ivermectin are old and off patent.
Yes, that would explain a lot. I should remind readers that physicians are legally able to prescribe a drug for a condition that the FDA has not approved it for. The FDA hasn’t approved any drugs for COVID. That doesn’t mean physicians are forbidden from prescribing drugs that appear to have some benefit. The boggling, incredible slobbering-on-the-floor fury associated with prescribing ivermectin, HCQ, or other existing (and often cheap) drugs for COVID has always puzzled me. People who refuse to condemn a jackass politician from stashing COVID patients in nursing homes (with resultant fatalities in the thousands) are slobbering down their shirts condemning any least attempt to treat COVID with well-understood drugs having few side effects.
Once again, it’s all about tribalism, and tribal slaves slobbering on command.
I will point out that it’s a relatively small cohort of mass-media slobberers who are making all the racket against drug-based treatment of COVID-19:
“Ivermectin hasn’t been approved by the FDA for treatment of COVID!!!!”
And the Pfizer vaccine Carol and I got back in March wasn’t FDA approved until…August 23. You know literally less than nothing. Go haunt somebody else’s house, ok?