Can some vitamins and supplements lower COVID-19 risk?

I hear you and i understand how it may *seem* this way, and it appears so logical. However it's not the whole story. It's been hypothesized that because kids have a much lower level of ACE2 in their upper respiratory tract, an enzyme that the SARS-CoV-2 needs in order to infect the host cells, kids shed fewer viruses when infected, do it for a shorter time, and are lousy spreaders of the disease. Not only the ACE2 factor is guessed as a possible explanation, but also the fact that kids are shorter and even when they are shedding the virus, their droplets fall to the ground faster as they start from a lower point, and kids rarely talk face to face to an adult - they rather, like your cartoon show, look up at an adult from a much lower viewpoint.

I quoted extensively, I don't know if here or in another board I used to belong to up to recently (I've recently quit my membership there as I'm liking it better, here), a couple of studies looking at how good or how lousy kids are to spread the SARS-CoV-2.

Oh, here, I found one of them (a piece from the very prestigious British Medical Journal):

https://adc.bmj.com/content/105/7/618

Well, one of the ways to gauge that, is looking at who is the *index* case in households, meaning, who is the person who first got the virus there and spread it to others in the same household. It turns out that kids, even when positive, are very rarely the index cases. It seems like they can get infected from an infected adult, but the other way around is not as likely.

Another study looked at a child who was positive and had contact with 100 other individuals at school and a ski resort (IIRC, in Switzerland). They tested the contacts. Do you know how many people that child managed to infect? A round zero!

Then, observation showed that even in a in a school where there was an outbreak among the pupils, they didn't manage to infect a single teacher or adult staff member.

Very importantly, community tracing was looked at in four European countries whose schools reopened. In all four, there was no increase in community transmission that could be traced to the schools. Meaning, the kids didn't spread the virus to adults in their communities.

So, no, they will not "surely spread it to every adult they come in contact with." Much the opposite. Specific viruses behave differently, and maybe the fact that this one needs ACE2 to be highly infectious and kids lack the enzyme, makes of kids lousy spreaders.

The idea is that if teachers wear facemasks and faceshields, frequent sanitize their hands, and stay 6ft from children, the likelihood that they will catch the virus from a child is extremely small, and much smaller than the professional exposure some other class of workers face, such as doctors, nurses, grocery store clerks, pharmacy clerks, first responders, law enforcement officers, etc., and all these people are bravely soldiering on, so I'm a bit dismayed at teacher unions strongly opposing the reopening of schools.

As for kids at home with elderly grandparents, the grandparents should wear PPE and stay secluded and protected from ANYBODY in the household that goes out in the world, not only children, and it seems like they are much more at risk to catch it from the adults than from the children; this shouldn't be a reason to keep schools closed as school kids are NOT the biggest risk.

 

Quercetin got a big boost lately as a ionophore that brings zinc to the interior of the cells, where zinc can inhibit the virus' replication. In this, quercetin may do a better and faster job than HCQ (it's been said that HCQ needs ten days to do that while quercetin does it immediately), and it is much more harmless, so in the EVMS protocol I've mentioned above, there was an update to remove HCQ completely from the protocol, in favor of quercetin.

 

Details about what I've said above about quercetin can be found here in another post of mine (but beware, the links can get very technical and are long):

More evidence hydroxychloroquine works

 

I've been semi consistent in the past with multi vitamins but rarely supplemented it with anything else. When I sold my boat my vitamin D levels dropped so my doc put me on a D supplement. I've since bumped that from 2k to 4k on the D based on a couple of podcasts that I heard on JRE, in particular Dr Rhonda Patrick)



Since covid, i've probably gotten carried away, but i don't think i'm doing myself harm, perhaps I should ask my Dr next opportunity about the D.
Multi every day, 4k vitamin D every day, zinc every other day, B12 every other day. I've only sporadically taken vitamin C, I should probably put that in for 3 days a week minimum, but my little pill box was starting to look like I belong in a nursing home so I didn't add the C.

I like to think I've always had a very well rounded diet with tons of variety, but fortunately I really like vegetables so its not much of a chore for me and I generally get plenty of sleep + I like my naps.

IMO, basically, I feel that a strong immune system is the best defense against something like covid, no guarantee with anything but if it increases my odds of not being killed by this by a few percentage points its good enough.

In addition, it seems like i've been generally blessed with a strong immune system anyway, most things like the flu or a cold only seem to hold me down for about 24 hours then I bounce back like it never happened, whether that is good luck or good genes or good behavior I dunno, probably a combination of the 3.

 

both my wife and I have struggled with the fogging issue, for me its not a huge deal since I only have to wear a mask when shopping, its not an issue at work, but my poor girl puts in 10 hour shifts where masks are mandatory and pretty strictly enforced. She's currently experimenting with different mask options but has yet to find one that is a good solution for her. I'll have to suggest the fogging towelettes, didn't know those even existed.

 

High school and college, possibly as likely as among adults, given that the thing about low ACE2 levels seem to start reversing to adult levels after age 12 to 14.

 

There is anti-fogging spray too.
But I think the neoprene sheet brace with gauze pads is by far the best solution because it also increases your wife's safety from the virus, although like I said it is more complicated and time-consuming.

 

I'll look into the fogging spray/wipes immediately, if available at a local store I'll have it before the day ends.

in the meantime the mask search will continue.

 

Justified for HS and college teachers/professors, I think, but hardly justified for middle school and younger. However, after I posted a lot about this, I learned of some disastrous outbreaks in Israel. I don't know the specifics and the age groups involved, but maybe in view of that, I should revise my opinion, if it involved younger pupils. Do you know anything about it? I saw a headline while browsing with little time to stop and read.

OK, I read two articles. It seems like it was HS and middle school but not elementary school. A bit confusing because they reopened everything else too like gyms, bars, etc., and the government told people to go out, mingle, and have a good time, so some question if this was really coming from the schools although they did seem to trace a large number of infections to the schools.

But I'm willing to revise my advice to say that only elementary schools are safe for pupils and teachers; might as well include middle school in the ones that need careful planning and concern.

 

It sounds like you have a system that is working well for you. I went through a botched surgery about seven years ago and have been hospitalized many, many times. My doctors and I have been shocked by how many times I've been on the brink. It hasn't been easy but, like you, I credit good luck, good genes and good behavior.

It always astounds me when people say they cannot change their habits. Studies have shown that it takes about 7 repetitions to adjust to a new habit. I don't see how it can hurt to try but I know plenty of people that won't even make an honest effort.

To your continued health!

 

We need to see where these people are contracting the virus. If it's not in school but rather in the community, the concern for school re-opening would be less. I still think it can be done, with precautions. In other posts I've suggested several precautions, beyond simply using masks, face shields, social distancing, and hand sanitizers. No time to expand on this right now, I have to go. See ya.

 

Yes. I thought about masks and all more for the teachers. The kids might have a less than ideal compliance rate, especially considering that many of them have parents who oppose masks themselves, for political reasons. I saw a picture of a classroom in South Korea with young kids, all of them peacefully sitting on desks, all of them wearing cute masks. I guess it's a huge cultural difference, Asians being much more accepting of masks and more likely to follow governmental directions than us, rebellious Americans.

As for the other precautions I was talking about, they include opening the windows, using fans, environmental UV lights, distancing desks, staggering classes to avoid overcrowding in corridors, having some of the instruction done online to shorten time at school (but this may not help working parents), temperature and symptom questionnaire checks at the door, extensive testing, and very important and clever, keeping kids in cocooned clusters, that is, each kid only interacts with say, 9 others, so that cluster of 10 kids have them all together but not in touch with other clusters so that if there is an outbreak, it is kept limited.

All these ideas have been used in smarter countries... but our own is in the middle of an Idiocracy phase, so my hopes for sensible precautions and especially for them being followed is low.