Do you have the coronavirus yet?
Before the coronavirus arrives you can learn how to cope with it.
You should make the assumption that you will catch the coronavirus disease. Everyone will catch it until a vaccine is developed and distributed, but that is said to take a year to eighteen months. This flu-like disease has already been spread worldwide by travelers, but the rate so far is that only one person in a half a million has died of the coronavirus as of today. Coronavirus is still invisible in most people’s lives even though it is getting massive amounts of news interest and official demands on our personal behavior.
Here are the March 22, 2020, statistics: 7,773,000,000 world population divided by 322,625 contracted coronavirus and that equals one person in 24,093 contracting the coronavirus and 7,773,000,000 divided by 13,745 died thus equals only one person of 565,515 world population has died so far. That’s why I say it is still invisible. It has to be a thousand times worse before you will personally know someone who died.
In the years 1918-1920, the Spanish flu killed between 17 and 100 million people of the world population of 1.8 billion. That population was only one quarter our present 7.8 billion thus, 7,773,000,000 / 1,811,012,000 = 4.29 times more people now than when the Spanish flu ripped through humanity a century ago. For our present coronavirus to get a comparable number of deaths to the Spanish Flu, we multiply the 1920 world population deaths of 17 – 100 million by 4.3 and we would now get 73.1 – 430 million dead to equal that tragedy.
That would mean that 5% of today’s world population would die to equal the Spanish flu. It can happen here and now, and there are still a few people alive today old enough to remember that event.
1% die = 77,730,000
2% die = 155,460,000
3% die = 233,190,000
4% die = 310,920,000
5% die = 388,650,000
6% die = 466,380,000
Within a few months, everyone on earth will be exposed to coronavirus including you and me. Most of us will survive and develop lifelong immunity to this coronavirus. Also, that immunity will probably give some protection to new forms of the virus that will evolve out of the present virus. Thus having the current coronavirus while you are young isn’t all bad.
At present, about 80% get a mild infection, and they will be over symptoms in about two weeks. Unfortunately, old people confined in nursing homes are much more likely to get a serious illness and many will die. It is that geriatric group of the sick 20% who will get quite sick and die. “Using available preliminary data, the median time from onset to clinical recovery for mild cases is approximately 2 weeks and is 3-6 weeks for patients with the severe or critical disease.”
The severe form of coronavirus disease is in the lungs.
I have been pursuing the idea that coronavirus primarily begins in the sinuses, and the body develops some immunity to the disease in those first few days. If the virus doesn’t get aspirated into the lungs in those first days, the person probably won’t get very sick. However, if the virus does get to the lungs, regardless of their age they will probably get very sick. The suggestions I am offering are ways to prevent the post nasal drip from getting into your lungs.
The image below is from pedilung.com
Causes of a postnasal drip are the sinuses trying to prevent the bad stuff from getting into your body, such as seasonal pollen. The reason the disease gets old people sick more often than younger ones is that they have trouble swallowing.
“Dysphagia is the medical term for swallowing difficulties. Some people with dysphagia have problems swallowing certain foods or liquids, while others can’t swallow at all. Other signs of dysphagia include: coughing or choking when eating or drinking; bringing food back up, sometimes through the nose.”
Two-thirds of the people living in nursing homes have dysphagia. Thus, these people aspirate food and other stuff in the mouth and also tend to inhale post nasal fluids. When that postnasal drip loaded with infectious disease gets into the lungs, it often kills them.
Here are some ways to prevent postnasal drip and dysphagia.
For the first two weeks of coronavirus infection, maintain the habit of holding your chin down while eating, chewing food and drinking fluids. A good angle is about halfway between looking straight ahead and your chin just touching your chest. In this position, your epiglottis at the back of your mouth covers your trachea (windpipe) better and prevents stuff from going down the wrong way and into your lungs.
Habits are hard to create so it is a wise thing to practice holding your chin down whenever you might be looking up while swallowing. When at your computer adjust the screen so you are looking slightly down at it.
Another simple thing is to cough slightly after every swallow. That is to clear out anything that might go toward the lungs.
Do a slight huffing cough and forceful blowing out of the nose frequently into Kleenex when you have a coronavirus infection.
When sleeping it is probably better not to lie on your back because nasal drip can more easily enter the windpipe than when lying on your left side.
Carry some Kleenex and lunch bags with you so when you cough or sneeze you can put the tissue in the bag. When you have a permanent disposal place put the bag deep inside, so the stuff goes to the city incinerator without encountering any other people.
Whenever I’ve had a common cold for the last 25 years I have at the first sign of the illness taken a 105°F bath and raised my body temperature to 101°F. I am going along with my body’s inclination to raise my temperature, and turn on my immune system. I do that twice a day for three days and once a day for about five more days. It works for my colds and it might work for coronavirus because they are similar viruses.
Keep invigorated by going for fifteen-minute walks twice a day, but keep some distance from other people and anything they might touch.
Follow the usual advice given by the authorities.
