What we don’t know about COVID-19

COVID-19 has been with us for almost a year now, and we know a lot. But there are also a lot of things we don’t know about COVID-19, and lots of confusion. Benjamin Franklin once remarked that the beginning of wisdom is the knowledge of your own ignorance. What do we know about COVID-19? What don’t we know?

We know COVID-19 is caused by a virus. We understand the life cycle of the virus, what cells it prefers, how it enters our cells, and how it spreads from one person to another. But there are lots of things we don’t know.

The World Health Organization has named the virus SARS-CoV-2 and the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 is named COVID-19. It’s an important distinction, because:

We Know that: Every Case of COVID-19 is Unique

The virus doesn’t change, but every case is unique. How is that possible? It happens because COVID-19 is about the patient, more than it is about the virus. Some of us hardly notice the virus. Other suffer minor signs and symptoms. Some suffer severe symptoms, and some die from COVID-19. The virus might change a bit, evolving as it passes from cell to cell and from person to person, but those changes are largely irrelevant. The most important factors in a case of COVID-19 are not about SARS-CoV-2.

SARS-CoV-2 is about the virus. COVID-19 is about the patient. That much we know. But there is a lot we don’t know. Let’s begin.

Cytokine Storms

If you read anything about COVID-19, you’ve heard of cytokine storms. A cytokine storm, in theory, occurs when the immune system overreacts and attacks. There’s just one problem. There is considerable dispute, not just about COVID-19 cytokine storms, there is dispute that cytokine storms even exist. A JAMA article asks, “Is a cytokine storm relevant to COVID-19” and answers with “Cytokine storm has no definition.” There is no doubt that some patients suffer severe damage, leading to a life crisis from COVID-19, but the link to immune system disruption is not yet clear. Cytokine storm is a hypothesis that has yet to be proven, even after COVID-19 has caused more than a million deaths. Verdict? We don’t know.

The Bradykinin Storms

In April, 2020, researchers Joseph A. Roche and Renuka Roche published a different hypothesis about COVID-19 deaths, “a vicious positive feedback loop of des-Arg(9)- bradykinin- and bradykinin-mediated inflammation → injury → inflammation, likely precipitates life threatening respiratory complications in COVID-19.”

If you’ve been checking the news, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard about bradykinin storms, or the bradykinin hypothesis, even though it more accurately explains many aspects of severe or deadly COVID-19 cases. Why not?

There are at least two clinical studies testing medications that might treat patients with a bradykinin storm, however, results are not expected until early November and in late January 2021. Why so long between research publication and study results? Are clinical studies the only way to validate or disprove the bradykinin hypothesis? We don’t know.

COVID Deaths Caused by Age

If you are over a certain age, or if you have friends and relatives over a certain age, you’ve certainly heard that being older causes COVID-19 to have more severe effects. It’s not hard to be confused. The CDC reports “Table 1 has counts of death involving COVID-19 and select causes of death by sex and age group.” It’s easy to misunderstand, and conclude that being older causes deaths of many COVID-19 patients. But that’s simply not true. Is it because they are older? No. There are several cases of patients – over 100 years old -who survived COVID-19 with only minor signs and symptoms. The BBC reports that “Maria Branyas: ‘Oldest woman in Spain’ beats coronavirus at 113” and FOX News recently reported “100-year-old coronavirus survivors share their longevity secrets.”

But age is not a cause of severe COVID-19. How do we know? A cause is something we can change. If we can’t change it, it might be a reality we have to be aware of, but it’s not a cause.

So what’s really going on? Why do more elderly people die from COVID? It’s not hard to understand. People who are older are more likely to suffer from a number of medical conditions related to COVID-19. Analysis following deaths in Italy showed that “more than 75% had high blood pressure, about 35% had diabetes and a third suffered from heart disease”. (Bloomberg, 2020) Notice that the numbers sum to more than 100 percent. Almost 50 percent of patients who died from COVID-19 had three or more medical conditions. In addition, many elderly people also suffer from lack of exercise and socialization and deficiencies of many nutrients like Vitamin D, Vitamin C, good fats, zinc, and other nutrients essential to health. In these patients, a small exposure for a healthy person might be deadly because the virus finds it easy to multiply.

Why do so many elderly people suffer from multiple diseases? What are the cures for an elderly patient with hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and multiple nutrient deficiencies? We don’t know. We don’t study cures. We have no theory of cure. Or do we?

Low ACE2 at Disease Levels

We know that the virus SARS-CoV-2 can only attack a cell via the ACE2 attribute. Some people, most notably – people with high blood pressure – have a lot of ACE2 cells, more food for COVID-19. What happens when SARS-CoV-2 infects someone with very low ACE2 levels? We don’t know. We know that many people are asymptomatic. But, because they are asymptomatic, we ignore them – unless they develop other problems. We don’t study people who cure COVID-19 with healthiness.

Some researchers have theorized that blocking the ACE2 receptors, in patients with hypertension, would make COVID-19 less dangerous. However, this has not proven effective. It is also an alternative with many potential dangers. A high number of ACE2 cell attributes is part of our body’s healthy reaction to other diseases. Disrupting that system might have more negative effects than positive. We don’t know.

We know, in theory, how to lower ACE2 levels. Cure the disease cause. But not COVID-19. Cure hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease, and over time (we don’t know how long), the body will return to a healthier state. COVID-19 will be less dangerous. There’s just one problem. We don’t study cure. Cured is not even defined for hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. When a patient is cured, today, we can’t tell. Our current medical systems can’t know how to recognize cured for most diseases.

The Value of Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, and Healthy Fats

It is well understood, and well published, that many patients – especially elderly patients – who suffer severe consequences from COVID-19 also suffer many nutritional deficiencies. Deficiencies in Vitamin D and Zinc are linked to immune system response. Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and healthy fats are essential to healing injuries, including damage caused by COVID-19. Most cases of COVID-19 are cured by natural healthiness.

But, according to the Mayo Clinic, officially, “Currently, no medication is recommended to treat COVID-19, and no cure is available.”

In addition, many discussions of Vitamin D and COVID-19 contain more warnings about “excessive consumption of Vitamin D” than information about Vitamin D deficiency and COVID. Why don’t our medical authorities recommend healthy supplementation of Vitamin D, zinc, Vitamin C, and other nutrients – even for patients who are clearly deficient? Because these supplements are not medicines. Doctors recommend medicines, not healthicines. Healthicines are not approved, and cannot be recommended medically. Why not? We don’t know.

The Value of Hydroxychloroquine

In North America, and many other countries, hydroxychloroquine has been banned for use by patients with COVID-19. Many doctors are forbidden from prescribing it. At the same time, some doctors have claimed it cured their patients. Published research on hydroxychloroquine is mixed. We don’t know. What about the doctors who claim it cured their patients? There is no test for COVID-19 cured. We have no ability to prove nor disprove a claim of cure with hydroxychloroquine. All claims are simply ignored. Why? We don’t know.

We do know, if we look outside the USA, that countries using hydroxychloroquine in the early stages of COVID-19 have much lower death rates than countries which banned its use. How many deaths have occurred because of bans on hydroxychloroquine? We don’t know. But it’s not hard to make an educated guess. And it’s not pretty.

The Truth about Masks

There’s lots of persuasion to use masks, and I’ve seen people wearing COVID-19 masks, even while driving alone in their car. There are two basic facts about masks that we should know – but don’t. The first, is the potential that masks create for increased transmission, as stated in this letter to the British Medical Journal.

wearing a mask can give a false sense of security
people must avoid touching their mask (almost impossible if the mask is being worn for long time periods). In addition,
wearing a mask forces exhaled air into the eyes, causing people to touch their eyes
masks block speech. People wearing masks tend to move closer together, possibly negating the effect of the mask when it is most important.
masks cannot block all viral particles. In addition, when the virus level in the air is high, the virus is breathed into the mask and then – over time – breathed in and out of the lungs because it is held directly in front of the mouth and nose.

The mask can only provide protection when someone in the area has a SARS-CoV-2 infections at the infectious stage. Most people in public places do not have SARS-CoV-2 infections. Therefore, in most personal interactions, the risk reduction of a COVID-19 mask is zero. There are, of course two problems:

It’s most important to isolate yourself, and wear a mask when we are infected. But, it’s difficult to know we are infected.
The Mask Paradox: People who are most likely to spread the disease if infected are people with A-type personalities and strong personal confidence. These people, who need to wear masks the most, are least likely to wear a mask. As a result, we may need to wear a mask in self defense.

Why don’t we know these facts about masks? We know why. Because we want people to wear masks, so we avoid discussing the complete reality – it doesn’t help us reach the mask goal. Disclosure: I wear a mask when required.

Other Cures for COVID-19

There are many other claims of cures for COVID-19. There are claims that COVID-19 has been cured by vitamins and minerals like zinc, by healthy foods and herbs, by Traditional Chinese Medicines, by conventional medicines like hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, antibiotics, alone or in combinations.

All are simply ignored. There is no test for COVID-19 cured. Do any of them them work? Some of the time? All of the time?

We simply don’t know. At present, COVID-19 cured is not defined. We have world-wide statistics for COVID-19 infections, for COVID-19 deaths, and for COVID-19 recovered. But we have no statistics for COVID-19 cured. It is not possible to count COVID-19 cured, because cure is not defined. And, because COVID-19 cured is not defined, we also cannot prove any cure claim for COVID-19 is invalid.

Most cases of COVID-19 are cured by natural healthiness, followed by natural healing of any injuries caused. But natural cures are not recognized medically – they were not caused by a medicine. Healing is generally recognized as a cure, or as a cure process, but there are no statistics for healing cures – they don’t need medicines.

COVID-19 Requires Multiple Cures

SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus causes an infection. The infection kills cells. The cell deaths cause other complications, the disease we call COVID-19. COVID-19 is a large constellation of illnesses and illness stages that can occur in different patterns in different patients. COVID-19 generally consists of many illness elements.

An illness element is cured when its present cause has been successfully addressed.
The Elements of Cure

Each element of a case of COVID-19 illness has a single unique cause. Because each element has a unique cause, it requires a unique cure. COVID-19, the disease, requires many cures, one for each illness element, one for each cause. Addressing the viral cause of COVID-19 does not repair the damage. COVID-19 loss of smell, COVID-19 pneumonia, COVID-19 PTSD, and COVID-19 brain-fog are separate diseases, each with their own causes, each requiring their own cures. Each case of COVID-19 requires a set of cure processes specific to that individual case.

But we don’t study cures. We don’t count COVID-19 patients cured. We don’t know.

This post is based on the concepts presented in the upcoming book (which has been blocked from publication by Amazon.Com) COVID-19 from Causes to Cures. This book is in the final stages.