There are two main factors that determine the potency of a pandemic: 1) How contagious the virus is; and 2) how potent the virus is. I have commented often on COVID-19’s basic reproductive ratio or R0. Potency is more difficult to quantify. There are many factors. The duration of the illness. The percentage of the
COVID-19 – Contagious Rate (R0)
I have mentioned the Basic Reproductive Ratio (R0 or R Naught) in prior blogs. This is the expected number of cases directly generated by one case in a population where no other individuals are infected or immunized. The effective reproductive number (R) is the number of cases generated in the current state of a population
COVID-19 Treatment Options – Good and Bad News
There are been 4-5 drug combination studies or trials that are showing promising results for treating COVID-19. High dose intravenous vitamin C is being used in New York with success. Intravenous injections of vitamin C have also been shown to be useful for certain types of cancer treatment or prevention. It must be intravenous as
Increasing Immunity to Fight COVID-19
The COVID-19 outbreak is a serious situation. A lot of what is happening is out of our control. In situations like these, I try only to focus on what I can control. For instance, proactive ways to boost immune system defenses against COVID-19. Below is an overview of suggested risk reduction strategies along with my
COVID-19 – Kids Video Explainer
I am sure some children will be confused or upset during this pandemic. I thought this German video did a nice job of explaining to younger children the current situation with the virus and the fact they have no school. It has English subtitles. This one by the Vietnamese government might have missed the mark
COVID-19 – Friday the 13th Update
Happy Friday the 13th! As a Jason, I embrace this day wholeheartedly. The COVID-19 outbreak is obviously scaring people. We are seeing unprecedented actions being taken to stem the spread of this virus, and misinformation, conflicting information, and a lack of information are rampant. To help understand where we’re currently at with the virus, I
COVID-19 Tracker
One of our clients, Johns Hopkins, has published a COVID-19 real-time tracker. This is a great source for monitoring and analyzing the outbreak trends, and a few features are worth highlighting: 1) Daily Cases: The graph in the bottom right corner defaults to total Confirmed cases. This number will consistently trend up due to the formula