This week I talked about: you guessed it, COVID-19. There were reports that only 6% of the people who had COVID-19 as one of their diagnosis codes had that as the only diagnosis; the rest had other conditions at the same time. Our dear leader and some of the right interpreted this to mean that only 9000 people actually died of COVID-19, not 200,000+. I sort this out; it’s clear that these poor folk simply had comorbidities at the time of their death, and 6% of these deaths had no other diagnosis codes. This doesn’t mean that they only died of COVID, but they could have comorbidities that were simply not listed. Nope, you don’t get a pass, you still have to mask, distance, and wash. Also, the new head of the COVID-19 task force is now a neuroradiologist, Scott Atlas, who is in line with moving the economy and schooling forward, perhaps too quickly.
There was a study at Oak Ridge National Lab in Texas that suggested a bradykinin model of disease in COVID-19. Bradykinin modulators may be helpful in reducing the severity of the illness. There are many foods that you can eat that have polyphenols in them, which calm bradykinin. I list them off for you!