What’s the real problem and the real solution for Covid-19?
As cases rise here in the United States, we continue to face the burning question. How do we solve this crisis and get back to life as we use to know it? Another question is will we ever get back to life as we use to know it? We can guess why cases are rising. Is it because we are doing more testing? Is it because we are coming into cold and flu season where we get less fresh air, less sunlight (Vitamin D3), and less exercise from outdoor activities? Is it because we let our guard down and started gathering with family and friends more? Who knows? All I do know is that the virus isn’t going away and I’d rather stand up and control what I have control over than run and hide and do nothing. Here is what I know, there are 2 things in life, things we have control over and things we don’t. Why do we (and the news media) always focus on the things for which we have no control? What we have control over is our self. What we don’t have control over is everything else.
As a read the landscape of our current situation, I realize that most people are waiting it out. Waiting to see what happens? Waiting on the vaccine? Waiting to see what the next administration is going to do? Waiting for new and better drugs to treat this virus? However, if you are in a vulnerable category, you better stop waiting and start preparing. It’s like knowing a category 5 hurricane is approaching. If you live on or near the water, don’t be a fool, get the hell out of there. Some people are much more vulnerable to this virus than others. We know that the elderly and people with co-morbidities are much more at risk of being admitted to the ICU or dying should they become infected. We NEED to protect these people. It is the right thing to do! The problem is that this represents a HUGE percentage of our population.
Let’s face the facts, we are an old and sick nation with some of the highest percentages of older people, and some of the highest percentage of people with NCD’s (non-communicable diseases) such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome (obesity), respiratory and auto-immune diseases. So many people in this country take multiple medications for non-communicable chronic diseases they are suffering from. These people are at risk. Also, we keep people alive a lot longer than 50 years ago. People are living a lot longer because of medical technology and long-term care. However, they are NOT living healthier and these people are the ones dying in the highest order from this pandemic. We have every kind of nursing home and long-term care facility imaginable but are the people living in these facilities prepared for the likes of this virus or any other extremely virulent virus? Why do we think we can totally subvert nature’s law of survival of the fittest and natural selection?
So what’s the real problem here and what’s the real cure? If we see the problem as merely a virus that needs a cure, we are missing the bigger issue and we better pray for a miracle because that’s what it is going to take. A miracle that only God can solve, not just a vaccine, I can assure you. If we see the problem as “out there” waiting to get us, we are missing a huge opportunity to look in the mirror as an individual and as a nation and take responsibility. Responsibility for the real problem, we are a sick, over-medicated, under-nourished, over-stressed, under-rested, overweight, and chronically sick nation. We not only have a chronologically older population that is more susceptible to this virus, but we also have a biologically older population. In other words, people are aging more rapidly biologically than their real age because of their lifestyle and this makes them vulnerable as well. If you are overweight and under-muscled, you are not only at risk of getting a poor outcome with this virus, but with all NCD’s (non-communicable diseases).
Mother Teresa said, “If each of us would only sweep our own doorstep, the whole world would be clean”. Well, if each of us would keep ourselves as healthy as possible, we’d find the real cure to this crisis.
There is a difference between a quick, short-sighted, magic bullet approach to solving Covid and a long-term, roll up your sleeves and get-to-work solution for the real problem. Let’s not focus on winning just this battle, let’s win the whole war and it starts by winning the one inside ourselves. OUR HEALTH!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Dane