Lifeboat Foundation

This is the latest Lifeboat Foundation update on our worldwide pandemic.

It is also at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lifeboatfoundation/permalink/10158811699298455.

Key summary of this report:

1. Hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, zinc sulfate, and massive amounts of vitamin C taken intravenously should reduce your chance of death by about 50% and any hospital stays should be reduced by 50% as well. (Freeing up ventilators.) This treatment should be begun within 5 days of getting coronavirus symptoms.
2. Wearing any type of mask should reduce the chance of transmitting the virus by 50%. You can reuse a mask by placing it in an oven at 170℉/77℃ for 30 minutes.
3. Taking 2,000 IU per day of vitamin D should reduce your chance of infection by 50%.
4. Social distancing should reduce the rate of infection by 50%.
5. Ventilators are being overhyped by the media and you should take steps to avoid being put on them since they are associated with up to 80% death rates.

Following these four recommendations should improve everyone’s chances by a factor of 16 and get this pandemic under control. (All percentages are approximate, of course.) Such recommendations would bring the end to our extreme quarantines.

VENTILATORS
Ventilators can be shared in an emergency by 2 to 8 patients each. Simply sharing with 2 people plus following our four recommendations will increase the overall ventilator supply by a factor of 32. Learn more at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/health/coronavirus-ventilator-sharing.html.

Patients are experiencing death rates as high as 80% on ventilators as discussed at https://time.com/5818547/ventilators-coronavirus. (50% is the best death rate being recorded anywhere.)

It is estimated that only 20–30% of coronavirus patients who are having problems breathing have the typical Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) that calls for a ventilator. A CT scan will help identify such patients. Learn more at https://www.esicm.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/684_author-proof.pdf.

We recommend that the following be tried before a ventilator:

1. You should lie on your stomach to allow different parts of the lung to aerate better. (If you go on a ventilator you should stay in this position.)
2. Try more oxygen first, generally with a nasal cannula. (Boris Johnson was saved with this technique.) Also try high-flow nasal cannulas as documented at https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/coronavirus-disea…t-covid19.
3. Use nitric oxide to improve blood flow and oxygen to the least damaged part of the lungs. (It is theorized that microthrombi are being caused by inflammation and massive amounts of antibodies in the blood.) Some doctors are even using heparin to solve this problem. Read more at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32220112.
4. Use a less invasive BiPAP machine instead.
5. Be reluctant to use a ventilator just due to low oxygen saturation levels. Look for other signs of lack of oxygen such as confusion and shortness of breath before using a ventilator.
6. Use N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to loosen thick mucus.
7. If you have the option, request extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, which delivers oxygen directly to your bloodstream, instead of using a ventilator which will likely damage your lungs. We recommend ECMO be used without massive sedation as described at https://ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-016-1329-y. Long-term sedation can cause brain damage especially in old people.

One reason coronavirus patients can have near-hypoxic levels of blood oxygen without the usual gasping and other signs of impairment is that their blood levels of carbon dioxide, which diffuses into air in the lungs and is then exhaled, remain low. That suggests the lungs are still accomplishing the critical job of removing carbon dioxide even if they’re struggling to absorb oxygen. This is reminiscent of altitude sickness more than pneumonia.

One problem is that CPAP/BiPAP and other positive-pressure machines pose a risk to health care workers. The devices push aerosolized virus particles into the air, where anyone entering the patient’s room can inhale them. The intubation required for mechanical ventilators can also aerosolize virus particles, but the machine is a contained system after that. Due to the severe damage caused by ventilators, we still recommend using a CPAP if you are able to breathe with one.

Read “COVID-19 pneumonia: different respiratory treatment for different phenotypes?” at https://www.esicm.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/684_author-proof.pdf.

MASKS
If you are low on masks, reuse them by placing them in an oven at 170℉/77℃ for 30 minutes. Learn more at https://www.n95decon.org/publications. This plus our four main recommendations should increase the available mask supply by 128 times. (Assuming 8 uses of each mask.)

Learn how to make your own mask at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lifeboatfoundation/permalink/10158809013063455.

Learn how to stop your glasses from fogging up when using a homemade mask at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-wear-face-masks-withou…d10a68988f.

Note that moisture, such as from breathing, can trap virus in a mask and make it a strong source of contamination when the wearer takes it off. If you touch the front when taking it off, you could end up contaminating yourself. Be careful!

WATCH THE CORONAVIRUS EVOLVE!
Hit play at https://nextstrain.org/ncov to watch the coronavirus evolve in near real time. (The play button is on the geography part.)

WATCH THE CURRENT CASES
You can see a dashboard of the current cases at https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594…7b48e9ecf6.
Learn about new cases/new deaths at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus.

Look at 17 responsible live visualizations about the coronavirus at https://blog.datawrapper.de/coronaviruscharts.

VIDEOS
There are some excellent coronavirus videos at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ_IRFkDInv-NvRRUN0aqe51sMs188k8z. Also watch “Joe Rogan Experience #1439 — Michael Osterholm” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3URhJx0NSw.

ZINC TREATMENT
Note that this treatment has enough potential for side effects that it should only be taken with doctor supervision. (Even though this is an old drug that has been taken by huge amounts of people.)

6,227 physicians were surveyed in 30 countries in early April, and hydroxychloroquine was rated the “most effective therapy” for combating the epidemic among 15 possible treatments. Learn more at https://www.sermo.com/press-releases/largest-statistically-s…n-context/.

The following was highly experimental when mentioned in our last report. It is now an FDA-approved emergency coronavirus treatment. (At least the hydroxycholorquine/chloroquine part is FDA approved.) *Many* countries are using such drugs although it would not be surprising if even better drugs are found over time. (Keep up the testing doctors!)

This treatment works best if you start it within the first 5 days of the disease before your immune system gets overwhelmed. If, for example, you are already on a ventilator, then the following is unlikely to save you.

If you get a serious case of the coronavirus and/or are old or have underlying conditions with serious symptoms, you may wish to ask your doctor to give you 200mg of hydroxychloroquine twice per day. This enables more zinc to enter your cells and interferes with coronavirus replication. If your country doesn’t have hydroxychloroquine, 500mg of chloroquine can be used instead. You should not combine this treatment with the lopinavir 400mg/ritonavir 100mg treatment as this can cause heart problems. Read “In Vitro Antiviral Activity and Projection of Optimized Dosing Design of Hydroxychloroquine for the Treatment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)” at https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa237/5801998.

In addition to 200mg of hydroxychloroquine twice per day, you should take azithromycin (500 mg per day). You should also take 220mg of zinc sulfate per day to make sure there is plenty of zinc for the hydroxychloroquine to put into your cells. (Of course, your doctor will likely alter the dosages recommended in this report as new medical studies provide new data on the best amounts to use.)

Read “Chloroquine phosphate has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of COVID-19 associated pneumonia in clinical studies” at https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bst/advpub/0/advpub_2020.01047/_article, “Chloroquine Is a Zinc Ionophore” at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0109180, and “Zn2+ Inhibits Coronavirus and Arterivirus RNA Polymerase Activity In Vitro and Zinc Ionophores Block the Replication of These Viruses in Cell Culture” at https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1001176. The second article is from 2010 which is a bit interesting.

Watch “Coronavirus Epidemic Update 34: US Cases Surge, Chloroquine & Zinc Treatment Combo, Italy Lockdown” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7F1cnWup9M.

Read “BREAKING: After Prof Raoult’s 78 of 80 success ratio test, France approves [Hydroxy?]Chloroquine for Covid-19″ at https://uncommondescent.com/medicine/breaking-after-prof-rao…r-covid-19.

VITAMIN C
In addition to hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and zinc sulfate, you should take 1,500 mg of vitamin C intravenously 4 times a day. Each dose represents over 16 times the recommended FDA Recommended Daily Intake for vitamin C which is currently 90 mg/day and was recently increased in July 2019 from 60 mg/day. Learn more at https://nypost.com/2020/03/24/new-york-hospitals-treating-co…-vitamin-c.

VITAMIN D
On an ongoing basis, you should take 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day as described at https://youtu.be/gmqgGwT6bw0?list=PLQ_IRFkDInv-NvRRUN0aqe51sMs188k8z. This video shows how regular supplementation can reduce your chance of infection by 50%. (Many studies are referenced including studies that show that taking a single megadose of vitamin D will temporarily disrupt the immune system and is not helpful.)

Here’s information about a vitamin D study including 11,000 participants: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170216110002.htm. I quote, “Overall, the reduction in risk of acute respiratory infection induced by vitamin D was on a par with the protective effect of injectable flu vaccine against flu-like illnesses.“
It is likely that the increased vitamin D that people get in the summer is a factor in the flu fading away during the summer months!

DEATH RATE OF CORONAVIRUS IS HIGHLY EXAGGERATED
The death rate of the coronavirus is likely much lower than initially reported. You can learn more at https://slate.com/technology/2020/03/coronavirus-mortality-r…think.html.

I quote: “Allow me to be the bearer of good news. These frightening numbers are unlikely to hold. The true Case Fatality Rate, known as CFR, of this virus is likely to be far lower than current reports suggest. Even some lower estimates, such as the 1 percent death rate recently mentioned by the directors of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, likely substantially overstate the case.”

Luckily, children have nearly a 100% survival rate with this virus. Read https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/we-simply-do-not-…g-n1147951. Even newborns are successfully fighting off the coronavirus!

In general, the coronavirus is mostly killing the elderly and those with serious health problems. It does get enough people really sick to make the quarantines worth it, though. (Many countries have had their hospitals get overwhelmed.)

The fight against the coronavirus is a good dry run for when a truly wicked pathogen appears, and with biological engineering, that is only a matter of time. Perhaps we will learn something here that will save humanity when a true planet killer arrives.

TESTING
The coronavirus is on the march worldwide and there will not be a vaccine in the foreseeable future. So our main line of defense is the quarantine.

A quarantine CAN NOT be properly implemented if you don’t know who has the virus, so countries must follow South Korea’s example and do massive testing for the virus. This would also end up calming the populace as people would no longer have to guess how bad the pandemic was in their neighborhood.

Another benefit of massive testing is that the true Case Fatality Rate (CFR) will be revealed as people with mild forms of the virus will be included in the totals. The actual CFR rate is likely between 0.1% and 0.3%. This lower CFR will also calm the public. Here’s info on a test that takes less than an hour to get results: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/488807-fda-authorizes-…virus-test. Learn about a 5-minute test: https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/01/detroit-to-be-first-to-dep…ayor-says/.

HERD IMMUNITY
Likely so many people are getting infected that we are developing some herd immunity. (A big factor in the growing number of cases is that the number of tests being done is growing rapidly causing more of this giant pool of victims to be found.)

This herd immunity will definitely be a factor in why nations will have surges in cases that rather quickly level off and then decline. We will know more about this after antibody tests are released. Quarantines will also encourage coronavirus variants that produce less symptoms to spread and this is likely already the case as described at https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwaa036/5775463. (This report says that a less dangerous variant is now spreading the most.)

CORONAVIRUS DOSE
A key thing that the media is ignoring is that getting exposed to the coronavirus DOES NOT automatically make you very sick. Getting a little bit on your hands from an Amazon package will likely make you immune to the coronavirus with little symptoms if the tiny bit gets in your body. But if you are next to someone in a New York City elevator and neither of you are wearing masks, then you are screwed. (Please put Lifeboat in your will!)

The danger of a large dose and the benefits of a small dose have been known for nearly a thousand years so the media is really failing us here. Learn more at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/06/how-does-the-c…-a-patient.

From the article:

As early as 1100, medical healers in China had realized that those who survived smallpox did not catch the illness again (survivors of the disease were enlisted to take care of new victims), and inferred that the exposure of the body to an illness protected it from future instances of that illness. Chinese doctors would grind smallpox scabs into a powder and insufflate it into a child’s nostril with a long silver pipe.

Vaccination with live virus was a tightrope walk: if the amount of viral inoculum in the powder was too great, the child would succumb to a full-fledged version of the disease—a disaster that occurred perhaps one in a hundred times. If all went well, the child would have a mild experience of the disease, and be immunized for life.

QUARANTINES GOING TOO FAR
We are getting into “crazy times” where governments are going too far in their quarantines. Such quarantines will soon be lessened as people push back on them.

The worst example is that the Mexican government has banned the production of Corona beer, especially Corona Extra beer as described at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8183477/Corona-beer…virus.html. Corona beer is a food source and people can’t survive without food. (The ban covers more than Corona beer, which actually makes the ban even more ridiculous.)

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Besides bothering your government to increase testing if you live in a country which is faltering on testing, you can:

1. Engage in social distancing. Read “Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now” at https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-peop…3d9cd99ca.
2. Take vitamin D as described above. This will boost your immune system with little chance of side effects.
3. Get at least a month’s supply of basic necessities as there will be food runs, quarantines, and other disruptions in the near future. You don’t want to run out of toilet paper or Corona beer!
4. Remember to wash your hands and don’t touch your mouth, nose, and eyes a lot when in public. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA1wqjaeKj0 to learn more. (This short video is very funny.)
5. Here’s a list of some products that you can use to kill coronavirus: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2020-03/docum…5;2020.pdf. (Bleach and peroxide are especially useful.)
6. Get a thermometer and realize you don’t have a fever unless your temperature goes above 100.4℉/38.0℃.
   
   Don’t rush to get rid of a fever as it probably helps kill the virus. Watch “Coronavirus Pandemic Update 44: Loss of Smell & Conjunctivitis in COVID-19, Is Fever Helpful?” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4eu-h_owaI and read https://www.pnas.org/content/115/22/E5243.
   

   Unless the fever is excessive (>103.0℉/39.4℃), the patient’s dehydrated, or there’s lethargy which means that the patient doesn’t want to move very much then fever shouldn’t be treated.

7. Don’t go to the hospital unless you have severe symptoms. Hospitals will soon have many coronavirus victims and you want to avoid them if you can. In fact, you should generally avoid hospitals as they are full of nasty germs.
8. If you get really sick, call ahead so the hospital can prepare to isolate you as soon as you arrive.
9. Please self-quarantine for 2 weeks if you believe you have been exposed to the coronavirus.
10. Ferrets and cats seem to susceptible to this virus based on https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/07/science.abb7015. So to be safe, keep your cat indoors.
11. Wear a mask when you are out in public. This should reduce the overall rate of transmission of this disease by about 50%. (Mostly by stopping you from infecting others if you have the coronavirus but don’t know it.) Any type of mask will make a big difference.
    
    Watch “Face masks are reducing COVID-19 infection risk” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYJvU81DKgk. (20 second video.) Also watch “Micro droplets suspending in air” at https://vimeo.com/402577241.
    
    Learn how to make your own mask at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lifeboatfoundation/permalink/10158809013063455.