Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Researchers are consistently claiming Summer humidity impedes the transmission of Covid-19. But some humid tropical countries like Singapore have as much difficulty controlling the spread of Covid as the rest of us.
Could high humidity slow the spread of COVID-19?
Emergency room physician Jeff Gusky spreads the message that high humidity could slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In the small sanctuary of Starlight Bethel Missionary Church in South Dallas, emergency room physician Jeff Gusky stands before a handful of listeners.
“It’s the humidity, stupid!” Dr. Gusky says.
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“It’s accepted that many viruses spread during the winter when the air is dry. COVID-19 is a virus,” Gusky tells his audience.
Data linking the spread of the flu to dry indoor air has been around for years, including in the decade-old study, “Absolute Humidity and the Seasonal Outbreak of Influenza in the Continental United States” by Dr. Jeffrey Shaman.
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In June, a group in Australia published a study linking dry air to the spread of the coronavirus there. The study compared 749 cases of COVID-19 to relative humidity. It found that with every 1% decrease in humidity, coronavirus cases increased 6%.
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Read more: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/could-high-humidity-slow-spread-coronavirus/287-6aa63537-1ed7-47ef-baa4-64716d29c730
The abstract of the Australian study;
The role of climate during the COVID‐19 epidemic in New South Wales, Australia
Michael P. Ward Shuang Xiao Zhijie Zhang
First published: 21 May 2020Previous research has identified a relationship between climate and occurrence of SARS‐CoV and MERS‐CoV cases, information that can be used to reduce the risk of infection. Using COVID‐19 notification and postcode data from New South Wales, Australia during the exponential phase of the epidemic in 2020, we used time series analysis to investigate the relationship between 749 cases of locally acquired COVID‐19 and daily rainfall, 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. temperature, and 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. relative humidity. Lower 9 a.m. relative humidity (but not rainfall or temperature) was associated with increased case occurrence; a reduction in relative humidity of 1% was predicted to be associated with an increase of COVID‐19 cases by 6.11%. During periods of low relative humidity, the public health system should anticipate an increased number of COVID‐19 cases.
Read more: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tbed.13631
The tropical city state Singapore has had a difficult time controlling the spread of Covid-19, though they have a surprisingly low death rate according to official figures – only 26 deaths to date. According to Straits Times, Singapore uses Remdesivir to treat Covid patients.
Singapore population 5,851,851, infections 45,783, deaths 26 is an infection rate of 7823 / million, deaths 26.
New York, population 8,175,133, infections 405,827, infection rate 21,940 / million, deaths 32,393.
Singapore’s difficulties with Covid could be due to factors which interfere with realisation of the potential benefits of Singapore’s tropical humidity. Singaporeans spend a lot of time indoors in air conditioned comfort, they take their air conditioning very seriously.
Lee Kuan Yew, founder of modern Singapore, once said:
Question: Anything else besides multicultural tolerance that enabled Singapore’s success?
Answer: Air conditioning. Air conditioning was a most important invention for us, perhaps one of the signal inventions of history. It changed the nature of civilization by making development possible in the tropics.
Without air conditioning you can work only in the cool early-morning hours or at dusk. The first thing I did upon becoming prime minister was to install air conditioners in buildings where the civil service worked. This was key to public efficiency.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/2015/3/23/8278085/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-air-conditioning
I am not disputing claims that humidity impedes the spread of Covid-19, but clearly there are other important factors.
“Question: Anything else besides multicultural tolerance that enabled Singapore’s success?
Answer: Air conditioning. ”
Part of the site selection criteria for the Capital of the United States was that it be in such a miserable place that Congress wouldn’t spend more time there than it had to – thus limiting the damage it might do to the Republic. The swamp known as Washington DC met that criterion in spades, with its brutal heat and humidity for much of the year.
Those of us who despair at what the U.S. government is doing to this country have long noted that the demise of the Republic began with the introduction of air conditioning into Washington DC. Technology can be a boon, but also a destroyer.
Interesting video Maybe a valid curative approach.
Interesting. Taiwan, Japan, Singapore are using inhaled steroids. Low deaths in all cases.
Has anyone crunched the stats on the rate of Covid-19 deaths that have already occurred amongst people who take budesonide for asthma control? Should not need to wait till October to work that out.
Wow—over 2 million views after 9 days online at YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDSDdwN2Xcg Comments there include:
Budesonide is sold under the name brand Pulmicort Respules. This is the type that can only be used by inhalation using the nebulizer.
Type of Steroid: Corticosteroids; Google Pulmicort and you will find it.
You can buy it OVER THE COUNTER without prescription as RHINOCORT
Hopefully the President doesn’t talk about this or they will take it away from us.
This gives me hope and I’m a hospital RN; yes inhaled corticosteroid (a class of steroids) (pulmicort-brand name) is used in a twice daily dose nebulizer (cost of home nebulizer machine is about $40 at any drug store and does not require a prescription for the machine) to prevent asthma exacerbations and has been a safe standard of care for years.
I heard of this in late April and people said i was a conspirist,
PS: Here are a few cautionary comments on the YouTube page. The side-effects will likely be cited as a reason to diss or prohibit this medication:
I have tried this for asthma. Can be a good drug but has some side effects. I basically got so weak I couldn’t get up so had to come off it but I mean if I was dying that wouldn’t matter
Nebulizers are prohibited from being used on Covid patients because the mist spreads the virus.
I just picked up 3 day FB jail for sharing this video.
PPS: Yet more comments:
Gargling with hot saturated salt water works well to if you do it when the symptoms are first detected.
I looked at a detailed description of Taiwan’s response to Covid-19, and there is no mention of medication. Only prevention by tracking and isolation. Here’s a link: https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/30/taiwan-lessons-fighting-covid-19-using-electronic-health-records/
inhaled budesonide decreases the number and severity of asthma attacks. However, it will not relieve an asthma attack that has already started. By the time you get to the hospital it has started.
Bartlett says: 90% of the effect is lost with an inhaler vs. a nebulizer. Says that NIH is doing a study that is due in October and is set up for failure, because not being used early enough. 14:40. Current standard of care is to give people Tylenol and tell them to tough it out at home. 15:30: France and Spain and Oxford will be starting studies. Favors early testing and early detection.
Interviewer: “There’s some sort of a manipulation going on encouraging America to wait it out for a vaccine.”
“Budesonide is sold under the name brand Pulmicort Respules. This is the type that can only be used by inhalation using the nebulizer.”
Why can’t generic budesonide be used?
Some clarification. Pulmicort Respules is a prescription medication and is the only form to be used for nebulized inhalation. Rhinocort is non-prescription and is not for inhalation; it is a sinus spray.
Something stinks.
This is simple math. Singapore has roughly 1/3 the number of covid cases per million people as compared to New York.
So Singapore should have roughly 1/3 the total number of deaths as New York…
Singapore had 26 deaths as compared to 32,000 deaths in New York divided by 3 is say 10,000.
So Singapore has found some way to reduce there expected total covid death rate from 10,000 to 26.
Singapore has an almost perfect treatment for Covid to be able to reduce their deaths from a predicted 10,000 to 26.
China has no covid cases and/or almost no covid deaths.
Odd unexplained statistics, almost as if China knew what was coming and had a secret tested solutions.
Singapore is now 100% behind/China. Include 100% behind China’s takeover of all commercial activity in the South
“Despite the disputes, Singapore and Beijing have consistently affirm their unwavering close relationship and bilateral ties, deepening their co-operation in numerous areas, including defence, economy, culture and education, as well as One Belt One Road Initiative. Singapore has also vowed to fully support and promote China’s position in ASEAN, while managing the differences between the Chinese state and the organisation”
It is definitely worth a closer look. But it is premature IMO to conclude Singapore are doing something right without a lot more investigation.
As I understand it, most of the deaths in NYC were in care homes. Because they sent infected people to places full of people who were already near death and at extremely high risk if they caught the disease.
Same in Canada; the vast majority of deaths were in care homes, hence the extremely high death rate.
The solution to having a high death rate is apparently to ensure that people who are at a very high risk of dying from it don’t catch it. Which is kind of what you’d expect, and any sane government would have concentrated on protecting those people rather than locking away the ones who are at low risk and demanding they wear masks.
But, of course, we don’t have sane governments in the West.
The presence of humidity in the air is important to preserve the virus. Temperature plays a probably different role. The combination of humidity and temperature in the external environment is fundamental to understand how the virus, through the expansion of water vapor, espands itself (see https://valedo.com/umidita-temperatura-e-sars-cov-2/ ). The air exhaled just before coming out of the mouth or nose has a temperature of about 37 ° C and a relative humidity of about 80-90%. Depending on the “external” temperature and relative humidity values, it is possible to introduce a sort of indicator of the ability to infect of coronavirus (see https://valedo.com/contagio-da-coronavirus-e-distanza-di-sicurezza/) . It is above all the relationship between humidity and temperature in the “outside” air that governs the transmission of the virus. Texts not in english, use a translator.
And who’s numbers are correct and who says they are not fudged. Worldometer numbers are based on Government health dept or authorities input. Most of the worlds governments are UN-WHO members and have accepted them as their de facto experts for Government polices. Governments are corruptible are they not. CDC are private for profit company. Is John Hopkins data trustworthy seeing they are involved with Gates and Fauci and the WHO, WEF and the Davos crowd?
When one simply looks at all the various diagnosis and the treatments they are all symptomatic. It looks like an initial response based on possible misdiagnosis? Any death is recorded as “she/he died after testing positive for coronavirus”,or “died with covid” or “died of covid”, “as a result of” or “because of”, but “after testing positive”. Much confusion. You die because of or as a result of an infection not with an infection . There is so much confusion in the numbers so why do we even bother to believe them. Comorbidity makes it impossible to define. It like the manipulated temperature data.
Why is this suddenly a novel virus? Coronavirus has been around forever they say, maybe just another strain?
As a non scientist and a lay person there is so much BS about this it is the same type of BS surrounding the climate change BS.
There is too much excitement and when Governments become exited beware.
Again models made predictions and Governments believed them because it is what the UN-IPCC said was true, never mind the falsified and manipulated data. Same with this scam.
When one looks at Europe and the northern hemisphere and the all death mortality and compares this to previous data, is it not odd that suddenly there is a big spike that was synchronised as was shown by Prof Denis Rancourt? There is no marked difference from previous summer and winter data, all appears to be in line with normal trends bar the expected variations.
Is it also not possible that Governments have suddenly realised they may all have fallen for a scam bar a few and are embarrassed to tell the truth for fear of losing their control if they are exposed so they need to manipulate data to justify their response to the WHO pandemic declaration?
My two cents worth.
Climate, heat, humidity–are they factors for this virus to thrive and infect humans?
Why don’t we look at a living, life-sized petri dish?
It’s called Africa.
Africa, most of the sub-Saharan portion, is hot, humid, wet, pretty much constantly. Humans live very close to one another. For the vast majority, there is no air-conditioning in homes, offices, shops, or elsewhere.
So–what is the infection rate in Africa? What is the death rate?
Why is Africa seemingly ignored in this “global pandemic?”
What’s up with that?
Folks have noticed that countries with malaria don’t seem to get the novel coronavirus. Is it because of the drugs used to treat malaria? Is it just that having suffered from malaria is protective against this coronavirus?
CommieBob,
Good question.
It seems ludicrous to pretend Africa does not exist, during this “global pandemic.”
Africa is tightly connected to China. China has industry, aid operations, and much more activity and contacts throughout Africa. Africa is not isolated from the world. If covid is so virulent and contagious, Africa should have been infected immediately. And the “exponential” spread should have blanketed the entire continent.
Africa is regularly ravaged by epidemic/pandemics. The claim is that Covid is uniquely contagious and dangerous. Why is Africa NOT decimated by Covid?
Something’s missing from the “science” proclamations on the threat to America from this virus. The evidence (or lack of evidence proving the counter-argument) is in Africa.
COuld it be that the virus is passed via the human digestive process (human waste and /or gas)? That would explain how people in a building who have never met both caught the virus at the same time (if there were no P-traps on plumbin). It would also explain why retirement homes were such fertile ground for the disease with prevalent incontinence.
“New York, population 8,175,133, infections 405,827, infection rate 21,940 / million, deaths 32,393.”
Start over using either infections/deaths for NYC or population for NYS.
I contacted a friend who sells millions of dollars each year of industrial heat exchangers, some air-air but he was not familiar with the equipment needed to let a bar/restaurant go 100% fresh make-up air. Turns out the terminology is specific to HVAC. How I love modern multi-discipline engineering teams!
As a lead-in see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_recovery_ventilation The clue is HVAC ERV. Not cheap, but less than the legal fees if someone sues you bar/restaurant for making them sick (Gulp!)
/sac Rant: How can an advanced civilization (2020) be so poor in contact tracing that it cannot even answer the question, “Are fabric masks ???% as effective as E95 in preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission?” As a professional Process Engineer, I am horrified at the lack of verified, trust-worthy information on Covid-19 infection vectors.
COVID is worse. Anyone could get it, without doing anything more ‘risky’ than going to a grocery store. You only got AIDS in a few pretty specific ways and if you wanted to avoid the risk, you could choose not to do a few things. It’s pretty hard for most of us to always avoid getting near other people, not to mention that no one is even completely sure of all the ways COVID is passed on, so any of us could do something risky because we don’t even know exactly what is risky.
A 2006 peer-reviewed scientific paper (Inglesby et al., 2006) on pandemic mitigation policy said the efficacy of 3-feet social distancing is unknown, surgical masks do little to prevent virus droplet inhalation, and closing schools, restaurants, stores…have seriously adverse community consequences.
https://notrickszone.com/2020/07/09/in-2006-the-science-of-pandemic-mitigation-was-nearly-the-opposite-of-what-it-is-in-2020/
Will need to reexamine theory. This just in from FOX35 Orlando.
“According to the latest publication of statewide test results from the Florida Department of Health, published on Friday, several testing facilities’ positivity rates for coronavirus tests were 27.66, 33.33, 37.10, 40, 43.13, 44.44, 50, 55, 57.14, 59.23, 60, 87.5, 91.18, and 100.
Twenty-two labs reported 100-percent positivity rates. Two labs reported 91.18-percent positivity rates. “