Category: science

The case tor Thorium. 8. Produces isotopes that helps treat and maybe cure certain cancers.

For decades, medical researchers have sought treatments for cancer. Now, Alpha Particle Immunotherapy offers a promising treatment for many forms of cancer, and perhaps a cure. Unfortunately, the most promising alpha-emitting medical isotopes, actinium-225 and its daughter, bismuth-213, are not available in sufficient quantity to support current research, much less therapeutic use. In fact, there are only three sources in the world that largely “milk” these isotopes from less than 2 grams of thorium source material. Additional supplies were not forthcoming. Fortunately, scientists and engineers at Idaho National Laboratory identified 40-year-old reactor fuel stored at the lab as a substantial untapped resource and developed Medical Actinium for Therapeutic Treatment, or MATT, which consists of two innovative processes (MATT-CAR and MATT-BAR) to recover this valuable medical isotope. One byproduct generated is a valuable isotope for medical uses, Molybdenum-99 which decays into Technetium-99m, a valuable radiolabel dye for marking cancerous cells in medical scans.

In 2019 The US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)  selected four companies to begin negotiations for potential new cooperative agreement awards for the supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) without using highly enriched uranium (HEU).

Mo-99 is used in hospitals to produce the technetium-99m employed in around 80% of nuclear imaging procedures. Produced in research reactors, Mo-99 has a half-life of only 66 hours and cannot be stockpiled, and security of supply is a key concern. Most of the world’s supply currently comes from just four reactors in Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia and South Africa, and recent years have illustrated how unexpected shutdowns at any of those reactors can quickly lead to shortages. Furthermore, most Mo-99 is currently produced from HEU targets, which are seen as a potential nuclear proliferation risk.

The case for Thorium. 7. Thorium based nuclear power is not suited for making nuclear bombs.

 Thorium based Nuclear Power does not produce much Plutonium-239, which is the preferred material used in nuclear bombs. The higher Plutonium isotopes and other TRansUraniums are about as nasty as they get, need expensive protection against terror attacks, and need to be stored for a very long time.

One anecdote from my youth. The time had come to apply to University, and to my delight I was accepted to Chalmers’ University in Sweden as a Technical Physics major. I felt, maybe I can do my part by becoming a Nuclear Engineer and help solve the energy needs of the future. The Swedes at that time championed the heavy water – natural Uranium program together with the Canadians. Sweden is a non-aligned country, so it was not privy to any atomic secrets, it had to go it alone. They settled on the heavy water moderated natural Uranium process because Sweden had an ambition to produce its own nuclear bomb. Officially this was never talked about, and I was not aware of it at that time. They could have gone with Thorium instead, but a Thorium based nuclear reactor  produces very little Plutonium, and what it produces is nearly all Pplutonium-238, not fissile and as such not suitable for bomb making.

I was excited to learn about all the possibilities and signed up for a couple of nuclear classes. One lab was to design a safety circuit, then run the heavy water research reactor critical and hopefully watch the reactor shut down from the safety circuit before the system safety circuit shutdown. About that time the word came that U.S. will sell partially enriched uranium at bargain basement prices if Sweden agreed to abandon the heavy water project and sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, a treaty being formulated by U.N.

Sweden was in awe about U.N, all the problems of the world were to be solved through it, and it had such a capable General Secretary in Dag Hammarskjöld, a Swede. I looked at the light water, partially enriched Uranium nuclear power plants being developed and decided to have no part with it, not due to safety concerns but it was the design that produced the most nuclear waste of any of the available designs. At that time there was still optimism that fusion would be ready by about the year 2010 or so. The cost of maintaining spent fuel in perpetuity was never considered, so light water reactors became the low cost solution.

India on the other hand refused to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, kept their heavy water program going and had by 1974 produced enough plutonium for one nuclear bomb, which they promptly detonated. They still use heavy water moderated reactors, but since India is low on Uranium but rich in Thorium they have now converted one heavy water reactor to Thorium with a Plutonium glow plug. It went on-line in 2011.

They are also developing molten salt Thorium reactors, but full production is still a few years off.

There we have it. We could have gone with Thorium from the beginning, but the cold war was on, and the civilian peaceful use of nuclear energy was still all paid for by nuclear weapons research and development. Once all the bombs we could ever wish for were developed the greatest asset of nuclear power became its greatest liability.

The case for Thorium. 6. Radioactive waste from an Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor decays down to background radiation in 300 years compared to a million years for U-235 based reactors. A Limerick.

The nuclear waste meant for Yucca

would destine Nevada the sucka

But with Thorium we rid

us of waste that is hid

No need for that waste to be trucka!

Radioactive waste from an LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor)  decays down to background radiation in 300 years instead of a million years for U-235 based reactors. Initially LFTRs produce as much radioactivity as an U-235 based nuclear reactor, since fission converts mass to heat, but the decay products have a much shorter half-life. See the figure below.

Where is the storage for spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste now? Look at the map, it is scary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these are just the U.S. installations!

Many years ago I studied Engineering at Chalmers’ University in Sweden and I thought I would become a nuclear engineer. Sweden had at that time a peaceful heavy water based nuclear power program together with Canada and India. The advantage with heavy water as moderator is that it can use natural, un-enriched Uranium. One of the end products is of course Plutonium 239, the preferred material to make nuclear bombs, but it could also use Thorium, and the end product is then mostly Plutonium 238, used in space exploration, and we were dreaming big. One of the advantages of Thorium as fuel is that it produces about 0,01%  of trans-Uranium waste compared to Uranium as fuel. About that time the U.S. proposed we should abandon the heavy water program and switch to light water enriched Uranium based nuclear power. They would sell the enriched Uranium, and reprocess the spent fuel at cost. They also had the ideal final resting place for the radioactive waste products in Nevada. This was an offer the Swedish government could not refuse, at the height of the cold war. This was  in the 1960’s! India on the other hand did refuse, and they eventually got the nuclear bomb. Since that meant Sweden was never going to use Thorium as nuclear fuel, and I could not figure out how to get rid of all the radioactive waste products, I switched my attention back to control engineering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What did President Trump mean with innovative approaches?

Is this where Thorium comes in!?

The case for Thorium. 5. Thorium nuclear power is only realistic solution to power space colonies.

Thorium nuclear power is the only realistic solution to power space colonies. To form space colonies, power has to be provided to sustain the colony. This means that Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors  (LFTR) have to be fully developed and operational here on earth before serious space colony development can even begin. It need to get started in earnest NOW!

Kirk Sorensen has provided an intriguing teaser on the cause for Thorium nuclear energy.

Watch it and enjoy!

The case for Thorium. 4. Thorium based nuclear power will produce Plutonium-238, needed for space exploration.

A Thorium based nuclear power generator produces Pu-238 as one of the final TRansUranium products, which is in short supply and much in demand for space exploration nuclear power.

NASA relies on pu-238 to power long-lasting spacecraft batteries that transform heat into electricity. With foreign and domestic supplies dwindling, NASA officials are worried the shortage will prevent the agency from sending spacecraft to the outer planets and other destinations where sunlight is scarce. Thorium reactors produce PU-238 as a “free” byproduct.  In 2009 Congress denied a request to produce more Pu-238 by traditional means, instead relying on Russia to sell us the plutonium. (Remember the Russian reset?) Russia made their last delivery in 2010. PU-238 production has since been restarted by converting Ne-237 to Pu-238 at a cost of over 8 million dollars per kilogram. The Ceres-Dawn spacecraft used over 22 Kg of Pu-238 as electricity generator.

To get the best efficiency of generating Pu-238 out of a molten salt Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor, the excess U-233 and TRansUranium products have to be extracted continuously while the reactor is running, and this technology is not yet implemented, but is necessary to implement before we can also have Thorium power on the moon, and Thorium Power is the only viable solution if we are ever going to have a moon colony, so we should get to it.

Reduce death rates from the corona-virus by a factor of 3 or more. Implement the proper Hydroxychloroquine protocol now! The proof exists! It is no more anecdotal!

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden lambasted President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, saying that Trump is “in retreat” with more 125,000 Americans dead and the virus worsening in many states.

In a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, the former vice president recounted what he cast as Trump’s missteps, from Trump’s early dismissals of the virus to his more recent refusals to wear a mask in public appearances.
Pointing to Trump in March declaring himself a wartime president in battling the coronavirus, Biden said: “What happened? Now it’s almost July, and it seems like our wartime president has surrendered — waved the white flag and left the battlefield.”
Well, did the wartime president surrender?

In March, President Trump used a press conference to promote the use of hydroxychloroquine, a common anti-malaria drug, to treat Covid-19, saying: “I sure as hell think we ought to give it a try.”

He followed this with a tweet that claimed the use of the drug in combination with azithromycin, an antibiotic, could be “one of the biggest game-changers in the history of medicine”. On Sunday April 5, Trump again touted hydroxychloroquine, saying “there are some very strong, powerful signs” of its potential as a Covid-19 therapy.

Trump has been repeatedly contradicted by public health experts including his own top infectious diseases adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, who has warned that there is only “anecdotal evidence” that the drugs could be helpful. To prove his point, they produced in short order three studies, one from the Veterans administration and two from hospitals showing that it had no positive effect on people sick enough to fight for their lives. At a Neil Cavuto show (FOX) a medical doctor even claimed “If you take it outside of a physician’s supervision You will die!” Meanwhile this very drug has even been given to pregnant women and nursing mothers as a treatment for Lupus with no restrictions, and they take it for life, or until the lupus disappears.

There are at least ten countries that prescribe HydroxyCloroQuine, mostly in combination with Zinc and an antibiotic, as soon as COVID symptoms occur. When the illness has progressed to the point of autoimmune overreaction and  the oxygen exchange is to the point of collapse it is too late and may even aggravate the situation.

The ten countries chosen are: Turkey, South Korea, Malaysia, Senegal, Costa Rica, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Russia and Qatar. It can safely be assumed that not all of these countries have a health care system superior to ours. How are these ten countries faring in the Corona-virus fight, compared to the rest of the world?

For the world as a whole, the death rate from the Corona-virus as of June 30 is 4.85% of diagnosed cases. and recovered cases versus deaths is 11.28 recorded recoveries for every death.

For the United States the death rate from the Corona-virus as of June 30 is 4.77% of diagnosed cases. and recovered cases versus deaths is 8.78 recorded recoveries for every death. or about the same as for the world as a whole.

Taking the average, adjusted for the number of positive cases, the average adjusted death rate for ten countries, where people are taking HCQ + Zinc as soon as they are diagnosed positive, is 1.51%.

This means that the risk of death is reduced by a factor of 3.2 if HZQ + Zinc is taken as early as possible after a positive diagnosis for corona-virus!

Recovered cases versus deaths is an indicator of how fast patients recover after taking HCQ. Taking the average recovery ratio over the number of cases, gives the median recovery ratio, of 55.5, compared to the recovery rate for the rest of the world of 11.28, an improvement of 4.9 times as many recorded recoveries for every death. This is an indicator of how fast people recover, but is a very lagging indicator, since many countries do not report recovered cases in a timely manner. If they did, both the numbers for the ten countries, and for the world as a whole would look better, but it is the best measurement we have for now.

The total positive cases for these ten countries are over one million, or about 10.0% of all positive tests so far, far more than any double blind controlled study could ever produce, and indicate that if implemented all across U.S. (and the world as a whole) the death rate from now on would be about a third of what we are now experiencing. In addition hospitalizations and hospital stays would be greatly reduced.

WHO paused a double blind study out of an “abundance of caution”.

HCQ has been taken by over one million patients testing positive for the corona-virus as soon as symptoms did arise or shortly thereafter. We do not need a double blind control study, the results speak for themselves.

Is it because it has been promoted by President Trump, and some would rather die than get cured because of that?

Is HCQ too cheap to promote? It is totally generic, no pharmaceutical company stands to gain from producing it, so there will be no study made by them. Any study will have to come from government, or a university not depending on grants from the pharmaceutical industry.

Is it too dangerous? No, it is approved and has been given as a prevention for malaria for over 50 years, it has been approved for combating Lupus for over 20 years, and can be given to pregnant women and nursing mothers with no restrictions. There is a small number of cases involving heart arrhythmia, but  these patients can be monitored with an ECG, and if the condition is severe they can be advised not to take the medication.

It is high time to save lives. Implement the Hydroxychloroquine + Axithromycin + Zinc regimen to be taken as soon as symptoms occur or testing positive NOW! Do not wait for the double blind confirmation tests, they take seemingly forever.

Appendix: The data is used from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

The death rate from all causes doubles for every 8 years as you age or about 9% per year. The death rate from Corona-virus is remarkably the same as the death rate from all causes, adjusted for age. The world median age is 30.4 years. So let the world death rate be the norm and adjust for the median age for the 10 countries.

World death rate as of June 25 is 4.77% of diagnosed cases. and recovered cases versus deaths is 8.78

Compare this with 10 countries that use HCQ for most patients as soon as they test positive for the corona virus.

Turkey: Death rate 2.57%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 2.45%, recovered cases versus deaths  33.7, total cases 199,906

South Korea: Death rate 2.19%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 2.10% recovered cases versus deaths  41.2, total cases 12,850

Malaysia: Death rate 1.40%, median age 28.5, adjusted death rate 1.68% recovered cases versus deaths  69.0, total cases 8,639

Senegal: Death rate 1.65%, median age 18.8, adjusted death rate 4.44%, recovered cases versus deaths  44.2, total cases 6,793

Costa Rica: Death rate 0.46%, median age 31.3, adjusted death rate 0.44%, recovered cases versus deaths 89.7, total cases 3,459

United Arab Emirates: Death rate 0.65%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 0.62%, recovered cases versus deaths 119.2 , total cases 48,667

Bahrain: Death rate 0.33%, median age 32.3, adjusted death rate 0.28%, recovered cases versus deaths  260.6, total cases 26,758

Morocco: Death rate 1.82%, median age 29.3, adjusted death rate 2.00%, recovered cases versus deaths  39.1, total cases 12,533

Russia: Death rate 1.44%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 1.38%, recovered cases versus deaths  44.2, total cases 647,849

Qatar: Death rate 0.12%, median age 30.9, but since 88% of the population are migrant workers between 20 and 60, the adjusted death rate is at least 8 times higher, or 094 %, and adjusted recovered cases versus deaths  90.2, total cases 96,088

 

The case for Thorium. 3. Thorium based nuclear power produces 0.012 percent as much TRansUranium waste products as traditional nuclear power.

 A Thorium based fast breeder nuclear reactor produces much less TRansUranium waste, 0.012% waste products compared to a Uranium-235/238  fast breeder with between 3 and 8% U235. The Thorium process has a much higher efficiency of fission than  the Uranium process. See the figure below.

Pu = Plutonium, Am = Americum, Cm = Curium, all TRansUraniums, nasty stuff.

With Thorium based Nuclear power, there are few storage problems, with traditional U235 power long tern storage is an immense and urgent problem, and has been since the 1960’s. At that time Sweden had a heavy water  U-238 nuclear power program going using unenriched Uranium, but abandoned it in favor of traditional U-235 enriched nuclear power, because U.S. promised to provide the material and take care of the reprocessing and final storage of all nuclear waste at cost if Sweden joined the nuclear proliferation treaty. Reprocessing was to be done in Washington State, and one of the final storage sites mentioned was Yucca Mountain in Nevada, having the ideal geological properties.

Time went by and in 1982 – Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, requiring the establishment of a deep geologic repository for nuclear waste storage and isolation. Yucca Mountain was high on the list out of of 9 possible sites.

Time goes by, and Congress is still not able to decide on a solution. Meanwhile, TRU’s from spent and reprocessed fuel is piling up in less than ideal locations. There is now more than a quarter million metric tons of highly radioactive waste in storage near nuclear power plants and weapons production facilities. Thorium based nuclear power would go a long way to alleviate this problem.

The case for Thorium. 1. A million year supply of Thorium available worldwide.

We live in challenging times with enormous environmental challenges. It takes a lot of energy to clean up the pollution we have generated over the ages. It would be a shame to use up our remaining coal, oil and gas to produce the electricity needed to clean up. Oil coal and gas will eventually be depleted and we need to save as much as possible for future generations, so they can enjoy flying like we have become accustomed to. It would be a shame to convert the remaining fossil fuel to CO2 for electricity production, it is far too valuable a resource in limited supply. Like the famous conservationist Sarah Palin once said: “for when it’s gone, it’s gone.”

The need to develop a Thorium based molten salt fast breeder nuclear reactor to develop our energy needs for the future can not be overstated. Lest anyone should be threatened by the words fast breeder, it simply means it uses fast neutrons instead of thermal neutrons, and breeder means it produces more fissile material than it consumes, in the case of Thorium the ratio is about 1.05.

 There is enough Thorium around to last for a million years at today’s worldwide electricity generation levels. Uranium is in short supply. Consumption exceeds production, and the worldwide major importer of Uranium is the U.S. (The fact that we sold 20% of  our uranium ore to the Russians did not help)

There are of course the sustainable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal, tidal and wave energy, and they should be pursued where economically and environmentally appropriate. These are separate but important subjects.

Want to save lives? Ten countries that give HydroxyCloroQuine to their COVID-19 patients have less than one third of the death rate compared to the rest of the world.

There are at least ten countries that prescribe HydroxyCloroQuine, mostly in combination with Zinc and an antibiotic, as soon as COVID symptoms occur. When the illness has progressed to the point of autoimmune overreaction and the oxygen exchange is to the point of collapse it is too late and may even aggravate the situation.

How are these countries faring in the Corona-virus fight, compared to the rest of the world?

For the world as a whole, the death rate from the Corona-virus as of June 25 is 5.06% of diagnosed cases. and recovered cases versus deaths is 10.74 recorded recoveries for every death.

For the United States the death rate from the Corona-virus as of June 25 is 5.00% of diagnosed cases. and recovered cases versus deaths is 8.37 recorded recoveries for every death. or about the same as for the world as a whole.

Taking the average, adjusted for the number of positive cases, the average adjusted death rate for countries, where people are taking HCQ + Zinc as soon as they are diagnosed positive, is 1.49%.

This means that the risk of death is reduced by a factor of 3.4 if HZQ + Zinc is taken as early as possible after a positive diagnosis for corona-virus!

Recovered cases versus deaths is an indicator of how fast patients recover after taking HCQ. Taking the average recovery ratio over the number of cases, gives the median recovery ratio, of 54.3, compared to the recovery rate for the rest of the world of 10.74, an improvement of 5.1 times as many recorded recoveries for every death. This is an indicator of how fast people recover, but is a very lagging indicator, since many countries do not report recovered cases in a timely manner. If they did, both the numbers for the ten countries, and for the world as a whole would look better, but it is the best measurement we have for now.

The total positive cases for these ten countries are over one million, or about 10.3% of all positive tests so far, far more than any double blind controlled study could ever produce, and indicates that if implemented all across U.S. (and the world as a whole) the death rate from now on would be less than a third of what we are now experiencing. In addition hospitalizations would be greatly reduced.

WHO paused a double blind study out of an “abundance of caution”.

HCQ has been taken by over one million patients testing positive for the corona-virus as soon as symptoms did arise or shortly thereafter. We do not need a double blind control study, the results speak for themselves.

Is it because it has been promoted by President Trump, and some would rather die than get cured because of that?

Is HCQ too cheap to promote? It is totally generic, no pharmaceutical company stands to gain from producing it, so there will be no study made by them. Any study will have to come from government.

Is it too dangerous? No, it is approved and has been given as a prevention for malaria for over 50 years, it has been approved for combating Lupus for over 20 years, and can be given to pregnant women and nursing mothers with no restrictions. There is a small number of cases involving heart arrhythmia, but  these patients can be monitored with an ECG, and if the condition is severe they can be advised not to take the medication.

I for one want to save lives.

Appendix: The data is used from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

The death rate from all causes doubles for every 8 years as you age or about 9% per year. The death rate from Corona-virus is remarkably the same as the death rate from all causes, adjusted for age. The world median age is 30.4 years. So let the world death rate be the norm and adjust for the median age for the 10 countries.

World death rate as of June 25 is 5.06% of diagnosed cases. and recovered cases versus deaths is 10.74

Compare this with 10 countries that use HCQ for most patients as soon as they test positive for the corona virus.

Turkey: Death rate 2.60%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 2.48%, recovered cases versus deaths  30.8, total cases 193.115

South Korea: Death rate 2.24%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 2.15% recovered cases versus deaths  38.9, total cases 12,563

Malaysia: Death rate 1.41%, median age 28.5, adjusted death rate 1.69% recovered cases versus deaths  68.3, total cases 8,600

Senegal: Death rate 1.50%, median age 18.8, adjusted death rate 4.04%, recovered cases versus deaths  44.2, total cases 6,233

Costa Rica: Death rate 0.45%, median age 31.3, adjusted death rate 0.43%, recovered cases versus deaths 102.2, total cases 2,684

United Arab emirates: Death rate 0.66%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate  0.63%, recovered cases versus deaths 114.1 , total cases 46,563

Bahrain: Death rate 0.29%, median age 32.3, adjusted death rate 0.25%, recovered cases versus deaths  260.6, total cases 24081

Morocco: Death rate 1.91%, median age 29.3, adjusted death rate 2.08%, recovered cases versus deaths  39.1, total cases 11,338

Russia: Death rate 1.40%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 1.34%, recovered cases versus deaths  43.6, total cases 613,994

Qatar: Death rate 0.11%, median age 30.9, but since 88% of the population are migrant workers between 20 and 60, the adjusted death rate is at least 8 times higher, or 0.88 %, and adjusted recovered cases versus deaths  87.9, total cases 91,838

 

HCQ and Chloroquine can now definitely be legally prescribed for Covid use by US physicians. This will save many lives from now on.

This was the headline from the Daily Mail (U.K.)

And these are the real news about the story

POTUS news conference June 15, FOX NEWS ~4:05 pm

Reporter just asked POTUS about the recent FDA notice on hydroxychloroquine

That it’s [supposedly] “no longer considered as a reasonable treatment for Covid”

POTUS defers to Secretary Alex Azar:

Azar:

To clarify your statement, which is not quite accurate:

The FDA withdrew an emergency use authorization of Hydroxychloroquine from Bayer manufactured in Pakistan – where emergency authorization was restricted to hospital use only.

So they took the emergency use only authorization off.

“At this point HCQ and chloroquine are just like any other approved drug in the United States

they may be used in hospitals, they may be used in out-patients, they may be used at home” “all subject to a doctor’s prescription.”

Furthermore, he said that “it’s good that the emergency use authorization was removed, because it had been widely misinterpreted as saying that these drugs could ONLY be use in-hospital when this was NOT true.”

Yes, hydroxychloroquine  has been prescribed for treatment of Lupus and rheumatism for over 20 years, and for prevention of malaria for over 50 years. It is considered so safe that it is even given to pregnant women and nursing mothers with no restrictions. There is a small number of people with a specific heart condition that should not take the drug, but those people can easily be spotted by evaluating their heart rhythm with a stethoscope, or by taking and evaluating an ECG.

There are over ten countries that prescribe HCQ, mostly in combination with Zinc and an antibiotic, as soon as COVID symptoms occur. When the illness has progressed to the point of autoimmune overreaction and the oxygen exchange is to the point of collapse it is too late and may even aggravate the situation.

How are these countries faring in the Coronavirus fight, compared to the rest of the world?

For the world as a whole, the death rate from the Coronavirus as of June 15 is 5.40% of diagnosed cases. and recovered cases versus deaths is 9.06 recorded recoveries for every death.

Taking the average, adjusted for the number of positive cases we get the average adjusted death rate for countries, where people are taking HCQ + Zinc when diagnosed positive, is 1.42%.

This means that the risk of death is reduced by a factor of 3.8 if HZQ + Zinc is taken as early as possible after a positive diagnosis for coronavirus!

Recovered cases versus deaths is an indicator of how fast patients recover after taking HCQ. Taking the average recovery ratio aover the number of cases, gives the median recovery ratio, of 51.8, compared to the recovery rate for the rest of the world of 9.06, an improvement of 5.7 times as many recorded recoveries for every death. This is an indicator of how fast people recover, but is a very lagging indicator, since many countries do not report recovered cases in a timely manner. If they dis, both the numbers for the ten countries, and for the world as a whole would look better, but it is the best we have for now.

The total positive cases for these ten countries are over 900,000, or about 11% of all positive tests so far, far more than any double blind controlled study could ever produce, and indicates that if implemented all across U.S. (and the world as a whole) the death rate from now on would be less than a third of what we are now experiencing. In addition hospitalizations would be greatly reduced.

WHO paused a double blind study out of an “abundance of caution”.

HCQ has been taken by over 900,000 patients testing positive for the coronavirus as soon as symptoms did arise or shortly thereafter. We do not need a double blind control study, the results speak for themselves.

Is it because it has been promoted by President Trump, and some would rather die than get cured because of that?

Is HCQ too cheap to promote? It is totally generic, no pharmaceutical company stands to gain from producing it, so there will be no study made by them. Any study will have to come from government.

I for one want to save lives.

Appendix: The data is used from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

The death rate from all causes doubles for every 8 years as you age or about 9% per year. The death rate from Coronavirus is remarkably the same as the death rate from all causes, adjusted for age. The world median age is 30.4 years. So let the world death rate be the norm and adjust for the median age for the 10 countries.

World death rate as of June 11 is 5.58% of diagnosed cases. and recovered cases versus deaths is 9.06

Compare this with 10 countries that use HCQ for most patients as soon as they test positive for the corona virus.

Turkey: Death rate 2.68%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 2.57%, recovered cases versus deaths  31.5, total cases 179,831

South Korea: Death rate 2.29%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 2.20% recovered cases versus deaths  38.7, total cases 12,155

Malaysia: Death rate 1.42%, median age 28.5, adjusted death rate 1.70% recovered cases versus deaths  63.9, total cases 8,505

Senegal: Death rate 1.33%, median age 18.8, adjusted death rate 3.57%, recovered cases versus deaths  50.4, total cases 5,247

Costa Rica: Death rate 0.68%, median age 31.3, adjusted death rate 0.64%, recovered cases versus deaths  64.2, total cases 1,744

United Arab emirates: Death rate 0.68%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate  0.65%, recovered cases versus deaths  98.5, total cases 42,982

Bahrain: Death rate 0.25%, median age 32.3, adjusted death rate 0.23%, recovered cases versus deaths  282.3, total cases 19,013

Morocco: Death rate 2.71%, median age 29.3, adjusted death rate 3.03%, recovered cases versus deaths  37.2, total cases 8,921

Russia: Death rate 1.33%, median age 30.9, adjusted death rate 1.28%, recovered cases versus deaths  40.4, total cases 545,458

Qatar: Death rate 0.097%, median age 30.9, but since 88% of the population are migrant workers between 20 and 60, the adjusted death rate is at least 8 times higher, or 0.78 %, and adjusted recovered cases versus deaths  94.5, total cases 82,077