Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

The number of corona-virus cases for U.S.A as of August 27 is 6,086,178  deaths are  185,692 and the death rate is 3.05%. There are four states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan, under DOJ  investigation because they required nursing homes to admit and readmit COVID-19 cases resulting in many deaths. If these states are excluded from the count the death rate would be 2.35%

The Democratic convention speakers assured us that this was the worst result of any country in the world, thanks to President Trump’s inaction and refusal to accept science. So, how does U.S.A. compare to the rest of the world? The cases, deaths and death rates for all countries with higher death rates are listed below:

1. Yemen                                                      1,943                      563    29.0%

2. Italy                                                      265,409                 35,472    13.4%

3. United Kingdom                               331,644                 41,486      12.5%

4. Belgium                                                83,500                   9,884      11.8%

5. France                                                 267,077                 30,596     11.5%

6. Hungary                                                 5,511                        614    11.1%

7. Mexico                                                 579,914                 62,594     10.8%

8. Netherlands                                          69,131                   6,220       9.0%

9. Channel Islands                                        625                        48        7.7%

10. Chad                                                      1,008                         77        7.6%

11. Canada                                              127,074                    9,108       7.2%

12. Spain                                                  455,621                  29,011      7.1%

13. Isle of Man                                               336                         24       7.1%

14. Sweden                                                83,958                    5,821       6,9%

15. Sudan                                                   13,082                      823        6.3%

16. Liberia                                                   1,298                        82        6.3%

17. Ireland                                                 28,578                  1,778        6.2%

18. San Marino                                             710                         42       5.9%

19. Niger                                                      1,173                       69        5.9%

20. Ecuador                                             112,141                  6,504       5.8%

21. Iran                                                     369,911                21,249      5.7%

22. Egypt                                                    98,062                  5,342       5.4%

23. Switzerland                                        41,346                  2,004       4.8%

23. Slovenia                                                2,797                     133        4.8%

25. Andorra                                                1,124                       53        4.7%

26. Mali                                                       2,736                     126        4.6%

27. Peru                                                   621,997                28,277       4.5%

28. Indonesia                                         165,887                 7,169         4.3%

29. Barbados                                                 165                         7         4,2%

29. Finland                                                  8,042                     335          4.2%

29. North Macedonia                            14,163                    590           4.2%

29. Bolivia                                             113,129                  4,791          4.2%

33. Burkina Faso                                      1,352                       55          4.1%

33. Tanzania                                                509                       21           4.1%

34. Germany                                         242,101                 9,360           3.9%

35. Sint Maarten                                          444                      17          3.8%

36. Denmark                                           16,700                    624           3.7%

36. Guatemala                                         72,921                2,709           3.7%

36. Afghanistan                                      38,140                 1,402           3,7%

26. Bulgaria                                             15,908                    594           3.7%

40. Brazil                                             3,772,945            118,988           3.2%

41. Iraq                                                    223,612                6,814           3.1%

41. Poland                                                65,480                 2,018           3.1%

That’s right! U.S.A. ranks as 43th worst country!

Now there are countries that do better, some much better. One group has this in common: They administer a proper therapy of hydroxychloroquine, most often with Zinc and Z-max as soon as symptoms occur, with or without a positive test. Some of the countries are so poor that it is all they can afford. The result?

Country               Cases     Deaths

1. Qatar                118,196          196    0.2%   The country of Qatar consists of 88% temporary workers between the ages of 20 and 60 and most of the deaths occurred in the remaining 12% of the original population.  This means that the death rate of persons between the ages of 20 and 60 is less than 0.2% if given HCQ + Zinc  as soon as symptoms occur or as a prophylactic administered instead of contact tracing and quarantine. If this regimen would be implemented immediately we could fully open schools and universities, have college and professional sports again and fully open all businesses. Only protect the most vulnerable.

2. Bahrain               50,756        189     0.4%  Again, about half of the population are  immigrants or guest workers. They have a high rate of obesity and diabetes, but HCQ seems to be working excellent in Bahrain

3. UAE                      68,901        379     0.6%  The United Arab Emirates is a nation of 88% non-citizen immigrants and guest workers. there are over twice as many males as there are females.

4. Israel                 112,000        894     0.8%

5. Costa Rica            38,485        407    1.1%

6. Malaysia               9,306         125    1.3%

7. Russia               980,405    16,914    1.7%

8. South Korea      19,077          316    1.7%

9. India              3,461,240     62,713   1.8%

10. Morocco           58,489       1,052   1.8%

11. Ukraine          114,497       2,451   2.1%

12. Senegal             13,384         279     2.1%

13. Turkey            265,515      6,245     2.4%

14. Cuba                    3,866           92    2.4%

15. Greece                 9,800         259    2.6%

There are countries that are not doing as well as U.S.A. in combating the corona pandemic, even though they freely administer HCQ. They are

16. Algeria                 43,403     1,483    3.4%

17.Indonesia          165,887     7,169     4.3%

and probably others. Many countries’ health statistics are of dubious accuracy. That is why China is excluded.

Other countries, such as

Iceland                        2,092          10      0.5%

Faeroe Islands              411             0     0.0%

Japan                        64,668        1,226   1.9%   have had success with a thorough contact tracing and quarantine. This can only be done if caught at the earliest stages of the disease. Remember, Japan never allowed the people from the infected cruise ship to enter Japanese soil and be treated in hospitals.

Vaccine may not be as effective as first thought. The china corona virus has mutated into 11 strains, and continues to mutate, so a universal vaccine cannot be developed, but like the flu, every year will have a new strain to combat.

The only solution is to implement a hydroxychloroquine + Zinc + Zitromax regimen, both as a prophylactic and as a therapy as soon as symptoms occur.

According to the Ford study treatment with hydroxychloroquine cut the death rate significantly in sick patients hospitalized with COVID-19 – and without heart-related side-effects, according to a new study published by Henry Ford Health System. The death rate was cut in half for patients treated with HCQ. It is even more dramatic if HCQ is administered as soon as symptoms occur, over 40 international studies have shown an up to 80+% reduction in death rates. For some reason FDA and CDC do not acknowledge international studies. They rather let people die than accept a drug that has been approved for over50 years, and given freely to people with Lupus. It is so safe it is even given to pregnant women and nursing mothers.

How many extra deaths are we talking about? HCQ is already administered under right to try by about 16% of all cases. If it had been recommended in April, one month after President Trump recommended it based on excellent results in french studies, about half the deaths from then on could have been avoided. It adds up, about 1.5% of all cases since April 15, or about 78,000 deaths could have been avoided, and moving forward about 600 deaths a day. This is in my opinion a low estimate.

Another significant moment in the hydroxychloroquine debate came on July 23 in the form of an opinion piece. Harvey A. Risch, MD, PhD, a professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health with years of healthcare experience, wrote in favor of the medication, calling it “highly effective” and describing physicians who use it “in the face of widespread skepticism” as heroes.

In his opinion piece, Risch listed several studies that have pointed to the benefits of treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine. He also wrote about how the medication has been politicized and said it “has not been used properly in many studies.”

“In the future, I believe this misbegotten episode regarding hydroxychloroquine will be studied by sociologists of medicine as a classic example of how extra-scientific factors overrode clear-cut medical evidence,” he concluded. “But for now, reality demands a clear, scientific eye on the evidence and where it points. For the sake of high-risk patients, for the sake of our parents and grandparents, for the sake of the unemployed, for our economy and for our polity, especially those disproportionally affected, we must start treating immediately.”

His assessment of lives saved with HCQ ++ was 70,000 lives would have been saved as of Aug 1 if HCQ had been used as early as possible. He is the scientist, I am using public data drawn from a population of 2 billion people, and we reached a very similar conclusion.

Do it! The fact that President Trump has advocated it as early as March should not be a hindrance to save 600 lives a day!