In 1956, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved HCQ for symptoms of lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, particularly skin inflammation, hair loss, mouth sores, fatigue, and joint pain. It was deemed safe to take in perpetuity with a weight appropriate daily dose, typically 250 to 500 mg/day. In fact it is deemed so safe that pregnant women and nursing mothers can take it without restrictions.
The number of corona-virus cases for U.S.A as of September 5 is 6,452,833 and deaths are 193,121 making the death rate 3.00%. 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 2.30%
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:
(All numbers are received from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/)
1. Yemen 1,987 572 28.8%
2. Italy 277,634 35,541 12.8%
3. United Kingdom 347,152 41,551 12.0%
4. Belgium 87,825 9,906 11.3%
5. Mexico 629,409 67,326 10.7%
6. France 324,777 30,724 9.5%
7. Netherlands 74,787 6,243 8.4%
8. Channel Islands 631 48 7.6%
9. Hungary 8,387 624 7.4%
9. Chad 1,034 77 7.4%
10. Isle of Man 337 24 7.1%
11. Canada 131,858 9,145 6.9%
11. Sweden 84,985 5,835 6,9%
13 Liberia 1,307 82 6.3%
14. Sudan 13,407 832 6.2%
15. Ireland 29,672 1,777 6.0%
16. San Marino 716 42 5.9%
16. Niger 1,177 69 5.9%
18. Iran 386,658 22,293 5.8%
19. Ecuador 118,045 6,724 5.7%
19. Spain 517,133 29,418 5.7%
21. Egypt 98,062 5,342 5.4%
22. Switzerland 44,401 2,013 4.5%
22. Mali 2,842 127 4.5%
22. Bolivia 120,241 5,398 4.5%
25. Andorra 1,215 53 4.4%
26. Slovenia 3,165 135 4.3%
26. Peru 683,702 29,687 4.3%
28. Indonesia 194,109 8,025 4.1%
28. Finland 8,291 336 4.1%
28. North Macedonia 15,090 617 4.1%
28. Tanzania 509 21 4.1%
32. Barbados 178 7 3.9%
32. Burkina Faso 1,408 55 3.9%
32. Bulgaria 17,050 671 3.9%
35. Germany 251,456 9,401 3.7%
35. Sint Maarten 511 19 3.7%
35. Guatemala 77,481 2,845 3.7%
35. Afghanistan 38,398 1,412 3,7%
39. Denmark 17,883 627 3.5%
40. Brazil 4,123,000 126,266 3.1%
41. Poland 70,824 2,120 3.0%
That’s right! U.S.A. ranks as 42th 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 120,905 203 0.17% 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. The most vulnerable would of course still have to be protected.
2. Bahrain 54,771 199 0.3% 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 73,984 388 0.5% 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 130,157 1,012 0.8%
5. Costa Rica 46,920 478 1.0%
6. Malaysia 9,397 128 1.4%
7. South Korea 21,177 334 1.6%
8. India 4,202,562 71,687 1.71%
9. Russia 1,025,505 17,820 1.74%
10. Morocco 72,394 1,361 1.9%
11. Ukraine 135,894 2,846 2.1%
12. Senegal 13,987 290 2.1%
13. Cuba 4,309 101 2.3%
14. Turkey 279,806 6,673 2.4%
15. Greece 11,524 284 2.5%
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 46,364 1,556 3.4%
17. Indonesia 194,109 8,025 4.1%
and probably others. Many countries’ health statistics are of dubious accuracy. That is why China is excluded.
Other countries, such as
Iceland 2,141 10 0.5%
Faeroe Islands 413 0 0.0%
Japan 70,876 1,349 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 regional strain to combat.
The 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, the 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 64 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 many 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!
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 