Corona Daily 020: Covid and Manhood

In yesterday’s Washington Post, Gary from Virginia State asks: “Does Covid-19 cause erectile dysfunction?” (More commonly known as impotence).

I checked if this was in the newspaper’s humour section. It wasn’t. Usually in British tabloids, people address their most personal and intimate problems to Agony aunt or Ecstasy aunt or someone like that. It was surprising to see the question in the coronavirus section. “Possibly”, replied the Washington post reporter. “Not certain, but erectile dysfunction may be one of the rare covid symptoms”.

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Pandemic has triggered a high level of creativity among researchers. There are three research papers which as a matter-of-fact study the relationship between covid-19 and a phallus.

In March, seven Italian scientists decided to find out if Covid-19 causes impotence. Believe it or not, the title of the paper is: “Mask up to keep it up.”

 The group started an online research project called Sex@COVID study. It was an anonymous questionnaire to investigate the psychological, relational, and sexual health of Italian subjects. In total, 6821 Italians (4177 males and 2644 females) age range 21-44 took part. All of them provided informed consent, and the local Ethical committee approved the study.

985 sexually active men were identified, 25 of them reported they had tested positive for Covid-19. SHIM (Sexual Health Inventory for Men) alternatively known as IIEF (International Index for Erectile Function) is the clinical measure. Scores of 21 or below suggest ED (a man’s inability); scores 22-25 are considered normal.

Scientific method requires presence of experiment and control groups. Once the 25 Covid positive Italian men were identified online, the researchers selected 75 negative men (from among the 985 sexually active men), making sure that the negative and positive men were similar in age, body mass index, physical and mental health. (Don’t know what questions the Italian females answered. Maybe they had to vouch for their partners’ functionality or lack of it).

The prevalence of ED was higher in the men who had covid-19 (28%) as compared to men who didn’t. (9%).

The Italian researchers also suggest the reverse correlation. ED, it seems, can be accompanied by a range of other risks such as diabetes, hypertension. That makes the ED men more susceptible to Covid-19. In short, erectile dysfunction can be both a cause and consequence of Covid-19.

One hypothesis advanced by the team was that covid-19 might interfere with the levels of testosterone.

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In March 2021, two scientists from Texas published a paper called “Testosterone’s role in COVID-19”.

Why are males, and elderly males in particular dying disproportionately in the pandemic? Does it have to do with the falling levels of testosterone in aged males?

This pair of researchers suggests men with low testosterone may benefit from testosterone replacement therapy.

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The third relevant paper was published in May 2021 by a group of Miami scientists. The title: “histopathological, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural study of the Human Penis.

This bunch didn’t rely on any online survey. They actually collected penile tissues from patients undergoing surgery for penile surgery for severe ED. They found two men with a history of Covid infection, and two men who never had covid. (All four men had severe ED).

The researchers proudly claim their study was the first to demonstrate the presence of the covid-19 virus in the penis long after the initial infection. They also suggest Covid can contribute to ED. They recommend further studies to evaluate the mechanisms of how covid-19 leads to ED.

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Honestly, I think the papers have entertainment rather than any scientific value. To give sexual dysfunction scores based on what anonymous men and women say online is amusing. In my view, such studies are an outcome of bored (and unemployed) researchers and bored people online answering their questions.

If you are proud of your mastery of the English language, please read those papers. They will make you humble. Look at this sample: “The testicular injury could be a consequence of alterations in the coagulative status, resulting in development of ischemia at a microvascular level. Independently of the etiology, it can lead to a development of a form of hypergonadotropic hypogonadism.”

Stephen Colbert, the American TV comedian, when talking about the result of those studies quipped: “The doctors really mean it when they say the hard part is over.”

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Ravi 

Corona Daily 021: The ROC Swimmer

Ilya Borodin, 18, according to his family and coaches, is a born swimmer. He belongs to a sport family; his father plays volleyball and practices shooting. His mother excelled in basketball. Inspired by Ilya, his younger brother also trains long hours in the water, dreaming of Olympic gold medals, just like Ilya does.

Ilya Borodin has been swimming since the age of seven. His singular focus was the 2020 Olympic gold, making his family and country proud. When watching earlier Olympics on TV, he imagined himself on the podium, a gold medal around his neck, the Russian anthem playing, and the Russian flag flying high.  

Since 2013, when Tokyo was selected as the venue for the 2020 Olympics, Ilya had often Googled Tokyo and Japan. Would it be too hot in July for the swimmers? What sort of food can one eat in Japan? How expensive is Tokyo? As a member of the strong Russian contingent, he didn’t need to worry. He had the ability to get gold medals, and the first place where he would get them was special.

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In December 2017, Ilya Borodin spent a few sleepless nights. Most Russian athletes did. For its state sponsored doping programme, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) suspended Russia. Ilya was clean, many Russian athletes were clean, but what happens if Russia itself is banned?

Over the next two years, the Russian athletes lived on hope. Surely Russia was a superpower and it was difficult to imagine no Russians in the Olympic Games. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) completed its investigations in 2019. WADA found that the Russian authorities had manipulated the doping data to protect athletes who had participated in Russia’s state-sponsored doping scheme. In December 2019, WADA banned Russia for four years, sending Ilya Borodin and others into chronic depression. In a few weeks, the coronavirus pandemic started. Was Russia so lucky that the 2020 Olympics would be cancelled altogether, making the doping ban irrelevant? Ilya wanted the Olympics to happen, with Russia an active participant. 

Russia appealed. Meanwhile the Tokyo Olympics was postponed to summer 2021. In December 2020, the ‘international court of arbitration for sport’ gave its verdict. The ban on Russia remained, but clean athletes like Ilya Borodin would be allowed to take part as “neutral athletes”. It was agreed they would be from “ROC”.

ROC is not the Republic of Congo, but the Russian Olympic Committee. The court said ROC can be used, but not its full form, because it has the word Russian in it. Neither Russia’s flag nor anthem can be used anywhere.

This week, when an ROC neutral athlete wins a medal, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 will be heard in place of the Russian anthem.

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Ilya Borodin got back to his winning ways. In the 400 m individual medley, he was the Russian champion in 2020 as well as 2021. Before the Olympics, he won gold at Budapest, winning the European championship. His timing matched with Michael Phelps’ when Phelps was his age.

In Russia, supply of vaccines far exceeds demand. Like most Russians, Ilya didn’t know what was more dangerous - taking two shots of Sputnik V or not taking them. He decided not to take them.

Vladivostok is seven times zones and nine hours flying away from Moscow. Japan is only 1,000 km away from here. For acclimatization, Russia decided to take all the ROC athletes to Vladivostok for a few days. They all lived in a bubble. Ilya was wearing a mask even in the hotel lift.

His first test was negative, just like everybody else’s. He tested positive the next day. Absolutely no symptoms. He was in his best physical form. It must be a false positive, everyone thought. Over the next two days, one after another, he did three tests. All of them were positive.

The large ROC delegation left for Tokyo, with the exception of Ilya Borodin. The doctor checked him, but couldn’t prescribe any medicine. Ilya is now isolated in his Vladivostok hotel room. Will he watch the swimming races on TV, he was asked. He couldn’t answer that question.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 022: Are Children Next? (Conclusion)

British Scientists have conducted some of the most comprehensive studies of Covid-19’s impact on children.

A full year study covering March 2020 to February 2021 found that 251 children were admitted to ICU with covid (one in 50,000 chance). During the period, 25 children died. With 12 million children in England, 25 deaths translate into a mortality rate of 2 per million.

 If you tell a mother, any mother, that the chance of her child dying of covid is two out of a million, she wouldn’t want to hear it. She is concerned about her child, and would like the probability to be Zero.

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The American CDC has presented comparative statistics of the annual deaths among American children. Covid-19 death data covers 10 April 2020-10 April 2021, whereas all other data is from 2018.

For the age group 1-4, death by drowning (28 per million), vehicle accidents (23), homicide (22), cancer (20), even flu (8) are more lethal than Covid (2).

For the 5-14 age group, suicide (15 per million) gets added to the list.

For infants under 1 year old, the biggest deaths happen by suffocation (254 per million), followed by heart diseases (105), murder (70), flu (46).

In essence, parents should take more care to ensure the infant doesn’t get suffocated, and very young children don’t get drowned or killed in road accidents. Even flu causes more deaths among children than Covid.

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If the risk of a child dying is 2 in a million, the risk of damage to them because of closure of schools, inability to play with other children, obesity is 100%. Children in the developing world are likely to miss three whole academic years. This is far more damaging to their psychological and physical wellbeing than Covid-19.

Some scientists have raised the issue of possible “long covid” among children. Will children suffer long-term symptoms over months or years? Long Covid is a concern more relevant to adults, and in the coming days I will present the available data and analysis. Currently, there is no robust data to suggest such a risk exists for children. Of course, Covid-19 is a fresh disease, and there can’t be enough long-term data yet. Missing school for three years, in my view, will have a long-term impact.

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Last week, WHO released the data of children missing regular childhood vaccines. In 2020, 23 million children missed out on basic vaccines, the highest number since 2009.

In India, 1.4 million children had missed the first dose of DTP-1 (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) in 2019. In 2020, 3.04 million children missed this dose. India excels at vaccine manufacture, distribution and children’s vaccine campaigns. Three million children missing DTP-1 is a far bigger concern than Covid risk for children.

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Vaccines for 12+ are already approved in the USA. Pediatric covid vaccines are being tested and likely to be approved in 2022. The WHO chief Tedros Adhanom said wealthier countries vaccinating children at the expense of health care workers and high-risk groups in other countries is ethically wrong. When nation-states exist, this argument doesn’t hold water. When available for children including infants, North America and Europe will reserve as much stock (and more) as will be needed.

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Based on the research and reports read so far, following is my conclusion. (This is a personal view).

All schools should be re-opened for in-person education. Teachers and other staff, by now fully vaccinated, don’t face the sort of risks they faced a year ago. Where necessary, children can wear masks and follow other restrictions based on the local infection rates.

Covid pediatric vaccines, when available, should be prioritized for children with health complications and lower immunity. Many children who died of covid had life-limiting or underlying conditions. Immuno-compromised children may benefit from covid vaccines.

Developing countries must re-focus on basic vaccination programs such as the DTP. These are proven vaccines offering life-long immunity.

My feeling is that the pandemic will be over before pediatric covid vaccines become available globally. By then covid will be as mild as flu, and only those countries and parents who consider flu vaccines essential for children may consider the covid vaccines.  

Ravi 

Corona Daily 023: Are Children Next? (Part One)

In April, an American family of three flew to Hawaii for a long awaited holiday. The parents were fully vaccinated. Their ten-year old son was not eligible for any vaccine. In Hawaii, the boy developed covid symptoms, and in a few days, died. It must be mentioned the child had underlying health conditions.

Anywhere in the world, where vaccines are available, adults are rushing to get vaccinated. The USA has given emergency approval for shots for everyone from 12 years of age. In most places, young people have difficult access to vaccination, and teenagers, young children, and infants remain unvaccinated. The age ‘de-escalation’ is common for clinical trials. However, for a long time, we may have a situation of vaccinated parents and unvaccinated children. Last year, adults were worrying about their elderly parents. Now, they are worried about the children instead.

With countries gradually freeing themselves, covid guidance may require kids to wear masks indoors, while parents lead a normal pre-pandemic life. On flights, the airhostess asks the passengers to first take care of themselves in case of low oxygen. First mask yourself and then think about putting mask on your toddler. For most parents, that is counter to their natural reflex. The vaccine strategy has followed a similar line, inoculating adults before children.

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Of course, the risk for children and young people is low this time. But it is not the same with every disease. When in 1950s, the polio epidemic was raging; it essentially sent children to wheelchairs and made many wear lifelong crutches. The alternative name for polio was ‘infantile paralysis’.

This month, after decreases in the past few months, child cases are increasing in America. This week 23,500 child cases were added. In states like West Virginia, proportion of cases among people under 20 has gone from 16% to 26%. In most states of America, every fourth infected person is likely to be young, under 20. Just one year ago, child covid cases made up only 3% of the USA total.

There are three main reasons for this. With adults getting vaccinated, their proportion from the infected population is going down. As it becomes difficult for the virus to penetrate the adult population, it tries to attack the younger lot. Secondly, new covid-19 variants, delta in particular, are spreading among the young. Third, in developed nations, in-person schools have started.

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In the USA, until 22 July 2021, there have been 34 million covid-19 cases and 609,000 deaths. These figures include 4.09 million cases and 346 deaths among children.

Children have suffered severely in Brazil, Indonesia and India.

The Brazilian children have complained of severe muscle aches, diarrhea, coughing, abdominal pain. As per the official data, 2,216 children aged between 0-9 died from covid. That includes 1,397 babies under one year of age. In the 0-9 age group, 67,000 children have been hospitalized. In 2021, a lot more young people are dying in Brazil as compared to 2020.

In Brazil as well as India, diagnosis of covid-19 in children often comes too late. It is assumed there is little or no risk for children. As a result, they are severely unwell, and treatment is more difficult, by the time they are admitted to a hospital.

India’s second wave saw a large number of positive cases among young kids and adolescents.

 One of the theories as to why children are less susceptible to the virus is that they have fewer receptors known as ACE2 in their respiratory tract. This is the entry point for the coronavirus which clings to those receptors. During India’s first wave, this was assumed to be the reason why cases among the young were low.

The strain in the second wave apparently bypasses this apparatus required for entry, and is able to evade the immune system better. The number of cases as well as the severity in infection has increased.

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(C0ntinued tomorrow)

Ravi 

Corona Daily 024: Did Not Start (DNS)

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 will finally start tomorrow. It is the first Olympic with no spectators at all. The Olympians present on the ground are not allowed to sing or shout to cheer their teammates, but they may clap instead. Winners are discouraged from excessive celebrations. Sportsmen and staff are urged to use Japan’s COCA exposure notification app.

Nearly 93,000 overseas athletes and officials are kept separate from the local population. Athletes are permitted to leave accommodation to go to the Official games venues. They are prohibited from using public transportation. No sightseeing, bars, restaurants, clubs or mingling with Olympians in other places, please. Athletes breaking the rules may face disqualification and financial penalties.

Everyone staying in the Olympic village will get their temperature checked every time they enter the village. All athletes and others associated with the games are subjected to daily saliva tests.

The International Olympics Committee offered to help with vaccines, but they are not mandatory. Restrictions and protocols don’t take into account the vaccination status.

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More than 22,000 athletes, journalists and game officials have entered Japan since 1 July. So far, 61 people have tested positive, 28 from overseas.

Coco Gauff, 17, an American tennis superstar, and a potential medal winner had to withdraw earlier following a positive test.

Last week, eight athletes have tested positive, three of them members of the South African soccer team. Two dozen South Africans, including the entire soccer team and the supporting staff are under individual quarantine.

The organizers are confident their test-quarantine method is effective. They promise “Covid-safe”, not “covid-free” games.

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What happens to the athletes who test positive?

They are not allowed to compete. They must begin isolation immediately in a secluded hotel where organizers provide them three meals daily. Based on the severity of their symptoms, Japanese health authorities will decide how long they should stay in isolation.

The good news is that no athlete or team testing positive will be designated as “disqualified”. Instead, in the record books, they will receive a “DNS (Did Not Start)”, a designation without any stigma.  

In this Olympics, one will not win until one actually holds the medal in hand. Similarly, one is not out even when one is out. Because, wherever possible, an athlete or team who can’t compete due to positive tests or isolation will be replaced by the next most eligible athlete or team. Meaning if you lost in the swimming heats, but before the next round swimmers who outpaced you tested positive, you will be reinstated.

If in a boxing final, one of the players tests positive, he will be given the silver medal, and the opponent will get the gold. I couldn’t find what happens if both of them test positive at the same time.

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Talking of the timing of the results, currently the Chess World Cup is being held in Sochi, Russia.

The matches begin at 3 pm local time. Last week, Susanto Megaranto, an Indonesian grandmaster started his game against the world no.2 Fabiano Caruana sharp at 3 pm. Chess requires a great level of concentration. Forty-five minutes into the game, the arbiter, looking frightened and confused, stopped the game. He told Megaranto that the result of his test had reached the organizers at 3.30 pm, and it is positive. “Sorry but you are out of the tournament.” Megaranto, in great health, left. His opponent Caruana, who had touched Megaranto’s pawn when capturing it, was sent into quarantine.

Imagine someone like Usain Bolt waiting for the sound of the gun before the 100 m sprint. Instead, someone walks up to him and says his positive test result has arrived.

Japanese are known for their punctuality and precision. I am certain they won’t let such a situation happen.

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Ravi 

Corona Daily 025: Abstinence at the Olympics

The chatter on social media started with a tweet by Paul Chelimo, an American long distance runner. He posted the pictures of beds in Tokyo’s Olympic village. The beds are made of cardboard to avoid any intimacy among athletes, wrote Chelimo. Beds will be able to withstand the weight of a single person to avoid any situation beyond sports, he added.

The media immediately called them the ‘anti-sex beds’. The Athletes Village specially built alongside Tokyo Bay has 18,000 cardboard beds for the Olympics.

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‘Sex in the Athletes Village’ has been a widely reported story in the last thirty years. The naïve notion that these young boys and girls, fittest and in great shape, would spend three weeks in the Olympic village practicing celibacy was busted when in 1988, Korean organizers distributed 8,500 condoms to the athletes. In that decade, AIDS had become a major threat. Hundreds of condoms were found the following day in courtyards, in shrubs, on terraces resulting in a ban on outdoor sex.      

By the time Sydney 2000 happened, condom distribution was an accepted norm. Australians distributed 70,000 condoms, and a week later needed to supply another 20,000. During Beijing 2008, some reporters called the Olympic Games a massive sex party with the hottest people on the planet. During Sochi 2014 winter Olympics, Tinder, the new dating app, reported a 400% rise in users for the duration of the games.

Rio 2016 set an Olympic record by distributing 450,000 free condoms, and 175,000 sachets of lubricant as a bonus. This was 42 condoms per participant for three weeks; do your own math.

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Parents and journalists are banned from entering the Athletes Village. Many participants are focused on the medals, but once their competition is over, lovemaking is a good way to celebrate victories as well as to forget losses. There may be disciplines where distractions may not matter so much: archery, canoeing, golf, rowing, shooting etc. And in the risk-reward equation, some of the fittest young men and women are willing to go for an immediate reward leaving all risks to the future. A detailed ESPN report including interviews of former and current athletes had revealed stories of parties, orgies, hook-ups in the Athletes village. If not for Covid-19, the Tokyo Olympics would have been the same.

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This week, Airweave, the Japanese company making the beds, clarified the cardboard beds are recyclable. This is the first Olympics where beds are made of renewable materials. The beds are very strong, can sustain up to 200 kg (440 pounds) of weight, said Takashi Kitajima, the general manager of the Athletes village. They are stronger than wooden beds, he added.

Rhys McCleanaghan, an Irish gymnast, provided proof by repeatedly jumping on the bed and posting the video on twitter. The Olympics’ official Twitter account thanked him for debunking the myth.

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Strong beds don’t mean the Japanese encourage their use for anything except the primary purpose. A playbook outlining Covid-19 safety measures advises Olympic participants to avoid unnecessary forms of physical contact such as hugs, high-fives and handshakes. (Is Playbook the right title?)

This is the first Olympics, where alcohol is completely banned. The athletes’ stay in the village is minimized. Competitors can arrive five days before their event, not earlier. They must leave within 48 hours of winning or losing. As is typical of Japanese housing, rooms are small. Single rooms are 100 sq feet, and double rooms 120 sq feet.

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Japanese are human, and understand human nature. They have already distributed 160,000 condoms among the athletes. How do the organizers explain asking the athletes for abstinence and giving away condoms?

The Japanese officials have announced the condoms are not for use in Japan. They are meant as souvenirs for participants to take back home. The young athletes will carry the memorable condoms home and are expected to engage in the noble activity of propagating their use to prevent AIDS.

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Ravi 

Corona Daily 026: England is Free

In England’s nightclubs, people danced and sang and hugged and kissed yesterday. Pubs and restaurants operated at full capacity. The limit of six to meet indoors was removed. Mask-wearing is no longer a legal requirement. It was called Freedom Day. You watch a nightmarish sci-fi movie, and after leaving the cinema theatre feel a level of comfort to return to the normal world outside. That was the kind of feeling in London and around the nation.

English can go back to offices, invite any number of guests for weddings. Funerals can be grand as well.

The anti-shutdown protestors enjoyed the newly-found freedom. They gathered near the parliament, holding posters like “no to vaccine passports”, “covid is a scam”, “Leave our DNA alone”. They quarreled with the uniformed police, and asked the journalists to remove their masks.

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England this month is facing a “Pingdemic”, where more than half a million people in a single week were pinged by the NHS mobile app sending them to 10 day quarantine. The Health secretary tested positive, following which the Prime minister and Chancellor received pings. Boris Johnson had not imagined himself to be in self-isolation on Freedom day.  

As a result of the pings, there is a labour shortage everywhere, in factories, pubs, restaurants, schools. Even fully vaccinated people are getting pinged. Nissan car factory has 900 ‘positive’ workers at home. Rolls Royce is considering shutting its plant.

Liverpool, Bristol, Norfolk, Sandwell, Coventry and Lancashire are smelling differently. Rubbish bin collection is disrupted by a high number of pings among the garbage collectors.

Yesterday, many English people pragmatically deleted the NHS app. The threat of a ping is deadlier than the threat of the virus.

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Now nearly 50,000 cases are found every day. Cases have gone up by 81% in the last two weeks. Deaths have increased by 131% (from a small base). Health experts expect the case numbers to rise exponentially, because of the highly contagious delta variant, the hosting of Euro 2020 with the nation coming together behind the soccer team, and the freedom from all restrictions since yesterday.

United States issued its highest level (level 4) advisory yesterday, delivering the sternest warning to Americans thinking of visiting the UK. The US state department apparently considers coronavirus in the UK to be more dangerous than terrorists. Read the first two sentences of the advisory.

“Do not travel to the United Kingdom due to COVID-19. Exercise increased caution due to terrorism.”

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Meanwhile, UK’s met office has issued an extreme heat weather warning for the first time. This week, Thursday is likely to be unbearably hot. Last weekend, all four UK nations recorded the hottest day of the year. Forecasters warned temperatures would continue to climb.

It also warns that more people are likely to visit coastal areas, lakes and rivers increasing the risk of water safety incidents. Over the weekend, six people drowned in English lakes and rivers.

Some people reading the Met office warnings have opted to shut themselves up in the house once again.

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Some health experts within the UK and outside have criticized England for opening up in this manner. Cases are rising and are expected to shoot up. The Delta variant is spreading rapidly. Vaccination levels of about 70% are expected to minimize deaths and hospitalizations. Boris Johnson has asked, when if not now?

I think the world should applaud England’s experiment. Once you accept that the elimination of coronavirus may not be possible, each nation will be forced to go for a similar trade-off. Accept a certain number of cases and deaths, and move on. Get back to life. If after vaccinating everyone willing to be vaccinated, the country is still going to be locked down, what’s the point? When are we going to dance and sing with abandon?

May England succeed in its huge gambit, and show the way out to the rest of the world.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 027: The Anti-Truth Movement

Before judging the role of Facebook or Twitter in promoting anti-vaccine sentiment, I must make a distinction between private and public. Our conversations with family and friends, phone calls, emails are generally private. In them, as we know, people have the highest freedom to express themselves. But take a young man who uses F language as punctuation, put him on a stage in front of an audience, his swearing gets restricted or stopped. Newspapers and TV can sparingly use taboo words if at all and pornography never. Facebook, Twitter and other social media are designed to be public platforms. The nearly-unrestricted private freedom of speech is not suited to public platforms. By banning obscene language and images, these companies accept the limits on the freedom of speech.

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In democracies, people are free to express opinions, even on public forums. One could tweet “President Trump is an idiot”. It may or may not be reality, and there is no reason for decent people to be nasty on public platforms, but the freedom exists. Also one may passionately love or hate fish, rock music, Elon Musk, communism, Marmite, bitcoin, Salman Rushdie or Picasso. It is a matter of taste, and we have the freedom to unashamedly voice our like and dislike. In true democratic spirit, we are also free to hate whites, blacks, Asians, gays, religious groups or atheists. That may be our prejudice. It is neither nice nor decent to give vent to that prejudice on public forums, but advocates of freedom of speech would not think of banning it.

However, when someone says “the president should be killed” or “mosques should be demolished”, that is no longer an opinion. One can hate the president and one can hate Islam, but suggesting killing or destruction is not an opinion, it is violence, an act against core moral values. Based on their current rules, FB is likely to ban such posts and their owner.

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Truth is another core moral value. ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness’ is as important a commandment as ‘Thou shalt not kill’.

Truth has very little protection, only under oath in the courts of law (perjury). Out of courts, in the vast world; Truth is naked, vulnerable, open to being twisted, bullied, denied, and suppressed.

Like an anti-vaxx movement, imagine an anti-maths movement, where people deny 5+8=13. According to them 5+8 can be 1o or 200 or whatever they say it is. I call this the Anti-Truth movement.

Donald Trump, holding the planet’s most powerful position, legitimized this movement. Populist leaders of the world joined it. The likes of the ‘disinformation dozen’ gleefully carried the torch and earned millions of followers.

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Scientists spend years analyzing viruses and developing formulations for vaccines. They publish scientific research for review and scrutiny. Companies conduct trials on animals and hundreds of thousands of humans. Experiment and control groups are created with vaccines and placebos. Regulators scrutinize the process and results at every stage. Once approved, their effectiveness and dangers are monitored in the real world. This is the scientific method that gives birth to vaccines. Anti-vaxxers with a single Tweet can call them killers, causing infertility, autism, surveillance tools.

Since the conception of the idea, it took 30 years to build the Twin Towers. But it took only 56 and 120 minutes to bring them down.

Seeking the Truth is always a lengthy, laborious process. Murdering Truth takes seconds.

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Vaccines, just like everything else, can be doubted and challenged. Those who wish to challenge should conduct their own trials, write papers, get them peer-reviewed and published, and open them to public scrutiny. Following the scientific method is the way to challenge, as against stating 5+8 equals zero.

The toxic Anti-Truth movement is led and followed by lazy, opportunist, fake, unscientific people. (I know some people who deny the existence of the coronavirus. I urged them to work as volunteers in a Covid ward. Not a single person has taken up that challenge). Dictators always favoured anti-Truth, but after Trump’s triumph in 2016, it has also infected the democratic world. Facebook and Twitter have offered the movement a stage and loudspeakers.

If the guidelines of the social media platforms don’t allow posts urging violence and terrorism, they should not allow the serial killing of Truth. Truth, a core moral value, needs to be protected.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 028: The Disinformation Dozen

“They are killing people”, said President Biden yesterday when a reporter asked if he wished to pass any message to Facebook and other social media platforms. “The pandemic is now only among the unvaccinated…”

In May 2020, a 26 minute video called “Plandemic” had alleged that a secret group of powerful people were using the virus and the potential vaccines to make more money and further consolidate their grip over the world. On YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, ‘Plandemic’ was viewed more than eight million times and had generated hundreds of thousands of posts.

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“Center for countering digital hate” (CCDH) is a UK/US based organization. It tries to fight the fringe movements, the custodians and drivers of hate and misinformation. This organization did a detailed analysis of the posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media. Curiously enough, they found 65% of the anti-vaccine posts were created/shared by just 12 individuals. Analysis of anti-vaxx content on Facebook showed an even greater concentration. These 12 people were responsible for 73% of the content. The CCDH research showed that by December 2020, the anti-vaxx accounts had a following of 59.2 million.

A detailed report prepared by the center is called “the Disinformation Dozen”. CCDH has requested Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to completely de-platform the dangerous dozen, instrumental in creating vaccine hesitancy at a critical crossroad in the pandemic.  

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The varied group includes physicians who preach pseudoscience, a bodybuilder, a wellness blogger, a religious zealot.

The most well known name (or rather surname) is Robert F. Kennedy Jr, nephew of the late American president. He is a lifelong anti-vaxx missionary. His posts said Pfizer and Moderna vaccines cause miscarriages, pregnant women must avoid them. 86 year old baseball legend, Hank Aaron, died eighteen days after taking the vaccine. Kennedy called it suspicious and part of the wave of deaths caused by the vaccines. Kennedy is banned on Instagram but active on other social media.

Joseph Mercola is an anti-vaccine entrepreneur who peddles dietary supplements and false cures as alternatives to vaccines. According to him, HIV doesn’t cause AIDS. Mobile phone radiation increases the risk of cancer. He repeatedly confirms the same number of people died in 2020, on average, as in the previous years. Why is it called a lethal pandemic? This guy has 3.6 million followers.

His partner Erin Elizabeth has a website called “Health Nut News”. She claims vaccines are part of the medical industry plan to create a “chronically ill population”. Creatively, she calls it ‘Harmacy’.

A couple, Ty and Charlene Bollingers, promoted the theory that Bill Gates plans to inject a microchip into everyone. “Have you had enough of the fake pandemic yet?” ask their posts. Bollingers’ interests are diverse. Their posts confirm the US presidential election was stolen. The couple spoke at the rally on 6 January.

Sherri Tenpenny claims vaccines cause autism. Vaccines also magnetise people and connect them with cellphone towers. She has written four books opposing vaccines. The longer you wear a mask, the more unhealthy you get, she tweets.

Rizza Islam tweets covid vaccines make women infertile. Rizza Islam himself was infected, but recovered from Covid in 48 hours, by following a special diet. Rashid Buttar urges followers to avoid covid-19 tests, because they carry living micro-organisms.

8 Sayer Ji, probably not a real name but with a real large following, says the Pfizer vaccine has killed more people than covid. 40 times more people, and among the younger group 260 times. Kelly Brogan, his partner, claims to practice ‘holistic psychiatry’. She says human diseases are not caused by infectious agents, but rather by psychological factors. No such thing as little invisible pathogens, it is all in your minds. The virus doesn’t exist. The fear of a virus makes people sick and die.

Christiane Northrup recommends HCQ and Ivermectin as cures. She is certain vaccines cause an 800% increase in chronic illnesses. Ben Tapper, a chiropractor, speaks out against masking. Kevin Jenkins calls vaccines a conspiracy to wipe out black people.

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Should Facebook ban the disinformation dozen? What about their freedom of speech? I will offer my view on this delicate debate tomorrow.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 029: Turning to the Bottle

One of the most vivid images I remember during Bombay’s strict lockdown was a mile long queue outside a booze shop in my neighborhood. The roads were empty and silent, not a single vehicle in sight. It was the first day the local government had allowed alcohol shops to operate for a few hours. Weeks had passed without access to alcohol. Spirit starvation promised to be as great a crisis as the pandemic.

India consumes more whiskey than any other country (USA is second). Every second bottle of whiskey produced in the world is sold in India. At the other end, a third of Indian drinkers consume cheap and suspect quality locally brewed or country liquor, regularly causing tragedies.

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This week, several studies and articles have been published in the USA, UK and other countries on how the pandemic has affected drinking habits.

In England, deaths from liver disease related to excessive drinking shot up by 21% in 2020. In the pandemic, the heaviest drinkers consumed even more alcohol. UK had closed its pubs, restaurants, night clubs for 31 weeks (more than seven months). Strangely, alcohol sales didn’t go down, suggesting people were compensating by drinking more at home.

Nearly 60% of the surveyed people said they were drinking at increasing and high-risk levels. (High risk is 50 units a week for men and 35 for women). What is heavy drinking? It is 14 drinks (units) per week, equal to six large glasses of wine or six pints of beer per week. And this should be well spread across the week, with four drinks as a maximum per day for men (three for women).

(I thought this discipline is comparable to marathon runners’ weekly mileage. You spread your mileage over the week, allowing for longer runs over the weekend).

In many countries, liver disease is currently the second leading cause of premature death of those under 60. If you want to find your level of risk, you can take the British Liver Trust’s online quiz here.

Another disturbing study tries to establish drinking as a leading cause of cancer globally. There are many ways in which alcohol consumption can lead to cancer, but mainly by damaging DNA. In 2020, alcohol was responsible for 740,000 new tumours.

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Stress, loneliness and the lack of access to alcohol support services made matters worse. Historically, alcohol consumption falls during a recession. But this recession was different, with drinkers locked up in their houses, filled with anxiety. It pushed some drinkers towards the particularly destructive habit of solitary drinking. It is believed that solo drinkers get more depressed as they drink.

Even before the pandemic, bartenders have noticed a type of young customer who comes to the bar, orders a drink, and plays video games or some other activity on his/her smart phone. They don’t speak to anyone. Why don’t they drink at home? One hypothesis is that they are willing to spend money to sit in a bar alone to avoid loneliness without actual togetherness. These young people were forced to drink alone at home during the lockdown. Not having to pay for each individual drink, it is easier to cross the boundaries.

In August last year, Busch – the beer maker, launched a new product to address this problem. “Dog Brew” was bone broth packaged as beer for your pet. “You’ll never drink alone again”, the ad campaign said. The dog beer promptly sold out.

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Americans started drinking more from the start of the pandemic. Nielsen data shows an increase of 54% year on year (April 2020-March 2021). A December survey found 75% Americans devoted at least one more day during a month to drinking. Women increased their intake by 39%. Women had a greater increase in excessive drinking, so much so, they threatened to catch up with men. The European Union was far more sober than UK or USA.

In Russia, in March 2020 itself, sales of vodka shot up by 65%. Domestic violence perpetrated by drinking men went up. Some Russians conveniently believe that vodka kills all bacteria and viruses. For them, the choice between a vaccine and vodka is clear.

Ravi