A FEW MORE DANGERS OF COVID-19

It's been more than four years since the coming of Covid-19.  For several years I every Thursday reported on this pandemic.  I've noticed where I live at 15 Craigside, a seniors' community, that time and time again residents returned from trips away from Hawaii, and tended to test negative at first, but positive several days later.  My conclusion now is that they must have caught this virus while on the flight home.  There is one resident who never tested positive when she returned home, BUT, on three trips after the pandemic was cancelled, caught covid all three times while away.

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  Two weeks ago, in my posting on SHOULD YOU CONTINUE TO WORRY ABOUT COVID-19 WHEN YOU TRAVEL?, I quoted the Mayo Clinic:

Travel increases your chance of getting and spreading COVID-19. If you're unvaccinated, staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. If you must travel and aren't vaccinated, talk with your health care provider and ask about any additional precautions you may need to take.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that you should avoid travel until you've had all recommended COVID-19 vaccine and booster doses.

In the U.S., you must wear a face mask on planes, buses, trains and other forms of public transportation. The mask must fit snugly and cover both your mouth and nose.

• In the meantime I today found an actual study on evaluation of infection probability of Covid-19 in different types of airliner cabins.  To quote;

Wang et al.[5] conducted a review of COVID-19 transmission cases in commercial airplanes. They found that the literature had documented cases of airborne transmission of the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) in airliner cabins, although airplane manufacturers seemed to downplay the significance.

•  ....the air cabin environment cannot prevent airborne infectious disease transmission among passengers and crew members.
• Even in the business-class cabin of a long-haul, trans-continental flight, Khanh et al. [11] identified a cluster of COVID-19 infections. Commercial airplanes rely on HEPA filters to remove airborne infectious viruses. However, virus transmission could occur before the air containing the virus has been recirculated through the HEPA filters. High passenger density, especially in economy-class cabins, can easily lead to the spread of respiratory diseases [12].
• ...actual data collected by Hertzberg and Weiss [21] provided strong evidence of in-flight infection. They also found that most infections occurred in close proximity to the infector.
• During a 3-h flight, the risk of infection was nearly 50% for those sitting in the vicinity of the infector.
• Without mask wearing by the passengers and the index patient, the infection probability could be 8% for a 10-h, long-haul flight, such as a twin-aisle air cabin with 3-3-3 seat configuration.
• Further:  With an assumed flight time of 4 h, the infection probability was almost the same among the different cabins, except that the 3-3-3 configuration had a lower risk because of its airflow pattern.  In other words, if you sat in other configurations, the infection rate was higher than 8%.
• The above literature review concluded that the risk of airborne infectious disease transmission in commercial airliner cabins is high. Social distancing is impossible in the cabins and filters could not remove the virus transmission in the cabins before entering the environmental systems.
• You can read the paper for details.
• Another report was a lot more optimistic:

The authors carried out 10,000 simulations to estimate the risks of COVID-19 transmission and concluded that a passenger on a flight with the middle seat remaining open had 1chance in 6,400 of contracting COVID-19, while a passenger on a flight with fully occupied seats had 1 chance in 3,900.

Thus, keeping the middle seat open cut the probability of infection almost in half. However, Barocas emphasized, the relative risk of becoming infected while flying is still high compared to the risk of a 2-hour walk down the street, which results in a 1 in 66,000 risk of contracting COVID-19. Flying carries significantly higher risks than staying on the ground, even though those risks can be reduced by taking certain measures, such as leaving the middle seat empty.

• Thus, if you must fly, wear a mask throughout the flight.  This will be a problem if you eat or drink anything.
• Also stated was that the pandemic spread because of air travel.  Mind you, this blame does not mean that individuals actually contacted covid on the plane flight itself, but that the spread of the pandemic was caused by people infectingothers through this mode of travel when they got to other locations.

One other thought was that I wondered if drinking copious amount of alcohol could prevent Covid-19 when you are in a crowded room, like an airplane.

• We returned last month from an around the world journey, caught three cruises and flew on 11 different flights.
• Unlike other residents of 15 Craigside who also traveled during this period, I think we the only ones who drank a lot. 
• My belief about flying business and first class is that any drink not drunk is money wasted.  This begins in the airline lounge.
• On a cruise ship, I don't think there was one day when the imbibition rate was less than 6/day.

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  However,  every article I read today said just the opposite.
• The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said:

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting every family across the country and will likely have a long-lasting impact on public health and well-being. Alcohol misuse is already a public health concern in the United States, and alcohol has the potential to further complicate the COVID-19 pandemic in multiple ways.  While hand sanitizers containing 60-95% ethyl alcohol can help destroy the coronavirus on surfaces, drinking alcohol offers no protection from the virus. In fact alcohol misuse may impair immune function.

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  From the World Health Organization.
• General myths about alcohol and Covid-19
• Myth:  Consuming alcohol destroys the virus that causes Covid-19.
• Fact;  Consuming alcohol will NOT destroy the virus, and its consumption is likely to increase the health risks if a person become infected with the virus. Alcohol (at a concentration of at least 60% by volume) works as a disinfectant on you skin, but it has no such effect within your system when ingested.
• Myth:  Drinking strong alcohol kills the virus in the inhaled air.
• Fact:  Consumption of alcohol will not kill the virus in the inhaled air; it will not disinfect your mouth and throat; and it will not give you any kind of protection agains Covid-19.
• Myth:  Alcohol stimulates immunity and resistance to the virus.
• Fact:  Alcohol has a deleterious effect on your immune system and will not stimulate immunity virus resistance.

So wondered if there were any studies reinforcing those above organizational warnings.  I found one one: Covid-19 pandemic and alcohol consumption:  impacts and interconnections, March 10, 2021.

Alcohol consumption is associated with multiple diseases and might contribute to vulnerability to SARS-CoV-2 infection. It can also catalyze exacerbations of mental and organic illnesses and predispose to behaviors with an increased risk of infection, severity of disease but also independently of sociopathic behavior and violence. Globally, millions of premature deaths from excessive alcohol consumption occur each year. This paper discusses the effects of increased alcohol consumption and the most important consequences on the health of the population during the social isolation and lockdown during current COVID-19 pandemic.

Whoa...that was convincing.  Another study was a bit more promising in my direction:  Covid-19 risk appears to vary across different alcoholic beverages.

• Studied 473,957 subjects, 16,559 of whom tested positive for Covid-19.
• Subjects who consumed alcohol double the recommended guidelines (not stated what this is).
• Red wine played a protective effect.
• Beer increases Covid-19 risk.
• Low consumption of fortified wind (1-2 glasses/week) had a protective effect.
• High frequency consumption of spirits (more than 5 glasses/week) increased Covid-19 risk.
• High frequency (more than 5 glasses/week) of white wine and champagne decreased the Covid-19 risk.
• Covid-19 risk increased with higher consumption.
• Alcohol was not associated with mortality, whatever this means.
• In short, drinking less than 5/week reduce the risk of Covid-19, while beer, spirits and heavy drinking increased the risk.
• Interesting that heavier drinking of white wine and champagne was similar to low drinking of red wine in reducing the risk of Covid-19.
• But, save for that white wine/champagne anomaly, one should not drink heavily to prevent Covid-19.  
• This heavy drinking is only around one drink/day.
• There is no data for five drinks/day or more.

Changing the covid subject to long Covid-19, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a 265-page report recognizing the seriousness of Long Covid.

• Does not depend on age, impacts people across the life span.
• Encompasses more than 200 symptoms, involving every organ in the body.
• 18 million adults and 1 million children in the U.S. have had long covid.
• 7% of Covid-19 patients have suffered from long-covid.
• But the World Health Organization says 10%-20%.
• Prevalence dropped in 2023, but has risen this year.
• No way to diagnose the condition no definitive treatments to cure it.
• Can last from 6 months to 2 years and longer.
• Women are twice as likely to develop long covid.
• Smokers more prone to it.
• Patients who were hospitalized were 2 to 3 times more likely to develop long covid.
• Few patients return to full remission.
• The cause is not known, and includes inflammation, fragments of remaining virus and immune system disregulation.

Read about Ed Hornick, who saw 27 doctors, underwent 7 CT scans, 5 ultrasounds, 2 spinal taps, 2 X-rays, 2 lung function tests, 1 MRI, 1 echocardiogram, 1 sleep study, made 3 trips to the emergency, been hospitalized once, and in addition to those doctors, saw 9 nurse practitioners, 3 physician's assistants and one therapist.  Life was one big game of pass the buck by doctors.

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