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A long-time friend of the blog writes the following, for which I have nothing to add beyond uninformed skepticism and yet still a sense of obligation for sharing:
Here is the most amazing thing I am seeing right now: COVID-19 coronavirus is following dry winter air.
Where it gets more humid, the virus dissipates.
Wuhan, China was cold and dry in January through mid February. Then in became warmer and very humid throughout Hubei province and things got much, much better.
You can track what conditions were in Wuhan day by day. Or any city.
Where it is cold and somewhat dry, it is very super dry indoors.
The correlation between humidity and viral respiratory infection severity and mortality was clearly shown and explained last year by a team at Yale University Medical School.
That study showed humidity is sharply protective AFTER viral infection!
Now watch me tell the future: The next evidence will be from France and the Seattle, WA area. There are outbreaks in both areas, and yet humid air has now arrived. Both areas should see a dramatic reduction in new cases and deaths. Tokyo conditions will improve for the same reason. New York City (!!!) is in the crosshairs, yet will be okay. At 54 degrees with 76 percent humidity right, their indoor air will be humid enough to avoid respiratory pandemic.
I have foretold the future! I have magic! Or else this is another, dramatic instance of humanity failing to see the obvious.
Even in the case of a scientific solution universally available to everyone to stop a viral epidemic dead in its tracks (all you need is a pot of boiling water to humidify your home) humanity cannot see the blindingly obvious. People will not see the very thing that will save their lives from viral pandemic!
As we both know, we live in an age of ignorance, but you would hope that pattern recognition would at least be applied to, uh, global pandemic. Not really. All the woke smarties are ruled by the same mindless worship of the gods of chance as our ancestors.
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Thanks for sharing.
I remember reading these comments. And I remember hearing early on that Trump had said that arrival of warmer weather would blunt the spread of Kung Flue. My mother was a progressive woman for her time. Before she married my father she was a School Marm in a one room school house in the wilds of South Dakota. She advocated for the ERA. She read Dr. Spock. And when her kids were down with the flue she ran a steamer by their bed.
And my mother favored nature over nurture. She worried that we were “polluting our gene pool”.
Hope this is right – I am still seeing very smart people split in whether this is ultimately not that bad or a disaster in which millions will die. Jayman is extremely negative as of late.
mucous, I mean, vicious cycle.The rest of us, who have already gotten our case of Corona ...
... down at the Circle-K, on sale in 12-oz bottles, are more sanguine about it. [tips sombrero up a tad* to glance at the internet] Aye Corona! Manana, amigo, manana!
.
* Hat tip to iSteve commenter who came up with the sombrero-tipping imagery.
It is known that humidity seems to blunt covid; a specific claim is that it purportedly thrives at both low and very high humidity
Perhaps a matter of the integrity of the mucosal passages. Perhaps the humidity is a proxy for tracking temperatures. People will be indoor more in the cold, with weakened immune systems. Perhaps all of the above
Whaaa? Seattle and western Washington is humid all winter long. It’s only not humid from early June through late September. It’s more complicated than just the humidity.
Seattle yesterday was 37 degrees with 83% humidity. Humid, right? Not indoors! That translates to 25% humidity at 72 degrees when you warm that air. So Seattle has been pretty dry indoors, which is what matters!
Steve Sailer has written 8 posts in about a 24 hour period (you know how he can get sometimes!). I think the more one watches the TV infotainment, the more negative one will be. Since the infotainment tells one to hunker down inside, a reasonable suggestion, then there will be more TV watching, hence more negativity. It’s a
mucous, I mean, vicious cycle.The rest of us, who have already gotten our case of Corona …
… down at the Circle-K, on sale in 12-oz bottles, are more sanguine about it. [tips sombrero up a tad* to glance at the internet] Aye Corona! Manana, amigo, manana!
.
* Hat tip to iSteve commenter who came up with the sombrero-tipping imagery.
Wood stove people are well aware of the benefits of allowing a pot of water to gently steam on top of the stove to replace the moisture lost to the dry heat of the wood stove.
So now to prevent BAT SOUP FEVER it is wise to triple up on your use of water pots on top of your wood stove to moisturize the air.
Wood stove people can use the slowly boiling water to make instant coffee or hot chocolate or boil food items. Do not attempt to make maple syrup on top of your wood stove because that will cause big black carpenter ants to chew the Hell out of all the delicious sugary wood in your house.
Great fun for wood stove people is to every once in a while go for broke and make the cast iron glow red. That is not advisable but it is irresistible sometimes.
A good wood to achieve a glowing red wood stove is tulip poplar. Tulip poplar is not a hard wood, but that allows the wood to burn hotter than hard woods. Bang the cured and dried and cut branches of a tulip poplar tree together and you’ll get a sound reminiscent of Tito Puente banging on his xylophone outdoors in Central Park decades ago.
It helps to be bombed on ale to appreciate the fun of getting your cast iron wood stove to get red hot but you shouldn’t be so bombed as to forget to worry about the damn thing exploding.
So, fight off the BAT SOUP FEVER by using extra pots of water on top of your wood stove. Most wood stoves have extra cast iron plates with grates so you can better control your steaming pots.
Just have a itchy feeling that in 3 months we are gonna look back and see much less death and sickness than our mainstream media has been gleefully anticipating from this. They are actively trying to hurt the economy with their fearmongering.
It was actually G.E.T. that got me noticing climatic effects when he tweeted, on Feb. 7th:
"....he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!"
Can we say that he was totally right about China?
The alarming thing though has nothing to do with Coronavirus. It has to do with Sailer's Most Important Chart and the fact that the elites of the world are completely incapable of seeing patterns. If our overlords can't figure out the need to humidify in the face of global pandemic when that will save them from death right now and the evidence is abundant, they sure as hell won't see where demographics is leading on a scale of multiple decades.
And my mother favored nature over nurture. She worried that we were "polluting our gene pool".Replies: @Dutch Boy
My RN mother likewise had a humidifier handy any time we had a respiratory illness.
Clearly is the case, thank God Europe is emerging in to Spring time.
I see a lot of reasonably credible talk that certain ancestry groups (aka: races for the badthinkers) are more susceptible to the virus than others. Is this true? NO ONE CAN KNOW. Because true or not, even raising the question is counter narrative, so therefore the question cannot be asked and cannot be answered.
Is the Chinese government lying about its stats? NO ONE CAN KNOW. To raise that question implies maybe some badthink about inscrutable orientals or endemic corruption in their civilizations.
A lot of the panic is that we’re not allowed to even know some of the most important and basic facts about the situation and the disease.
https://twitter.com/NewRightAmerica/status/1236381276623560705?s=20
Steven Pinker is an evil and immoral baby boomer globalizer corporate propaganda whore who propagandizes in favor of everything that harms the historic American nation.
I wrote this about Steven Pinker and George Will in February of 2018:
https://www.unz.com/isteve/what-if-were-not-doomed-sailer-on-pinkers-enlightenment-now/#comment-2223699
God is clearly punishing us for our sins. Maybe we should try the Medieval plague cure of flagellation. Better still, why don’t we beat the crap out of our politicians.
Accelerate global warming to beat Corona!
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/why-does-weather-stall-new-theories-explain-enigmatic-blocks-jet-stream
Thanks AE for the send up. A few more data points:
* There is little reported Coronavirus in Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, tropical southeast Asia, South America, and so forth. One could say that there just isn’t testing, but one would know if a lot of the population were suddenly dying.
* All of the places with heavy outbreaks, Korea, Iran and Northern Italy are places where conditions are very dry in winter.
* The steep turnaround in southeastern China from apocalyptic conditions to few new cases and deaths cannot be all down to social distancing.
Wuhan is at 58 F with 82% humidity. That is very moist. And the virus has stopped dead in its tracks!
This isn’t merely happenstance. The evidence that respiratory viruses fail in humid conditions is extensive:
I. Virus particles remain active longer in dry air than in humid air: citations
1. Noti et al. (2013) High Humidity Leads to Loss of Infectious Influenza Virus from Simulated Coughs. PLoS One. 2013; 8(2): e57485.
2. Tamerius JD, et al. (2013) Environmental predictors of seasonal influenza epidemics across temperate and tropical climates. PLoS Pathog 9:e1003194, and erratum 2013 Nov;9(11).
3. Shaman J, Pitzer VE, Viboud C, Grenfell BT, Lipsitch M (2010) Absolute humidity and the seasonal onset of influenza in the continental United States. PLoS Biol 8(2): e1000316.
4. Shaman J, Goldstein E, Lipsitch M (2011) Absolute humidity and pandemic versus epidemic influenza. Am J Epidemiol 173: 127–135
5. Lowen AC, Mubareka S, Steel J, Palese P (2007) Influenza virus transmission is dependent on relative humidity and temperature. PLoS Pathog 3(10): 1470–1476.
6. Schaffer FL, Soergel ME, Straube DC (1976) Survival of airborne influenza virus: effects of propagating host, relative humidity, and composition of spray fluids, Arch Virol. 51: 263–273.
7. Hanley BP, Borup B (2010) Aerosol influenza transmission risk contours: A study of humid tropics versus winter temperate zone. Virol J 7: 98.
8. Yang W, Marr LC (2011) Dynamics of airborne influenza A viruses indoors and dependence on humidity. PloS One 6(6): e21481.
9. Shaman and Kohn (2009) Absolute humidity modulates influenza survival, transmission, and seasonality. PNAS March 3, 2009 106 (9) 3243-3248
II. Susceptibility to respiratory infection is greater when ambient humidity is low than when ambient humidity is high: citations
1. Kudo et al. Low ambient humidity impairs barrier function and innate resistance against influenza infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
2. Makinen et al. Cold temperature and low humidity are associated with increased occurrence of respiratory tract infections. Respiratory Medicine, Volume 103, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 456-462
3. Eccles R (2002) An explanation for the seasonality of acute upper respiratory tract viral infections. Acta Otolaryngol 122:183–191.
4. Iwasaki A, Pillai PS (2014) Innate immunity to influenza virus infection. Nat Rev Immunol 14:315–328.
5. Chen X, et al. (2018) Host immune response to influenza a virus infection. Front Immunol 9:320.
6. Taubenberger JK, Morens DM (2008) The pathology of influenza virus infections. Annu Rev Pathol 3:499–522.
7. Bustamante-Marin XM, Ostrowski LE (2017) Cilia and mucociliary clearance. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 9:a028241.
8. Oozawa H, et al. (2012) Effect of prehydration on nasal mucociliary clearance in low relative humidity. Auris Nasus Larynx 39:48–52.
9. Kudo E, et al. (2019) Low ambient humidity impairs barrier function, innate resistance against influenza infection. NCBI BioProject. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ bioproject/PRJNA528197. Deposited March 20, 2019.
The maddeningly stupid thing is, most everyone can create the conditions to protect themselves and their families and this is hardly being communicated. You don’t even need a humidifier — a pot to boil water will do.
How confident am I in this? I would be willing to treat Coronavirus patients, sans protection, if I could stay in a high humidity environment such that my natural lung immunity remains strong. What an amazing youTube video that would be! Me in a hawaiian shirt, shorts and flip-flops walking around among people in hazmat suits, humidifiers blasting all around. Anyone reading this have the connections to make this happen?
Where is the death in all the poor tropical places? There is practically none. This is astonishing!
It is very likely that hospitals are inadvertently killing Coronavirus patients, by putting them in the very dry conditions of a ‘sterile’ hospital.
I should know by now that people will not see the most obvious things, even if their life depends on it. But Geez! Really people! You would think that amid a global viral pandemic a little truth will break through the society’s near-impenetrable refusal to see the most obvious things… Hope springs eternal!
Thanks, AE!
Credit where credit is due:
It was actually G.E.T. that got me noticing climatic effects when he tweeted, on Feb. 7th:
“….he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!”
Can we say that he was totally right about China?
The alarming thing though has nothing to do with Coronavirus. It has to do with Sailer’s Most Important Chart and the fact that the elites of the world are completely incapable of seeing patterns. If our overlords can’t figure out the need to humidify in the face of global pandemic when that will save them from death right now and the evidence is abundant, they sure as hell won’t see where demographics is leading on a scale of multiple decades.
Uh, yeah. Maybe not such a good idea:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/why-does-weather-stall-new-theories-explain-enigmatic-blocks-jet-stream
I wonder if this is why hot soup and hot tea are recommended so often? You inhale a lot of steam consuming these things.
That reminds me of a scene in The Thing (1982) where Blair, the pathologist and the smartest dude on the research station, goes crazy with paranoia about the “thing” multiplying and taking over the planet. He’s done the math and he knows there’s no stopping it!
I am a little embarrassed that I used Seattle as an example, but the relationship of COVID-19 and humidity actually holds there too!
Seattle right now is 37 degrees with 83% humidity. Humid, right? Not indoors! That translates to 25% humidity at 72 degrees when you warm that air. So Seattle is now pretty dry indoors, which is what matters!
In Wuhan, the origin of COVID-19, the virus has stopped dead in its tracks, is 59 degrees with 94% humidity. That translates to 62% humidity when you warm that air to 72 degrees.
Audacious Epigone, you said you were skeptical. Hit me with your best!
Seattle right now is 37 degrees with 83% humidity. Humid, right? Not indoors! That translates to 25% humidity at 72 degrees when you warm that air. So Seattle is now pretty dry indoors, which is what matters!
In Wuhan, the origin of COVID-19, the virus has stopped dead in its tracks, is 59 degrees with 94% humidity. That translates to 62% humidity when you warm that air to 72 degrees.
Audacious Epigone, you said you were skeptical. Hit me with your best!Replies: @Achmed E. Newman
OK, if everyone is passing it on indoors, such as in schools and nursing homes, that makes sense, Dan. Thank you for pulling out a psychometric chart too! Relative humidity is high outside, then, but absolute humidity is not. However, right now, as I check, the dew point and temp spread is below 1 F, both near 36 F or 2 C in Seattle this morning. Let me pull up a chart on-line….
Absolute humidity (humidity ratio) is about just under 5 gm water/kg dry air, or 0.5%. Is it the absolute humidity or the relative that matters? For your observations, it’s the latter – likely correct.
Despite meticulous testing and expert medical practices, the number of coronavirus cases continues to slowly rise in Singapore, a hot and humid place.
The protectiveness of high humidity is supported by this Yale study:
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/22/10905
Being exposed and not getting badly ill or dying is a great outcome!Replies: @Weston Waroda
I don’t know about the moisture. But there’s a reason, we call it the winter months the cold and flu season.
Note: viruses reside and grown in the human body which is a fairly wet and warm environment
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/0418-Blaylock.pdf
This is a nice-sounding prediction. What were climate conditions in 1918? From what I understand it hit (humid) India hardest.
I’ll keep this prediction in mind, but I’ll also keep washing my hands, avoiding touching my face, and staying away from crowds. For at least the next two months. By then matters should be clearer.
Of course my father has been saying all along that he expects the virus to come roaring back in the fall, much worse than it is now.
I just talked this over with certain elders of my family. They were universally contemptuous of the idea, particularly noting that dry air is always and consistently better for respiratory ailments, and that this was the reason people were sent to the mountains or the Southwest for health reasons. These are people who very rarely find reasons to visit hospitals or doctors and are in excellent health for their ages, so I find their judgement trustworthy.
I’ll still remember the prediction and look for confirmation or disproof, but I don’t really expect the first.
5. Lowen AC, Mubareka S, Steel J, Palese P (2007) Influenza virus transmission is dependent on relative humidity and temperature. PLoS Pathog 3(10): 1470–1476.6. Schaffer FL, Soergel ME, Straube DC (1976) Survival of airborne influenza virus: effects of propagating host, relative humidity, and composition of spray fluids, Arch Virol. 51: 263–273.7. Hanley BP, Borup B (2010) Aerosol influenza transmission risk contours: A study of humid tropics versus winter temperate zone. Virol J 7: 98.8. Yang W, Marr LC (2011) Dynamics of airborne influenza A viruses indoors and dependence on humidity. PloS One 6(6): e21481.9. Shaman and Kohn (2009) Absolute humidity modulates influenza survival, transmission, and seasonality. PNAS March 3, 2009 106 (9) 3243-3248II. Susceptibility to respiratory infection is greater when ambient humidity is low than when ambient humidity is high: citations1. Kudo et al. Low ambient humidity impairs barrier function and innate resistance against influenza infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.2. Makinen et al. Cold temperature and low humidity are associated with increased occurrence of respiratory tract infections. Respiratory Medicine, Volume 103, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 456-4623. Eccles R (2002) An explanation for the seasonality of acute upper respiratory tract viral infections. Acta Otolaryngol 122:183–191.4. Iwasaki A, Pillai PS (2014) Innate immunity to influenza virus infection. Nat Rev Immunol 14:315–328.5. Chen X, et al. (2018) Host immune response to influenza a virus infection. Front Immunol 9:320.6. Taubenberger JK, Morens DM (2008) The pathology of influenza virus infections. Annu Rev Pathol 3:499–522.7. Bustamante-Marin XM, Ostrowski LE (2017) Cilia and mucociliary clearance. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 9:a028241.8. Oozawa H, et al. (2012) Effect of prehydration on nasal mucociliary clearance in low relative humidity. Auris Nasus Larynx 39:48–52.9. Kudo E, et al. (2019) Low ambient humidity impairs barrier function, innate resistance against influenza infection. NCBI BioProject. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ bioproject/PRJNA528197. Deposited March 20, 2019.Regarding your particular point:"I just talked this over with certain elders of my family. They were universally contemptuous of the idea, particularly noting that dry air is always and consistently better for respiratory ailments, and that this was the reason people were sent to the mountains or the Southwest for health reasons. "The data show what they show. Viral respiratory infection season is the winter months, when indoor air is very dry. Indoor temperature is 70 year round, but the humidity fluctuates wildly.What your elders my be thinking of is tuberculosis. Many tuberculosis sanitariums existed in the west before antibiotics. Now tuberculosis is rare. Tuberculosis is bacterial, not viral.Do you have any data showing dry is beneficial for fighting respiratory viruses? I am open-minded but have yet to see any studies supporting dry air to fight respiratory viral infection. Studies I find all show humid air is much better against viral infection. Please change my mind if you can, but show me data.
I thought that it was mainly to get away from areas with very high pollen counts.
And yet the number of deaths in Singapore is zero!
The protectiveness of high humidity is supported by this Yale study:
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/22/10905
Being exposed and not getting badly ill or dying is a great outcome!
The protectiveness of high humidity is supported by this Yale study:
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/22/10905
Being exposed and not getting badly ill or dying is a great outcome!Replies: @Weston Waroda
True, but, is it the humidity or is it the scrupulously diligent Singapore medical system?
Somehow Singapore had few cases and no deaths while Korea had a bunch! Humidity is the difference I see.Replies: @Weston Waroda
I'll still remember the prediction and look for confirmation or disproof, but I don't really expect the first.Replies: @DanHessinMD, @iffen
Yes, humidity being better against ***viral*** respiratory infection is counterintuitive and yet a lot of scientific studies show this:
I. Virus particles remain active longer in dry air than in humid air: citations
1. Noti et al. (2013) High Humidity Leads to Loss of Infectious Influenza Virus from Simulated Coughs. PLoS One. 2013; 8(2): e57485.
2. Tamerius JD, et al. (2013) Environmental predictors of seasonal influenza epidemics across temperate and tropical climates. PLoS Pathog 9:e1003194, and erratum 2013 Nov;9(11).
3. Shaman J, Pitzer VE, Viboud C, Grenfell BT, Lipsitch M (2010) Absolute humidity and the seasonal onset of influenza in the continental United States. PLoS Biol 8(2): e1000316.
4. Shaman J, Goldstein E, Lipsitch M (2011) Absolute humidity and pandemic versus epidemic influenza. Am J Epidemiol 173: 127–135
5. Lowen AC, Mubareka S, Steel J, Palese P (2007) Influenza virus transmission is dependent on relative humidity and temperature. PLoS Pathog 3(10): 1470–1476.
6. Schaffer FL, Soergel ME, Straube DC (1976) Survival of airborne influenza virus: effects of propagating host, relative humidity, and composition of spray fluids, Arch Virol. 51: 263–273.
7. Hanley BP, Borup B (2010) Aerosol influenza transmission risk contours: A study of humid tropics versus winter temperate zone. Virol J 7: 98.
8. Yang W, Marr LC (2011) Dynamics of airborne influenza A viruses indoors and dependence on humidity. PloS One 6(6): e21481.
9. Shaman and Kohn (2009) Absolute humidity modulates influenza survival, transmission, and seasonality. PNAS March 3, 2009 106 (9) 3243-3248
II. Susceptibility to respiratory infection is greater when ambient humidity is low than when ambient humidity is high: citations
1. Kudo et al. Low ambient humidity impairs barrier function and innate resistance against influenza infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
2. Makinen et al. Cold temperature and low humidity are associated with increased occurrence of respiratory tract infections. Respiratory Medicine, Volume 103, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 456-462
3. Eccles R (2002) An explanation for the seasonality of acute upper respiratory tract viral infections. Acta Otolaryngol 122:183–191.
4. Iwasaki A, Pillai PS (2014) Innate immunity to influenza virus infection. Nat Rev Immunol 14:315–328.
5. Chen X, et al. (2018) Host immune response to influenza a virus infection. Front Immunol 9:320.
6. Taubenberger JK, Morens DM (2008) The pathology of influenza virus infections. Annu Rev Pathol 3:499–522.
7. Bustamante-Marin XM, Ostrowski LE (2017) Cilia and mucociliary clearance. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 9:a028241.
8. Oozawa H, et al. (2012) Effect of prehydration on nasal mucociliary clearance in low relative humidity. Auris Nasus Larynx 39:48–52.
9. Kudo E, et al. (2019) Low ambient humidity impairs barrier function, innate resistance against influenza infection. NCBI BioProject. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ bioproject/PRJNA528197. Deposited March 20, 2019.
Regarding your particular point:
“I just talked this over with certain elders of my family. They were universally contemptuous of the idea, particularly noting that dry air is always and consistently better for respiratory ailments, and that this was the reason people were sent to the mountains or the Southwest for health reasons. ”
The data show what they show. Viral respiratory infection season is the winter months, when indoor air is very dry. Indoor temperature is 70 year round, but the humidity fluctuates wildly.
What your elders my be thinking of is tuberculosis. Many tuberculosis sanitariums existed in the west before antibiotics. Now tuberculosis is rare. Tuberculosis is bacterial, not viral.
Do you have any data showing dry is beneficial for fighting respiratory viruses? I am open-minded but have yet to see any studies supporting dry air to fight respiratory viral infection. Studies I find all show humid air is much better against viral infection. Please change my mind if you can, but show me data.
“I’ll still remember the prediction and look for confirmation or disproof, but I don’t really expect the first.”
One test might be to count the number of recoveries in sanitariums in dry climates vs wetter climates
Italy and South Korea. Total coronavirus cases to date are virtually identical: 7375 and 7382. Average humidity in March: 60% (northern Italy), 70% in South Korea. Deaths : 366 and 50, mortality 5% and less than 1%. Close to same cases and humidity, but how to explain the vastly different mortality rate? Surely 10% difference in humidity can’t result in 7X increase of deaths? Is the bug fickle? What say you, good doctor?
“One test might be to count the number of recoveries in sanitariums in dry climates vs wetter climates”
They aren’t even a thing anymore. They had them around a hundred years ago, before antibiotics basically took care of tuberculosis. I don’t think sanitariums in dry climes was ever scientifically shown to work.
I'll still remember the prediction and look for confirmation or disproof, but I don't really expect the first.Replies: @DanHessinMD, @iffen
that this was the reason people were sent to the mountains or the Southwest for health reasons.
I thought that it was mainly to get away from areas with very high pollen counts.
“Italy and South Korea. Total coronavirus cases to date are virtually identical: 7375 and 7382. Average humidity in March: 60% (northern Italy), 70% in South Korea. ”
This is the wrong way to think about it. You have to calculate indoor humidity. This is probably why most people are not “getting” it.
You can see the Weather in February and March in Milan:
https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/it/peschiera-borromeo/LIML/date/2020-2
https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/it/peschiera-borromeo/LIML/date/2020-3
If you have a temperature of 44 F (7C) and 60% humidity outdoors, you have to convert that to an indoor humidity.
https://www.lenntech.com/calculators/humidity/relative-humidity.htm
Then you get an indoor humidity at 72 F (22C) / of just 23.6%, very dry actually.
The situation is similar in Korea and even more so. With temperatures averaging around 35F (2C) and an outdoor humidity of 50% in February, you end up with a humidity at 72F (22C) of only 14%. Bone dry and coronavirus spreads like crazy.
As for the difference in mortality between Italy and Korea, I would say that is down to testing.
South Korea is probably testing a lot more and getting more mild cases. Italy is probably testing only the sick. That’s why mortality looks higher in America than it really is.
The interesting thing is that the media has become so fundamentally dishonest that everyone is more or less left to sift through medical research and stats for themselves as armchair epidemiologists.
I see a lot of reasonably credible talk that certain ancestry groups (aka: races for the badthinkers) are more susceptible to the virus than others. Is this true? NO ONE CAN KNOW. Because true or not, even raising the question is counter narrative, so therefore the question cannot be asked and cannot be answered.
Is the Chinese government lying about its stats? NO ONE CAN KNOW. To raise that question implies maybe some badthink about inscrutable orientals or endemic corruption in their civilizations.
A lot of the panic is that we’re not allowed to even know some of the most important and basic facts about the situation and the disease.
You have to look at indoor humidity.
Seattle yesterday was 37 degrees with 83% humidity. Humid, right? Not indoors! That translates to 25% humidity at 72 degrees when you warm that air. So Seattle has been pretty dry indoors, which is what matters!
Is Singapore that different from Korea? Both are highly advanced, high-tech East Asian countries.
Somehow Singapore had few cases and no deaths while Korea had a bunch! Humidity is the difference I see.
Somehow Singapore had few cases and no deaths while Korea had a bunch! Humidity is the difference I see.Replies: @Weston Waroda
Please look at my comment in this article that I tried but somehow failed to connect to you, regarding the differential mortality rates in South Korea and Italy. It begins “Italy and South Korea.” Thanks.
“They aren’t even a thing anymore. They had them around a hundred years ago, before antibiotics basically took care of tuberculosis. I don’t think sanitariums in dry climes was ever scientifically shown to work.”
We just don’t call them sanitariums anymore. However, that’s not really the point. The point is that for TB there was a specific st of responses, warm climates was one of them. If that record is available might provide some data to support the claim.
Note: viruses reside and grown in the human body which is a fairly wet and warm environmentReplies: @Dutch Boy
Winter is a time of low sunlight exposure in northern and southern latitudes (in the tropics, it is the rainy season). Low exposure lowers average Vitamin D levels in the human body and vitamin D is critical to optimal immune function. Paul Craig Roberts recently posted an article from the Blaylock Wellness Report that emphasized optimizing Vitamin D levels to combat viral infections. Blaylock suggests a level of 65-75 ng/ml (other sources suggest 50-70 ng/ml). Vitamin D is particularly necessary to prevent the out-of-control inflammatory response (cytokine storm) that is frequently the actual cause of death from viral infections.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/0418-Blaylock.pdf