Maple Ridge Naturopathic Clinic

Some very positive findings from states that have eased lock down. We have to keep monitoring, but this is encouraging. "To examine whether the spread of COVID-19 may have been affected by the easing of social distancing restrictions, ABC News looked at the first 21 states to ease restrictions. ABC News looked at data from the following states: South Carolina, Montana, Georgia, Mississippi, South Dakota, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Tex...as, Utah, Wyoming, Kansas, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio. Analyzing seven-day averages, there were no major increases in hospitalizations, deaths or percentage of people testing positive in any of the 21 states. However, there are some changes that bear watching to see if they become more extended trends."

We need transparency around the policies and government practices that affect our elder population. Cuomo has generally been praised for his handling of the crisis in New York, but really needs to correct his policies around nursing homes. Our most vulnerable populations need to have confidence that governments have their best interest as a priority, not political expedience.

Caring for our most vulnerable populations is not only the smart way out of lock down, its also the moral thing to do as a society. Obviously its a complex issue, but its one we as a society need to get right. How do you think we can support those most at risk during this crisis?

We need to talk about how we treat our elders. With news out of Ontario of dismal conditions in extended care homes and the burgeoning science around percentages of overall COVID deaths coming from these facilities, we are in desperate need of better policies to protect these people. How do you think we can best protect our elders?

This is a super interesting study. One of the things we need to do moving forward is to be able to accurately predict hot spots. It turns out the answers to wh...ere hot spots are could be in our poop. This makes sense because COVID attacks our ACE2 receptors and our gut is lined with them. The correlation between finding COVID in our poop and a increase of hospital admissions is staggering, one might even say predictive. This could really help us be far more effective and targeted in strategies for easing lockdown. I know its not sexy, but this shit is exciting. https://www.medrxiv.org//10/2020.05.19.20105999v1.full.pdf

Changing your mind in the face of new evidence, data and modelling is the sign that you are learning. If the advice changes because of new knowledge that is a good thing.

Dialogue is the way forward. The conversation around how we move forward has become politicized and tribal, which serves no one. Thankfully we have some voices of reason, like Dr David Katz, who can acknowledge the validity of multiple perspectives and point us in a logical direction. Total harm minimization is his approach and it comes from a lifetime of study and careful consideration. Its time to grow up, acknowledge the truth of all perspectives and put our world back together.

More good news. More studies are showing evidence for longer term immunity. This one is particularly interesting to me because its suggesting a more comprehensive response by the immune system. Its looking like the immune system doesnt just mount and antibody response to CV, it also mounts a T cell response.

A short review of some of the recent science around pathology and immunity as well as some simple suggestions to keep in mind as we ease from lockdown.

BC opened up its Provincial Parks again today. Im so happy that this freedom has been restored. For me, nature is essential. It helps me gain perspective and... teaches me things. I so appreciate the capacity of natural beauty to calm my mind. Today, it served up a lesson I wasnt expecting. As I walked through the forest, I began to notice just how ubiquitous life and death are in nature. I saw young trees confidently reaching for the sky. I saw older trees valiantly waging a war of survival against invasive moss and fungi. And I saw trees that had succumbed to those life forms, only to become food for future generations. It seems to me that nature has already figured out all the big questions, I mean its only had an eternity to do it. I hope we can have the wisdom, in our current time, to look to nature to help answer some of our own big questions. Quiet your mind. Nature whispers truth to those who would listen. See more

Some ideas of navigating conspiracy theories, the authoritative narrative and getting closer to truth.

Their has been lots of encouraging science released lately. Here is a brief overview of some of the findings and what they may mean.

A major tenet of science is that results should be repeatable. We are getting repeated results with respect to the fatality rates of COVID. Professor Hendrik Streek is a epidemiologist and virologist from the University of Bonn in Germany. He is the lead author of a recent study confirming previous studies showing that the Coronavirus is far more common than originally thought, but also far less fatal. I really appreciate his balanced analysis.

I found this a great article. We have lots of perspectives to weight at the moment. Whether youre more Giesecke or Ferguson, its time to stop pretending that... our response to this threat is simply a scientific question, or even an easy moral choice between right and wrong. Its a question of what sort of world we want to live in, and at what cost. See more

This video might the best explanation yet as to what we are seeing with Coronavirus. You dont need to follow all the scientific details to understand the gist of what he is going through. Ill try to translate in lay terms for you; COVID attacks a receptor within the body called ACE 2. These receptors are many places but notably in the lungs and in the cardiovascular system. If COVID gets into the cardiovascular system, it can become much more serious because in attacking t...he ACE 2 receptor on the blood vessel it creates a pro-inflammatory oxidative stress that can liberate huge amounts of a blood clotting factor. Its this huge liberation of this blood clotting factor that is most likely killing people. This is very interesting to me because it suggests many avenues of treatment. Lots of things can reduce inflammation. Lots of things can help reduce clotting. Lots of things can act as an anti-oxidant. Lots of things can help your immune system. Also, the people that are most at risk are the people where these variables are most problematic. Namely elderly folks with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and overweight. This could really help us identify whose most at risk and also get a lot more targeted with treatment. And if we can do that, maybe we can navigate opening up our world again with more confidence. Ill keep digging.

Science is getting closer to the mystery of what Coronavirus does to your blood. The best evidence is now confirming that it creates an inflammatory induced coagulation (or clotting) disorder. This is probably why Docs are seeing the characteristic pneumonia pattern and multi organ failure in severe cases. Knowing this is really important, because it can help us treat way better. It also might explain why the therapy of Vitamin C and blood thinner is looking promising. The...re are several ways that natural therapies can keep inflammation low and reduce the tendency of your blood to clot. Ill be posting more in the near future. Stay healthy everyone! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32339221

Hey look, a journalist that actually wants journalists to do journalism.

One of the basic tenets of science is extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Neil Ferguson is the epidemiologist behind the now infamous Imperia...l College of London predictive model that has been highly influential in setting public policy for much of the world. Some scientists are saying his report has already been the most influential paper ever produced in history, due to its impact on our world. When something has this much impact we need to ask questions like these. I have several of my own questions, like; Why have the Imperial College report findings continued to have so much influence on policy even when other world renown epidemiologists have questioned so many of the attributes of the report? Why have his views received preferential status in the minds of policy makers? How do we course correct if a consensus of experts suggests a wiser way forward? I wish we had answers for these questions.

Dr David Katz was a creator of the Yale Medical school division of public health and literally wrote the textbook on epidemiology. His Total Harm Minimization approach most closely aligns with my own view of what we need to do moving forward. There are lots of great points to this interview, but one of the main ones that stuck out for me was the idea that COVID has made chronic diseases acute. Meaning that the folks who are most susceptible to COVID are the people with ...chronic disease. They both then go on to discuss the logical next step, namely letting this experience be a wake up call for those with chronic disease to address their health in a more curative less suppressive way. This is where naturopathic medicine can really help. We are experts in helping people address the chronic underlying conditions not through medicines that suppress the symptoms of disease, but through teaching people how to build up and support their own physiology in an individualized way. My hope is that this can be a wake up call for people. And Im ready to help for those who care to make that journey. See more

A good review of the potential of Vitamin C in reducing the cytokines storm in COVID.

In this video I briefly touch on the emerging data, make some announcements around urgent patient care and discuss a very cool little tool that can help us all navigate this crisis with a little more certainty.

More doctors are paying attention to the updated science.

"We want to act as fast as possible but as slowly as necessary,"

"Homology between human and viral proteins is an established factor in viral- or vaccine-induced autoimmunity. Failure of SARS and MERS vaccines in animal trials involved pathogenesis consistent with an immunological priming that could involve autoimmunity in lung tissues due to previous exposure to the SARS and MERS spike protein. Exposure pathogenesis to SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 likely will lead to similar outcomes" Translation... Its probably going to be really hard to make ...a safe and effective Coronavirus vaccine. When researchers have tried in the past (with SARS and MERS) there were lots of deaths in animals models due to "immunological priming" which ramped up the immune system in the wrong way. They are probably going to have to invent a new type of vaccine to get the job done, which could lead to more questions of safety. The good news is that we are gaining more certainty that our own immune systems provide immunity. And due to the likely prolonged wait time on a vaccine, the recent information of much reduced fatality rates and the fact that a much greater percentage of the population already has had the infection, it would seem that natural herd immunity is our best option. That means we all need to up our game and accept the responsibility of optimizing the function of our immune system.

My only beef with this article is the use of the word experimental. The protocol they are using is a slight variation of the Marik Protocol in which large doses of Vitamin C are combined with hydrocortisone and a blood thinner for major sepsis. And while being off label for the specific use of COVID, it has a great history of being very safe and very effective. Ill be looking for the results from their study with great anticipation. Combining those results with the already positive results of using IV Vitamin C alone (see the reports from China Ive posted) means that we may have a more reliable set of tools on the road to creating natural herd immunity in the population as a whole.

We are seeing a collision between science and politics. And it aint pretty. Society needs transparency over organizations with as much power as the WHO. We need to be able to criticize the WHOs predictive models and close ties with China. And to hear their response.

This is a pretty good overview of how the science has changed concerning Coronavirus. It also summarizes much of the research Ive been doing recently. I know it might sound scary, but the research is pointing to opening up our societies again for several reasons. One, a Coronavirus vaccine is an inherently difficult type of vaccine to make and is a long way off. Also, Coronavirus is nowhere near as fatal to the general population as originally anticipated. That means our ...best defense is to achieve herd immunity through allowing enough people with strong immune systems to create immunity. And second, we are at great risk of creating a series of larger problems than the virus itself by continuing the lockdown. I am not an economist, but the ones Ive read have suggested that we are already in a worldwide depression. And poverty translates into lost lives, potentially at a much higher rate than COVID. But to be clear... Opening up society does not mean going back to normal. It means being as smart and effective as we can to protect the vulnerable populations. Being incredibly diligent with testing, detection and acting swiftly if the need arises. And as always, being good scientists by questioning assumptions and allowing the best data to guide our course. See more

I did a podcast! Its a pretty good overview of some of my thoughts around what we are all experiencing right now. Hope you have a chance to have a look.

A short breakdown of what some of the different values you may have been hearing about actually mean. Please note, the numbers they are using in this video are not the actual numbers.

Dr David Katz is a founder of the school of public health at Yale university. He literally wrote the textbook on epidemiology. I really like his total harm minimization approach to looking at this crisis.

Dr John Ioannidis is a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics from Stanford Medical School. Here he is describing the results of his recent work on COVID serology.

This is a fascinating interview with the former Chief Scientist of the European Center for Disease Control.

More good news. It turns out the best info around the PCR testing is also suggesting a much lower fatality rate than originally estimated. Combining this information with the information around antibody rates from the Nature article is showing a clear pattern.

This is an opinion piece. It talks about the potential costs of our interventions for the Coronavirus. The numbers in this piece may or may not come to be, but they are based on lots of observation and data. One could argue that we have more certainty associated with these numbers than we do with the predictive models that are currently guiding our policy around Coronavirus. It is my humble opinion that we need to take a more wholistic perspective in our approach to this crisis.

Evidence is mounting that a much larger percentage of the population has already been infected with the Coronavirus than originally thought. Perhaps as many as 50 times the number of confirmed cases. This is important for many reasons. One, its suggesting that most people wont even register a Coronavirus infection as something they even notice. But its also important because it helps us get more accurate information around fatality rates. And more accurate statistics like this can help us make better policy decisions.

COVID is serious and needs to be taken as such. It targets an elderly population with preexisting conditions and society needs to do its best at protecting the...se people. But questioning the strategies of targeting COVID should not be taboo. Because what if more people die from the treatment than the disease? See more