Tag Archives: Tehran

COVID-19: Air quality is a major factor, if not the principal cause of death

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

The latest statistics on the mortality resulting  in occasions of COVID-19 infection are proving the hype is hype: that is, there is now no statistical reason to consider the Wuhan Virus any reasonable cause of mortality. This is a bold claim, but I will prove it with proven statistics.

As we all know, inasmuch as a virus is a organic organism — it is not living, because it cannot reproduce of itself, it only multiplies by causing the disintegration of living cells — the mechanisms for infection and mortality should be the same in all members of the same species accross the globe. This is because each species of animal has the same body temperatures and genetic make up.

Yes, in human beings, there are some genetic variations by race which might contribute to having an advantage to surviving an infectious disease: genes for the immune system, for example.  Of these, those ethnic groups outside of sub-saharan Africa have 60-70 more genes and thus are less likely to succumb. Ebola was a perfect example. Few victims have every been of those races.

But for Coronavirus the statistics tell a different picture.  Infection rates from the most reliable sources per nation are telling a different story. Let’s take a look at the worse cases: those nations with the highest claimed rates of infection per million:

978     ITALY
1665   ICELAND
1462   ANDORRA

What do all those nations have in common? The ones in blue are tiny countries, so it could be argued that the numbers of total citizens are too low to be statistically accurate, or since they are so small, the concentration of persons are extremely high. But that does not explain Switzerland and Iceland or even Luxembourg. Italy’s cases are nearly all in Northern Italy.

What they all have in common, excluding Vatican City, is that they are mountainous regions with frigid air or regions with heavy fog humidity in the Winter and Spring.

But such climates heavily tax the lungs and health of patients. That is why there is normally a higher mortality among the weak in January to March each year.

But to see how much climate might be the principal factor in your chances of contracting the Wuhan Virus, let us look at large nations with large populations:

China has 56 infections per million. Though clearly that statistic is meaningless because only the province of Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital, is heavily infected. Hubeai province has 58.5 million persons according to a 2015 estimate, and that represents 4.2% of the population. So the real infection rate of Hubei province is probably more like 1300. Wuhan has lots of pollution in the air. Its air quality today was 127 compared to Hong Kong which was 50. A quality of 127 is considered unhealthy, according to Aqicn.org, which reports live air quality statistics for cities round the world.

Spain has 640 infections per million. In the winter, the air in Spain is generally very damp, due to the storms which blow in off the Atlantic Ocean. Most of Spain is also at high altitude.

Germany has 312 infections per million. In the winter the air in Germany is damp, though most of the country is not at high altitude, the Germans have the custom of opening the windows of their homes for a hour or more each day, even in winter. They believe fresh air is good for the health.

Iran has 258 infections per million. But this statistic is not reliable, because nearly all the infections have been in the capital, Tehran, which has only 8.649 million people, whereas Iran has 80.28 million. Both these statistics are for 2016.  That means that the rate of infection for Tehran is more like 2,400 per million.  Tehran has lousy weather in the winter, with humidity levels on average over 50% for the entire winter. But smog is worse, giving Tehran one of the worst ratings for air quality in all the world (source).

While these statistics are not entirely determinative — due to the fact that it may be that the virus spread to these places before others — nevertheless they raise serious questions whether those who are alleged to be dying from the Wuhan Virus are in fact dying from respiratory stress from a variety of causes, especially climate or air quality, of which only the Wuhan Virus is being faulted for political reasons.

For the latest statistics on the Wuhan Virus around the globe, see Worldometers.Info, from which the stats on infection rates have been taken for this article.

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