Beating The Coronavirus

On one thing, I have been very clear. I am opposed to the mandated use of an ineffective facemask. This is not, as some like to claim, because I believe that the whole thing is a hoax, or there is no virus.

There is a virus. There have always been viruses, and this one seems to be not as bad as many of the others that have come around, but that won't make any difference to you if you're one of those for whom it is devastating.

I believe that more than half of what we hear about it is a lie, particularly the constant statistics, and that the whole thing is overblown for political purposes. I also believe that we will suddenly not be so concerned about it after the presidential election and that this will be attributed to everything but the fact that the coronavirus response has been a political ploy.

Nevertheless, there is a virus. I doubt that it came about through natural causes, and I wouldn't doubt that Dr. Fauci has had a hand in it, either personally or through the lab in Wuhan that he funded with US taxpayer dollars.

Still, there is a virus and, like the rest of you, I'd like to avoid getting really sick or dying from it. Unlike many of you, I don't believe that a strip of cloth across my mouth and nose is going to protect me or anyone else from it. Mask mandates serve a lot of purposes, but none of them are medical.

However, if wearing a mask makes you feel safe, I have no problem whatsoever with your wearing a mask. But, as I will insist on taking responsibility for my own health, I believe that the use of these masks is likely to do me more harm than good.

Even if they worked, do you really think you're going to be able to hide behind a mask for the rest of your life? I wouldn't want to live a life like that.

Oh, you say, you only need the mask when you're in a store or out among other people. You can take it off at home, where you spend most of your time. Well, although they refuse to make the logical connection, nearly everyone who has contracted the virus has contracted it at home, from someone in their family, from someone they invited into their home, or perhaps even from one of those packages you received from Amazon, on some mail that you opened, or on something that you bought in the grocery store.

If this virus is as virulent as they'd like you to believe, then you are going to come across it sooner or later.

Oh, I see. You only need to wear a mask until they develop a vaccine, right? Well, the Wuhan virus is a coronavirus, which is a common cold, and we've all heard that you can't cure a common cold. No doubt, they'll come up a string of vaccinations, and governors will pass edicts requiring that everyone come forth to be a guinea pig. But they have had vaccinations for the flu for a long time now, and these are typically only about 30% effective.

I'd rather not hide behind a mask, and particularly not behind one that I know to be useless. Instead, I'd rather be prepared to fight it when and if I do come across it. No, I'm not going to go out there and deliberately seek someone who has tested positive for it, and I take the same precautions that I do during flu season. I avoid large groups, which is pretty easy for me to do because I don't much like being in large groups, anyhow. Remembering the masker in the grocery store who took her precious mask off to talk to someone and placed it on top of the oranges in the produce section, I wash stuff before I eat it, and I wash my hands often.

I don't use disinfectant on everything because disinfectant also kills a lot of the good stuff, you know, and this could result in my getting very sick from something else. I probably disinfect more stuff now than I did before, but I don't obsess over it.

However, if the virus is as virulent as they claim, none of this is going to keep me safe. When, and if, I do make contact with the virus, I'd like to be able to fight it off, to be among the 98% of the population who has only minor systems or none at all. So, I try to eat sensibly.

I take Vitamin C, Vitamin D-3, and Elderberry capsules, to give my immune system a headstart. Eating more fresh fruit is better than taking Vitamin C, but fresh fruit requires more trips to the grocery store, so I use Vitamin C capsules as a supplement when I am unsure whether I am taking in enough natural Vitamin C. I live in Maine and the citrus that is available in our local supermarket tastes a little bit like cardboard, so I'm not sure that the stuff is loaded with Vitamin C. We throw more oranges away than we eat because they are either rotted or they are tasteless. Vitamin D-3 is better obtained from the sun so when I am able to get outdoors during the day, I don't take the D-3 capsules.

I also try to get exercise because that is also an important component of a healthy immune system.

Whether or not you believe that your mask is effective, you should consider that the virus might find its way to you anyhow. What if the FedEx man sneezes on the package he leaves at your door? What if someone who doesn't like the color of your skin does something disgusting to something that you are later going to eat or drink? What if someone in your store removed their mask and placed it on top of something that you later unknowingly bought. What if your mask actually did prevent the virus from getting to your mouth and nose, but you inadvertently touched the part of the mask where it now lives? What if those of us who are concerned that the virus might be deliberately spread in order to create a political climate favorable to their candidate or agenda are right?

There are a lot of ways in which a determined virus can find its way to you? What are you doing to enhance your ability to survive?

By the way, rather than a mask, have you considered a face shield? They look kind of dumb too, but a shield would be more effective in protecting you than a cloth mask would, since the mask does nothing to protect your eyes.

 

I agree with what you posted, Ken, and this is basically how both Bobby and I look at this whole thing, too. We have complied with all of the regulations, not because we are concerned about catching a virus, but because it makes other people feel better, and just because there are some places that we can’t go unless we do wear a face covering.
We are not sick, so we won’t give anybody anything (it is not contagious without symptoms), and we keep our immune system working great and seldom even get a cold.

Once President Trump is re-elected, this whole thing should go away, since it is mainly there to ruin our economy, and encourage mail-in voting. Most of the countries have long since opened everything back up, or not even closed down like we did.
As far as wearing a face covering, if that worked, then none of the Muslim women would ever have gotten sick, because their whole head is mostly covered, but the Islamic countries had an epidemic, just like every place else.

I have been wearing the mask-hat in my avatar when I go someplace where face covering is required; but since I am sure that we are going to have to do this until November, I ordered a set of the face shields to wear instead.
They are acceptable , and I think that I can breathe better (and see better) with one of those instead of trying to wear a mask anytime that I go out.

President Trump has now asked people to wear a mask, and I think that this is part of his plan. He has let the liberal doctors (like Fauci) go on and on about how important a mask is, and that we can only be safe to go anywhere if we are wearing one.
Now, if we are wearing a mask, and can go shopping and other places, there is no reason to have the mail-in voting; so by asking us all to wear a mask, either we have regular voting, or the doctors have to admit that the masks don’t do anything anyway.
So, I am prepared to do my part.

 

That is not relevant to this discussion. We're not doctors. We're not in operating rooms. We're not cutting people open. Besides, this thread is about beating the virus when you do eventually come across it. If it is half as virulent as they're telling us, do you really think you're going to be able to hide from it behind your mask? If someone were to sneeze or cough, are your eyes protected? Do you wash everything that comes into your house (groceries, mail, packages, and so on) down with a disinfectant and quarantine it for fourteen days? Does anyone ever knock on your door? Do you answer it wearing a mask? Does anyone else live in your house? A huge percentage of those who have become infected caught it in their own home, which should put to rest the idea of staying at home, except that, while they report it, their policies pretend that's not true. You are highly unlikely to catch the virus from someone who is not symptomatic, and they report that too, but enact policies that ignore it.

This isn't a mask thread. I mentioned masks only to illustrate that they are not going to keep the virus from you if there's any truth to the scary news at all. This thread is about what you are - or can be - doing to enhance the likelihood that you will be among the 98% of those who don't get sick from it, or have only minor symptoms. There are other threads here where you can make your wear-a-mask-or-we're-all-gonna-die arguments.

 

My point is that either this virus is not nearly as infectious as they say it is, or you're going to come into contact with it sooner or later, regardless of the apparel you might wear to the grocery store. What are you doing do increase your chances of being among the vast majority of people who don't get sick from it, who have only minor symptoms or, at the very least, to survive it? What else can be done?

 

Because we can follow the example of other viruses. Viruses have characteristics in common, which is what differentiates them from, let's say, a bacteria.

 

This is the same thing as the seasonal corona virus that we call the “flu”. People who have a compromised immune system, or serious health problems should take precautions during flu season.
We take a bucket full of vitamins and minerals every day, we go out in the sunshine , we exercise, and mostly eat foods that are helpful for the immune system, and not friendly to viruses or bacteria.
Neither of us have ever gotten the flu shot, and we don’t get the flu. The VA forced Bobby to get a pneumonia vaccine, and very soon afterwards, he was sick with pneumonia.

Since I have a bad heart and lungs, I know that if I do get sick, and it was severe enough to make me sick, then I might end up being pretty sick for a while , as my body fights it off. But because I do have a good immune system, and seldom get sick; I am not worried about being out or around people who might have corona virus.

 

When I got the flu two or three years ago, we had visited with friends up north. A couple of their kids had the sniffles, and I was concerned about that at the time because I don't enjoy being sick, but we had traveled a couple of hundred miles to see them and they were letting us stay free at a bed and breakfast they ran, which is near our camp, so the visit was the appropriate thing to do. I distanced myself from the kids as best I could without being obvious about it, but my wife was playing games with them. Sure enough, the next day, my wife got the sniffles, a sore throat, and then the flu. I caught it, probably from her, about a week later. I didn't see a doctor but Michelle had, and she was diagnosed with the flu. The kids were later diagnosed with the flu and, by then, most everyone else in their family had caught it.

It's a little annoying to get comments that suggest that, because I am opposed to wearing a dumbass mask, that I don't believe there is a virus, or that it could come here. Of course, there's a virus. There have always been viruses, and this is just another one of them, seemingly (despite the hype) not as virulent or as dangerous as the seasonal flu, but there is a virus. It's hard to determine how dangerous it might be because nearly everything we hear about it is a lie or a huge exaggeration, and I can't help but think that if it was really so dangerous, they wouldn't have to lie about it so much.

Still, there is a virus. Just because I know that a stupid mask isn't going to help, and could potentially do more harm than good, it doesn't necessarily follow that I don't believe there's a virus. I recognize that I could suffer a head injury from an auto accident, yet I don't wear a helmet when I drive my car. If I had a motorcycle, I would probably wear one then, just as I would wear a mask if I were still transporting sick people to the hospital in an ambulance, but I'm not going to wear one to the grocery store. I won't go out of my way to go out and find this virus, but I realize that I might come across it one day, and I want to be among the majority who will slide through it without a serious problem. Thus, I do what I know how to do to build up my immune system, but I want to do so without overdoing it with the supplements, which can be a problem in itself. Does anyone have anything to add to that?