| Good morning, everyone. I hope your Sunday's going well. Several people have asked me whether I'm worried about the coronavirus. I don't know. The numbers out of China probably aren't correct, and I doubt the situation is better than what they're telling everyone. The measures they're taking—quarantining 100 million or so citizens, placing hundreds of millions more on lockdown, recommending against social contact, and generally slowing the entire country to a halt—suggest the situation is serious. At the very least, they're treating it like it's serious so that the situation doesn't become extremely serious. These are good things. From what I've read, it can be contagious even when asymptomatic. It doesn't appear to be incredibly deadly for most people, but if enough people get it and a percentage of that require intensive care, I could see the health care system becoming overburdened. The virus seems to bind to the ACE2 receptors in the lungs—that's the primary mechanism of action. One study of 8 people suggested that ACE2 receptor density difffers by ethnicity and sex, with the lone Asian male having the highest ACE2 receptor density (and thus, presumably, the biggest vulnerability) and males having higher density than females. That's a very small sample size, though, and not enough to go on. Another study found that cigarette smoking was a major predictor of ACE2 receptor density. So, don't smoke. But you already knew that, didn't you? If the smoking connection holds up and is causal, then perhaps exposure to air particulate pollution has the same effect. Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, has pretty bad air quality. Smoking is also high. The folks living there might have been primed for the virus. If you don't smoke and you live in an area with good air quality, you might have better resistance—assuming this plays out as causal and real. It's all a big series of unknowns. Of theories and hypotheses. Tough to say. Frequent hand washing is smart, but it's already smart during flu season. Having a few weeks' supplies (food, water, essentials) is a good idea in case you have to hang out at home for whatever reason. I did see that coronaviruses (like many other viruses) sequester selenium from the host in order to weaken it and leave it open to further infection. That means eating your Brazil nuts, salmon, and shellfish is a good idea. Stay topped up on selenium. Maybe take a little extra vitamin C. It's a safe supplement, even at high doses, and has been shown to help against viruses. Let me know what you've been thinking about the coronavirus in Weekly Link Love's comment section. Are you worried? Alert? Being cautious, just in case? Or do you think it's all overblown? Take care, everyone. | 