There’s a lot of fear in the air about C-19 variants, the most dreaded of which is the so-called B117. Research in the UK is useful although far from definitive. It appears B117 is slightly more likely to kill people over 65 but not a lot. Numbers quoted recently bump the death rate for this group from one percent per 100,000 patients to perhaps 1.3 percent. So how do you catch B117? It seems as if doing the same sensible things you’d do to avoid the original version works pretty well against B117. The variant doesn’t hide under your bed or chase you down the street. Keep your distance and wear a mask.
It helps to be healthy
There’s emerging evidence that it’s important to build an immunity system by taking Vitamin D every day. The Sunshine Vitamin isn’t a vaccine sadly but there is tentative evidence that if you use it consistently your immunity to catching all kinds of things, including C-19, improves. There is also limited evidence that strong immunity will help you avoid the worst symptoms of C-19 if you do catch it.
Wonky C-19 numbers in Toronto?
Sunday’s new cases count in Ontario is 981 for the 24-hour period ending at midnight. That’s an encouraging number although questions have been raised about the accuracy of numbers from the Toronto Board of Health. But it is vague. As reported by the Ministry of Health there were 122 new cases in Toronto compared to 433 cases Saturday. And there continues to be deep concern among doctors about re-opening for normal business as the province remains largely unvaccinated.