Scientists have discovered you can cut the risk of harm from COVID-19 to you and your loved ones almost in half by increasing your vitamin D3 levels.

On March 1 in the entire United States there were 30 reported cases of the COVID-19 virus [1] and no deaths. That was only about 4 months ago. You can see this on-line at the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 dashboard https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map [2].

According to that dashboard America now has over 3.3 million people infected, and the number infected has been doubling about every 23 days since early April!

Take a moment and digest that.

About three weeks ago we had 1,650,000 infected fellow citizens, now we have 3,300,000. Around August 1 or so it will be 6,600,000. By the third week in August it will be around 13,200,000. At this rate by Labor Day weekend 26,400,000 will be infected.

Unless we take action, somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas our entire population of three hundred and twenty eight million citizens stand a good chance of being infected.

Remember – even the most optimistic health officials say it will be early to mid 2021 before a vaccination may be ready.

This is so overwhelming that it is hard to think about.

In the past 4 months, doctors have learned a lot, and have begun to discover new reasons some people are more likely to catch the virus. They have also uncovered new ways to treat it which is lowering the death rate.

One of the things that they have learned is that if you do not have enough vitamin D3 in your body, your chances of becoming sick or dying increases quite a bit – in part because low Vitamin D3 makes your other illnesses like heart disease or lung issues worse.

There is a growing body of research on this topic. For example, The University of Cincinnati Health System studied 689 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 13 and May 31, and found to their surprise that low vitamin D3 was an additional risk factor adding to previously know things like heart disease and diabetes, and actually made many other diseases
people already had worse. [3]

A second study was done in Israel. It reviewed 7,807 people who had been tested for COVID-19 during February 1 – April 30 of 2020. One in ten tested had the disease. The infected people had vitamin D3 levels significantly lower than the non-infected people [4] .

Between now and Thanksgiving this disease is going to challenge both the health and economy of our community, our State, and our Country. We have to take individual action for our collective good.

In addition to wearing face masks, keeping social distance of 6 feet from others you do not live with, and washing your hands frequently, here are two things you can do to help slow down this catastrophe until we get a vaccination:

1) Go outside at least half an hour every day so you get sunlight on your skin. Take your family members with you. This raises everyone’s vitamin D level quite a bit. Failure to spend time outside is one of the reasons that older folks get the virus more than younger folks.
2) Take vitamin D3 pills – about 1,000 IU daily is the recommended dose [5] , [6] . Your doctor can order a blood test to see if you need more, and depending on your other health conditions may suggest higher levels – but do not take much higher levels without doctor’s guidance, because too much can do more harm than good, and really high levels can make you quite sick.

The bottom line is that our country is headed for an unimaginable healthcare and economic crisis that will require everyone to come together to take care of each other. We are not powerless – but we do need to take personal responsibility for our health, and the health of others. It is once again time to “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”.

Every fact stated in this article comes from a reliable primary source. You can see all sources by going to the website www.Theoptimisticfuturist.org, where you will find this article with the sources of the facts.

About the Author: Francis Koster Ed.D. did his graduate work with a focus on threats to the basic life support systems of air, water, food, and fuel. He spent the majority of his career in one of the nations largest pediatric healthcare systems.

[1] https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map
[2] https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov
[3] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.25.20137323v2
[4] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.01.20144329v1
[5] https://health.gov/our-work/food-nutrition/2015-2020-dietary-guidelines/guidelines/appendix-7/
[6] https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/