COVID Predictions: My 1st prediction is that we will have better medication to treat severe Covid. So far, it’s been extremely frustrating that we don’t have a great medication to treat patients with severe or critically ill COVID. We have dexamethasone, which helps to reduce mortality, but it’s far from a miracle drug. Many therapies just haven’t panned out—convalescent plasma, Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, and so on. But 2 drugs come to mind that I think will have a chance at improving mortality, which I’ll be talking about in upcoming videos. One of which is Ivermectin.
7 COVID Predictions
My 2nd prediction is that this will be the best flu season in decades. Masks, social distancing, hand-washing. These effectively minimize the spread of not just COVID but influenza and other respiratory viruses. And it seems to be more and more people have been getting the flu shot this year. And so far, the number of influenza cases, hospitalizations, and deaths??? I have not had a single patient with flu and don’t know of anyone personally how has had the flu. But we’ll have to wait for the official statistics to come out once flu season is over.
Mentioned Video:
How Doctors Can Predict Who Dies From COVID
URL: https://youtu.be/nqNxSRcIQPY
Prediction: Vitamin d deficiency will be much less prevalent in 2021 and beyond because everyone and their mother have taken vitamin D since the pandemic started. Many studies show that the people who do worse with COVID tend to be vitamin D deficient. How much of that is causation vs. correlation is still TBD. Regardless, it’s important not to be vitamin D deficient. And on a related note, I think this pandemic will result in more and more people taking their health more seriously.
Prediction: doctors will be able to predict with a high degree of accuracy which people with Covid will have severe disease. We already know the general risk factors for those at higher risk of having more severe COVID. Older age, male, medical co-morbidities like obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, Type A blood. Still, more and more studies are being done better to predict the severity of disease for a given individual. This takes into account specific lab measurements done when they have bloodwork at the time of hospitalization.
Prediction: Vaccine will remain effective against the new strain. The SARS-CoV-2 virus incurred some mutations, and as a result, formed a new strain of SARS-CoV2, called the B.1.1.7 variant. It was first identified in the UK, is basically everywhere globally, and has spread faster than its counterparts. The mutations that it has incurred slightly altered its spike protein. Given the importance of the spike protein in developing immunity, it’s fair to ask whether the vaccines will be less effective against this new variant of the B.1.1.7 variant.
Well, preliminary data from the UK suggests that the vaccines remain effective, and the US conducts its own studies. The CDC provides updates on its website for all known covid mutations and ongoing efforts to sequence and understands their implications. While SARS-CoV-2 is statistically expected to mutate every couple of weeks, most subsequent viral structure changes are minimal. Like HIV, some other viruses are way more likely to have meaningful mutations regularly, which is the big reason why an HIV vaccine has been so hard to develop.
Prediction: I am getting my second vaccination shot tomorrow, the one from Pfizer. My prediction is that my second shot will go smoothly, just like it did the first. Knock on wood (head). Even though side effects from the vaccine are more likely to occur in younger people (I’m 40, say what you will), and they are more likely to occur after the 2nd shot, overall, most people will not experience side effects other than a sore arm for a day or two. So hopefully, all goes well, and I think it will.
And based on the Pfizer vaccine study statistics published in NEJM, my confidence level will mirror that. So, 9/10. Related to this, I also predict that I will make a video on me getting the 2nd shot. But not just another video, a music video. 9/10.
Prediction: The pandemic will be over by fall. This mainly depends on the number of people who get the vaccine. We need probably 80% or so of the population to get it to reach herd immunity. This also means we still need to mask up and distance. But before we get to the end of the pandemic, we first have to get through the worst pandemic, which is January. People travel for the Holidays with indoor gatherings and parties because of the cold/dry air and the new strain that is more contagious. January is already bad and will only get worse.
This past week, we saw the crazy number of covid cases and deaths in my hospital, which is going on throughout the country.
Doctor Mike Hansen, MD
Internal Medicine | Pulmonary Disease | Critical Care Medicine
Please Subscribe to Doctor Mike Hansen YouTube Channel:
Click Here