cold and flu Archives - Amazing Health Advances

2025: 6 Natural & Integrative Strategies to Prevent & Fight the Flu

The AHA! Team — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 05:12:29 +0000

Dr. Don Colbert – Understanding the Different Types of Influenza. There are four main types of influenza, but Influenza A and B are the most concerning for humans: ✔️ Influenza A – The most severe and capable of causing pandemics. Strains like H1N1 and H3N2 have led to major outbreaks. ✔️ Influenza B – Also responsible for seasonal flu, but does not cause pandemics. ✔️ Influenza C – Causes mild respiratory illness and is not a major health concern. ✔️ Influenza D – Primarily affects cattle and is not known to infect humans. 🔹 Dr. Colbert’s Take: The immune system is your best defense against any strain of the flu. He recommends boosting immunity naturally with a healthy diet, proper rest, hydration, and strategic supplementation. Why the Flu Changes Every Year You may have heard that the flu is “different every year.” This is because of: ✔️ Antigenic drift – Small genetic mutations in the flu virus that cause new variants to appear each year. This is why flu vaccines need to be updated annually. ✔️ Antigenic shift – A major, sudden change in the virus that can lead to a pandemic. 🔹 Dr. Colbert’s Take: Instead of relying solely on yearly flu shots, he suggests strengthening your body’s natural defenses with Vitamin D, zinc, and probiotics, which play a crucial role in immune function. What Makes Some Flu Strains Worse Than Others? Not all flu viruses are created equal. Some are far more severe due to: ✔️ Mutations – Some strains mutate in ways that make them more aggressive. ✔️ Immune response – Certain flu types trigger an intense immune reaction, leading to high fever, inflammation, and respiratory distress. ✔️ Lack of immunity – If a strain is new, most people have little to no immunity, allowing it to spread rapidly. 🔹 Dr. Colbert’s Take: A weak immune system increases the risk of complications. He recommends cutting back on sugar and processed foods, as they can suppress immune function for hours after consumption. How Contagious Is the Flu? The flu spreads easily through: ✔️ Respiratory droplets – Coughing, sneezing, and talking can spread the virus up to six feet. ✔️ Touching contaminated surfaces – The virus can survive for hours to days on objects. ✔️ Before symptoms appear – You can be contagious one day before symptoms start and up to seven days after. 🔹 Dr. Colbert’s Take: Avoid crowded places during flu season, and wash your hands frequently. He also recommends using natural antimicrobials like oregano oil and elderberry to help fight off viral invaders. How Long Does the Flu Virus Last on Surfaces? The flu virus can survive for different lengths of time depending on the surface: ✔️ Hard surfaces (doorknobs, light switches, countertops) – Up to 24–48 hours ✔️ Soft surfaces (clothing, fabric, tissues) – A few hours ✔️ Hands and skin – Minutes to hours 🔹 Dr. Colbert’s Take: Regularly disinfect surfaces in your home using natural antiviral agents like vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and essential oils such as tea tree and eucalyptus. How Do Most People Catch the Flu? The most common ways people get the flu include: ✔️ Direct contact with infected individuals – Being around someone who is sneezing or coughing. ✔️ Touching contaminated objects – Flu germs can linger on surfaces like shopping carts, door handles, and cell phones. ✔️ Poor hand hygiene – Touching your face (eyes, nose, mouth) after contact with contaminated objects. 🔹 Dr. Colbert’s Take: One of the simplest yet most effective flu prevention strategies is washing your hands often and keeping your immune system strong with nutrient-dense foods. What to Do When a Family Member Gets the Flu If someone in your home gets sick, take these steps to protect the rest of the family: ✔️ Isolate the sick person – Have them stay in a separate room if possible. ✔️ Use separate utensils and towels – Prevent cross-contamination. ✔️ Disinfect frequently touched areas – Doorknobs, remote controls, and countertops. ✔️ Encourage hydration and rest – Proper fluids and sleep help the body recover faster. ✔️ Wear a mask – If caring for a sick family member, a mask can help reduce exposure. 🔹 Dr. Colbert’s Take: Supporting the body’s natural recovery process is crucial. He recommends bone broth, herbal teas, and immune-boosting supplements like quercetin and vitamin C to speed up recovery. Conventional Approaches: Flu Shots and Antivirals While many doctors recommend annual flu shots, Dr. Colbert believes they are not a one-size-fits-all solution. If you choose the flu shot, ensure it is thimerosal-free to avoid mercury-based preservatives. Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is commonly prescribed to shorten flu duration but may cause side effects such as nausea and dizziness. Dr. Colbert encourages natural antiviral and immune-boosting strategies before resorting to medication. 6 Integrative and Natural Strategies to Strengthen the Immune System 1. Essential Vitamins Vitamin D3: Supports immune function; recommended dosage: 5,000 IU daily. Vitamin C: An antioxidant that combats oxidative stress; take 1,000-2,000 mg daily. Zinc: Antiviral properties that reduce flu symptoms; recommended intake: 25-50 mg daily. 2. Herbal and Natural Remedies Echinacea: Boosts immune response. Oregano Oil: A natural antimicrobial. Garlic: A potent antiviral that strengthens immunity. 3. Probiotics for Gut Health A strong immune system starts with gut health. Probiotics balance gut bacteria and enhance immunity. Consume fermented foods or take a high-quality probiotic supplement. Diet and Nutrition for Flu Prevention Diet plays a crucial role in immune support. Certain foods strengthen immunity, while others compromise it. 4. Foods to Avoid Refined Sugars: Weakens white blood cells, making infections more likely. Hydrogenated Fats: Increase inflammation and slow immune response. Excess Alcohol: Depletes immune-boosting nutrients like vitamin C and zinc. 5. Foods to Include Leafy Greens: Rich in vitamins and antioxidants for immune defense. Citrus Fruits: High in vitamin C, aiding in flu symptom reduction. Garlic and Onions: Contain natural antiviral and antimicrobial properties. Bone Broth: Supports gut health and provides key immune-enhancing amino acids. Green Supremefood: A nutrient-dense blend of greens, probiotics, and antioxidants for enhanced immunity. 6. Superfood Supplements for Immune Support Green Supremefood: Antioxidants, probiotics, and nutrients to fortify immunity. Immune Support Supplement: A blend of quercetin, zinc, and elderberry, vitamin c and vitamin d3. Nano-Glutathione: A powerful antioxidant for detoxification and immune resilience. Final Thoughts Instead of solely relying on flu shots and medications, strengthening your immune system naturally can make the difference in preparing your body’s natural defenses to ward off the flu. With nutrient-rich foods, strategic supplementation, and healthy lifestyle habits, you can defend and recover from the flu effectively. By taking an integrative approach, you can restore, rebuild, and renew your body’s defenses. After all, God designed our immune system with incredible capabilities—let’s support it the right way! To read the original article click here.

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Mild COVID-19 Disease May Trigger Long-Term Immunity

AHA Publisher — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 08:00:49 +0000

Sally Robertson, B.Sc. via News-Medical Net – Researchers in the United States have conducted a study showing that individuals who have recovered from mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) developed sustained protective immune memory against the causative agent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The team’s longitudinal analysis of recovered patients who had been mildly symptomatic found that these individuals had developed multifaceted SARS-CoV-2-specific immunological memory that was maintained for the duration of the study. As recently reported in the journal Cell, the participants developed SARS-CoV-2 specific immunoglobulin g (IgG) antibodies, neutralizing plasma, memory B cells, and memory T cells that persisted for at least three months. The team – from the University of Washington and Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle – also found that populations of virus-specific memory T and B cells expanded and exhibited protective antiviral functions. “Therefore, mild COVID-19 elicits memory lymphocytes that persist and display functional hallmarks of antiviral immunity,” said Marion Pepper (University of Washington School of Medicine) and colleagues. Establishing whether mild disease can induce persistent immune memory is vital Since the first cases of SARS-CoV-2 were identified in Wuhan, China, late last year (2019), the unprecedented spread of the COVID-19-pandemic has now led to 59.59 million cases of infection and caused more than 1.4 million deaths. The vast majority of infected individuals experience mildly symptomatic disease and do not require hospitalization. However, whether this mild disease can induce persistent immune memory that could protect against future reinfection and therefore reduce transmission is not yet known. “While a vaccine is needed to safely reach herd immunity against SARS-CoV-2, understanding if natural infection induces viral-specific immunological memory that could influence transmission and disease severity is critical to controlling this pandemic,” writes the team. The role the adaptive immune system plays in immune memory The adaptive immune system primarily mediates immunologic memory. Following viral infection, B cells and T cells bind to viral proteins, which triggers their expansion, differentiation, and secretion of effector molecules to combat the infection. Once the virus is cleared, most of these virus-specific effector cells die, but about 10% persists as memory cells that can produce a continuous supply of effector molecules. Strategically located dormant memory cells are also quickly reactivated in response to repeat infection and induce the same effector processes as those that occurred during the primary immune response. Following reinfection, pathogen-specific memory B cells (MBCs) differentiate into plasmablasts that secrete protective IgG antibodies. Reactivated memory T cells also proliferate, which can help to activate MBCs. In addition, the reactivated T cells secrete cytokines such as interferon-γ (IFN-γ) to stimulate the innate immune system and deliver cytolytic molecules that destroy infected cells. “These quantitatively and qualitatively enhanced virus-specific memory populations coordinate to quickly clear the virus, thereby preventing disease and reducing the chance of transmission,” said Pepper and colleagues. “It is therefore critical to assess the full cadre of SARS-CoV-2-specific immune memory responses to determine if mild infection induces a multilayered defense that lasts.” What did the researchers do? The team performed an analysis of SARS-CoV-2 specific immune responses at one month and three months following symptom onset among individuals who had recovered from mild COVID-19. The majority of participants developed SARS-CoV-2 -specific IgG antibodies, neutralizing antibodies, and memory B and T cells that persisted for at least three months. Three months following symptom onset, recovered individuals had formed an expanded arsenal of virus-specific memory cells that exhibited hallmarks of antiviral immunity. This included an increased population of pathogen-specific memory B cells (MBCs) that were capable of expressing neutralizing antibodies against the virus. “These data suggest that upon re-exposure to SARS-CoV-2, these individuals will have MBCs that can rapidly generate neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers and help control the infection,” say the researchers. Memory T cells also secreted cytokines and this cell population expanded upon antigen re-encounter. The number of CXCR5-expressing circulating T follicular helper cells (which can influence B cell activation) increased, as did the number of CXCR3-expressing CD4+ T memory cells and IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T cells. What are the implications of the study? “Together, these data demonstrate that all of the recovered individuals in our cohort formed a multifaceted defense, which suggests attenuated virus vaccines are likely to be similarly successful in eliciting a functional immune memory response,” write Pepper and colleagues. The team says that while further studies are needed to determine how long memory to SARS-CoV-2 infection lasts, the findings suggest that mild COVID-19 induces persistent, multifaceted immune memory. “These functional antiviral memory lymphocytes are poised for a coordinated response to SARS-CoV-2 re-exposure that could contribute to immunity and help to curtail the pandemic,” concludes the team. Journal reference: Pepper M, et al. Functional SARS-CoV-2-specific immune memory persists after mild COVID-19. Cell, 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.11.029, https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31565-8 To read the original article click here.

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Pfizer Says Early Data Signals COVID-19 Vaccine Is Effective

AHA Publisher — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 08:00:02 +0000

Associated Press via CBN News – Pfizer says an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots maybe 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, indicating the company is on track later this month to file an emergency use application with U.S. regulators. Monday’s announcement doesn’t mean a vaccine is imminent: This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the U.S. and five other countries. Pfizer Inc. did not provide any more details about those cases and cautioned the initial protection rate might change by the time the study ends. Even revealing such early data is highly unusual. “We’re in a position potentially to be able to offer some hope,” Dr. Bill Gruber, Pfizer’s senior vice president of clinical development, told The Associated Press. “We’re very encouraged.” Authorities have stressed it’s unlikely any vaccine will arrive much before the end of the year, and limited initial supplies will be rationed. The shots made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are among 10 possible vaccine candidates in late-stage testing around the world – four of them so far in huge studies in the U.S. Another U.S. company, Moderna Inc., also has said it hopes to be able to file an application with the Food and Drug Administration later this month. Volunteers in the final-stage studies, and the researchers, don’t know who received the real vaccine or a dummy shot. But a week after their second required dose, Pfizer’s study began counting the number who developed COVID-19 symptoms and were confirmed to have the coronavirus. Because the study hasn’t ended, Gruber couldn’t say how many in each group had infections. Doing the math, that would mean almost all the infections counted so far had to have occurred in people who got the dummy shots. Pfizer doesn’t plan to stop its study until it records 164 infections among all the volunteers, a number that the FDA has agreed is enough to tell how well the vaccine is working. The agency has made clear that any vaccine must be at least 50% effective. No participant so far has become severely ill, Gruber said. Nor could he provide a breakdown of how many of the infections had occurred in older people, who are at the highest risk from COVID-19. Participants were tested only if they developed symptoms, leaving unanswered whether vaccinated people could get infected but show no symptoms and unknowingly spread the virus. FDA has required that U.S. vaccine candidates be studied in at least 30,000 people. In addition to adequate numbers of older adults, those studies must also include other groups at high risk, including minorities and people with chronic health problems. And it told companies they must track half their participants for side effects for at least two months, the time period when problems typically crop up. Pfizer expects to reach that milestone later this month but said Monday no serious safety concerns have been reported. Because the pandemic is still raging, manufacturers hope to seek permission from governments around the world for emergency use of their vaccines while additional testing continues – allowing them to get to market faster than normal but raising concerns about how much scientists will know about the shots. The FDA’s scientific advisers last month said they worry that allowing emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine could damage confidence in the shots and make it harder to ever find out how well they really work. Those advisers said it’s critical these massive studies are allowed to run to completion. Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. To read the original article click here. For more articles from CBN News click here.

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14 Ways to Stay Healthy This Winter

AHA Publisher — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 07:00:52 +0000

Abigail Klein Leichman via Israel21c – Winter is on the way, and with it an increased risk of catching the flu, Covid-19 or a regular ol’ common cold. ISRAEL21c gathered expert advice on how to protect your health against the physical and emotional challenges we’re experiencing in this ongoing pandemic. Let’s begin with basics. According to the World Health Organization, Covid-19 spreads through contact with saliva, aerosol respiratory secretions or droplets released when an infected person coughs, sneezes, speaks or sings. The infectious particles can enter your mouth, nose or eyes, or you can pick them up from touching contaminated surfaces. “Keeping distance is important but if aerosols are in the room they stay there, so you need a mask over your nose and mouth — especially in a small room where people are talking,” says Rivka Abulafia-Lapid, a lecturer in virology and immunology at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School. She wears an N95 mask and changes it about once a day. She says disposable blue surgical masks protect you around 85 percent. (Metal oxide-embedded fabric masks like SonoMask claim about 99% effectiveness and are washable.) The other basic is frequent handwashing. Abulafia says you should also use a 70% alcohol hand gel. And now for our experts’ advice on nutrition, fitness and mental health. WHOLE FOODS AND SUPPLEMENTS Just as an engine needs the right fuel for peak functioning, your body needs the right food to keep the immune system purring properly. Dr. Barbara Cohen, an osteopathic and family physician in the Jerusalem area, offers pointers on diet and vitamin/mineral supplementation geared to protecting us from viruses. Supplement Cohen recommends 1,000 milligrams a day of vitamin C (buffered if you have acid reflux); 25-30 daily milligrams of zinc; 1,000 mg of quercetin, an anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting bioflavonoid; and a multivitamin if you’re not consistently eating a healthful diet. A recent Israeli study found a significant association of low vitamin D levels with the likelihood of Covid-19 infection. Cohen says that if a blood test reveals an ideal vitamin D range of 50 to 80, you do not need a supplement (too much D can damage kidneys). If your level is too low, take 1,000 to 5,000 international units daily depending on your numbers; discuss with your doctor. Fifteen daily minutes of exposing your arms and legs to the sun also boosts vitamin D, but don’t do this if you have fair skin or a predisposition to skin cancer. Finally, she recommends that people with compromised immunity or frequent illness consult an herbal medicine practitioner about taking astragalus to strengthen the immune system. 2. Avoid refined sugar and white flour “Sugar weakens immunity and is not good for your heart, pancreas or cholesterol level,” says Cohen. “You’re better off sweetening your food with raw honey, Grade A maple syrup, coconut sugar or pure date syrup [silan], but in moderation.” Choose slow-digesting whole grains over white flour. “Instead of pasta and bread, go with quinoa, barley, buckwheat, brown rice or whole oats.” According to Cohen, a typical meal should contain 4 ounces of protein, half a cup of healthful starch like sweet potatoes, squashes or whole grains, and unlimited vegetables. Adjust depending on your individual situation, for example if you are gluten sensitive. “Soups with beans, lentils or squash have vitamins, fiber and other minerals, which is good for the immune system and makes you full so you don’t overeat during the pandemic,” she adds. She recommends up to two tablespoons a day of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats such as olive, coconut, safflower or sunflower oil. Other healthy fats are nuts (except peanuts), avocado, tahini, hummus, and nut butters. “Oil can also be good for the immune system, rather than margarine or butter. Oils are important for cell function.” 3. Calm your nerves Relax your nervous system with practices such as hatha, restorative or yin yoga; qi gong or tai chi; deep breathing exercises; and guided meditation such as Tripura yoga for greater tranquility and better sleep. “You can find great classes on all of these practices on YouTube,” Cohen says. Cohen also recommends walking, swimming or using a stationary bike or treadmill. “Thirty minutes of exercise daily would be ideal.” FLEX YOUR MUSCLES Esther Lehman, a Wingate-certified fitness instructor, personal trainer and water aerobics instructor in the Jerusalem area, says being sedentary for too long – as many of us are during the pandemic — weakens muscles and the immune system. Not moving enough can cause joint problems and even blood clots, especially in the elderly. “Our muscles are naturally lazy,” Lehman says. “We don’t like to exert ourselves too much. But when the body is sedentary, we tend to develop problems we didn’t have beforehand, like back problems and posture and balance problems. We tend to slouch around.” She notes that the body quickly loses bone and muscle mass when we are sedentary, leading to osteoporosis and accumulation of fat. “The whole body composition tends to change for the worse during lockdown and we have to prevent that from happening.” Physical-fitness strategies 4. Stick to a walking timetable Designate times to get your legs moving — even if it’s just walking around the house every hour or so. If possible, take a brisk walk outdoors to give your heart and lungs a proper workout. “Walk 15 minutes from home and 15 minutes back,” suggests Lehman. “If you tell someone to remind you to get out for a walk, that helps. A walking buddy can be dangerous because if your buddy can’t go, you won’t go either. You have to make a pact that nothing will stop you.” She recommends walking somewhere away from cars and people so that you can take off your facemask and breathe in as much oxygen as possible. 5. Purchase basic fitness equipment “We don’t need a gym to stay fit,” says Lehman. “You can do an amazing workout at home using inexpensive equipment like a DynaBand, Ova ball and some hand and ankle weights you can buy at a store or online.” 6. Find a qualified instructor You may choose to work with a personal trainer remotely during the pandemic. Or you can find free routines posted by professional instructors on YouTube. “Just make sure the instructor has been certified by a well-known organization because amateurs tend not to have a balance in their workout,” cautions Lehman. 7. Vary your workouts Exercise your muscles two or three times a week, and do aerobic exercise four times a week, Lehman recommends. “Stretches every day are really important, too. When we are sedentary, our body starts developing fascia under the skin and that can become calcified and prevent a normal range of motion,” she says. ROUTINE = RESILIENCE Sharon Slater, a clinical psychologist and member of United Hatzalah’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit, specializes in counseling young adult women in Israel and abroad. She notes that a US Census Bureau quarterly survey released in June showed anxiety disorders had tripled, depression quadrupled and twice as many people had seriously considered suicide in the past 30 days compared to the same quarter in 2019. The hardest-hit populations: young adults, women and the poor. In a separate smaller poll, the Kaiser Family Foundation found in March that half of Americans surveyed are struggling with mental health due to Covid-19. “This is staggering,” says Slater, who doubled her clientele during the first lockdown. “And we need to take into account that the numbers are probably higher now.” Mental and physical health are tightly intertwined. When our emotional state is compromised by pandemic-associated anxieties — fear of illness, social isolation, financial and employment worries, loss of control, inability to predict when it will all end — we may be more vulnerable to illness. Slater says that anxiety in moderation keeps us doing responsible things that lower our risk of infection, like socially distancing and wearing masks. But too much anxiety can lead to a breakdown in everyday functioning. Mental-health resilience strategies 8. Routine, routine, routine “Create a routine that allows some amount of control over your daily schedule and your ability to predict what your weeks will look like,” Slater advises. Begin your day with a consistent structure, be it breakfast, meditation, prayer or exercise. Schedule time alone and with family and friends, as well as moments to recharge when no one is making demands on you. 9. Get up and get dressed “Get up in the morning even if you have nowhere to go. If you sleep till the afternoon, you’ll wake up feeling depressed. And get dressed even if nobody will see you. If you stay in pajamas, there’s no delineation between day and night.” 10. Choose energizing, challenging activities Rather than Netflix binge-watching, choose energizing activities such as mindfulness meditation, which gives your brain and body respite from worries and trains you to focus on the present. “Take up a new challenge,” Slater suggests. “One 11-year-old I worked with in Brazil taught herself Mandarin during the lockdown, and a 20-year-old client in Israel taught himself piano online.” 11. Exercise “Exercise is associated with improved mood. Think of it as medicine and take it regularly,” urges Slater. “A recent study showed that people who exercised during lockdown were less depressed and demonstrated greater mental resilience.” 12. Get adequate sleep “Lack of sleep is associated with depression and anxiety. Take advantage of the darker winter months and sleep seven and a half to nine hours per night. Studies show that healthy sleep habits help cardiovascular health and create a robust immune response.” 13. Go outside even if you don’t have to “I know a psychiatrist who recommends his depressed clients get at least 30 minutes of sunlight each day because it mitigates depression,” says Slater. 14. Reframe reality “Reframing experiences can free us psychologically. Using words like ‘challenging’ instead of ‘difficult’ helps us see things as an opportunity instead of a hardship. This affects how we process our feelings and the emotions we associate with them.” To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

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Expert Who Studies History of Epidemics: ‘Panic May Be the Worst Possible Response’

AHA Publisher — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 08:00:27 +0000

Virginia Tech via Newswise – A Virginia Tech professor who studies the history of international epidemics says the United States “should look to history for guidance on how to interpret news reports” about the spread of SARS-CoV-2, previously known as the 2019 novel coronavirus. “Our goal should be to deliver accurate information, convey appropriate levels of concern and encourage effective preventive measures,” E. Thomas Ewing wrote in The Washington Post today. Among other topics, Ewing studies the history of influenza epidemics; the history of information, knowledge, and data; and Russian and world history. Ewing calls on the public to be judicious about where they get their news, and to place what’s being reported in the proper context. “As consumers of media and as members of a community where collective decisions affect outcomes for individuals, we must learn to use historical examples to guide decisions about promoting good health,” Ewing wrote. In November 2019, Ewing wrote a similar piece in The Washington Post headlined “How the media can help fight the flu.” Published before the global community became aware of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Ewing wrote that “coverage should focus more on preventing common ailments and less on rare diseases, deaths and hysteria.” “While illnesses, ranging from the rare to fairly common, claim lives every day, we must understand these ailments in context. The media’s coverage of disease ought to be focused on what Americans can do to prevent the spread of communicable conditions, beginning each year with the flu. An emphasis on preventive measures, not the most tragic cases, will better help to contain any outbreaks, possibly decrease the number of deaths and certainly reinforce the public’s trust in expert guidance.” This article has been modified. To read the original article click here.

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Panicky Responses to the Coronavirus are Dangerous—Here’s Why

AHA Publisher — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 08:00:59 +0000

Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) via Newswise – The new coronavirus is still spreading rapidly, in and out of China. By January 31, barely a month after the new pathogen’s appearance on the world stage, already 62 countries had imposed restrictions on the entry of Chinese citizens. Newswise — Against the World Health Organization’s recommendations, China’s neighbors, including North Korea, Mongolia, and Russia rushed to close their land borders with China, while the United States and Australia have shut down all borders to Chinese arrivals. In Hong Kong, chief executive Carrie Lam’s decision not to fully shut the border with the mainland just gave another reason for the people to be angry at the government, as thousands of healthcare workers staged a strike to demand full border closure. Many countries evacuated their citizens from China. Airlines in Europe, North America, and Asia are cancelling their flights to the country. Italy (with only two confirmed cases) and the United States (with 11 confirmed cases as of February 3) have declared public health emergencies over the virus. Russia went as far as to indicate that it would deport foreigners infected with the virus. More are expected to follow suit in the coming days. The international responses make the urgent request from China’s U.N. ambassador for more medical supplies to help the country fight the virus look so pale and helpless. And on February 2, former Vice President Joe Biden criticized President Donald J. Trump’s response to the outbreak by saying, “This is no time for hysterical xenophobia and fearmongering.” To be fair, the rapid spread of the virus poses an immediate and present threat that justifies actions outside the normal bounds of political procedure. Emergency measures have helped mobilize political leadership and resources to address the challenges. But in the meantime, responses driven by fear may create many more problems than they could solve. First, they may complicate risk management by overestimating the danger of the coronavirus. The outbreak has hit the headlines, but the aggregate risk to human health may not be as high as all the attention would seem to indicate. As of February 13, more than 60,000 cases have been identified, including 1,370 deaths, almost all of which occurred in China. In contrast, as of January 18, the first few months of the flu season has witnessed 15 million cases of flu and 8,200 deaths worldwide. Yet it was the coronavirus that has elicited a high level of fear and panic. Such “dreaded risks,” according to author and global security expert Jessica Stern, reduces the ability of policymakers to make accurate trade-offs between mundane but widespread risks and those that are high-profile but not so common. Second, they may lead to unnecessary social distancing measures, fueling exclusionary and dehumanizing responses against certain population groups. In China, panic over the virus has led people to shun outsiders, especially those from Wuhan, which is believed to be ground zero for the virus. Internationally, the fear has triggered anti-Chinese sentiment in some Asian countries. Xenophobically treating sick or exposed people, as opposed to the virus, as the enemy only complicates the crisis. Third, effective public health policy must be built on trust, not fear. Fear and panic spawned by extraordinary government measures may have the unintended effect of creating a less cooperative society by encouraging people to shun public health workers or officials. In an era of internet and social media, the fear of the virus may spread faster than the virus itself, which only undermines effectiveness of government response. On January 23 alone, more than 300,000 people reportedly left Wuhan by train in the hours before the quarantine—announced at 2:00 a.m.—took effect at 10:00 a.m., increasing the possibility of disease spread. Those who stayed and developed flu-like symptoms then flooded the hospitals to seek medical assistance, completely overwhelming the city’s healthcare institutions. Fourth, responses informed by fear can cause huge damage to world economy. In order to minimize chances of getting infected, people would refrain from spending on current items, such as travelling or going to restaurants and theaters. Economic damage can be sustained because many measures instituted in the outbreak (e.g., cancelling flights or shutting down borders) tend to be “sticky” and not so easy to rescind. China, for example, did not lift its ban on pork product from Canada until November 2009, four months after the H1N1 swine flu activity declined in most countries. According to a World Bank estimate, 90 percent of economic losses during any disease outbreak are caused by “uncoordinated and irrational efforts of the public to avoid infection.” Finally, fear of an imminent threat provokes a competitive rush among governments worldwide to institute pharmaceutical or nonpharmaceutical countermeasures, making effective international collaboration difficult. The appeal to public health emergencies, for example, may relieve a country of any moral obligation to help other countries, especially those with low response capacities, which may in turn provide disincentives to those countries in supporting existing international health norms such as sharing disease information obliged by International Health Regulation Given the downside risks associated with the fear factor, it is imperative to ensure the revulsion invoked by the outbreak does not push us to undertake measures with unacceptable adverse impacts on public health, civil liberties, trade and economy. Rather than focus solely on emergency mobilization, it is equally important to emphasize prevention, precaution, and risk management by politically neutral professionals. Instead of provoking fear and panic, governments should provide the public with a more balanced picture of the nature and spread of the virus. Countries rolling out emergency measures are also advised to prepare an exit strategy that focuses on mitigation to minimize their potential damage to the economy and society. Equally important, the World Health Organization to should demonstrate its leadership in coordinating global response after declaring the Public Health Emergency of International Concern last week. To read the original article click here.

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