A new study published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports has revealed that patients advised to engage in extended self-isolation (shielding) during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 were eight times more likely to get COVID-19 and five times more likely to die from it. Examining data on over 1.3 million people in Scotland, research led by the University of Glasgow found that shielding was of limited value in reducing the burden on health services because high-risk individuals remained at an increased risk of death. Bearing in mind ongoing concerns over the risks of COVID-19 vaccines, the study provides further evidence that current public health policies are failing to provide effective and safe solutions for patients.
The Scottish analysis covers the period between March and May 2020. Of the more than 1.3 million patients on whom data were examined, a total of 27,747 were labeled as high-risk and had been advised to shield. Over half of these people had severe respiratory disease. Others had conditions such cancer or severe heart disease, or they were receiving renal dialysis or treatments that suppressed the immune system. A further 353,085 patients were classified as being at moderate risk due to health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or chronic lung disease. The remaining 934,239 people were seen as low-risk.
Among the patients who were shielding there were 299 confirmed COVID-19 infections (1.1 percent of the group) and 140 deaths (0.51 percent of the group). The moderate risk group saw 1,859 infections (0.53 percent) and 803 deaths (0.23 percent) during the same period. In the group of patients considered low-risk there were 1,190 infections (0.13 percent) and 84 deaths (0.01 percent). Despite shielding, therefore, high-risk individuals remained at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection and death.
Shielding fails to achieve the goal of protecting health services
One of the major questions the researchers were seeking to resolve in this study concerned whether shielding helps prevent health services from becoming overwhelmed. Their findings clearly suggest that it doesn’t. Patients advised to shield experienced significantly higher rates of infection and death than those not advised to do so. Compared with the low-risk category, people in the shielded group were also a dramatic 18 times more likely to be hospitalized.
Discussing the results, the researchers say 21 percent of the patients advised to shield reported they were unable to comply. The reasons given included supporting other household members, caring for pets, avoiding domestic abuse, or undertaking essential chores. Many patients also reported difficulties practicing social distancing because they shared domestic facilities with others they were living with or had responsibilities as a caregiver.
A science-based alternative already exists
Further demonstrating the impracticality of expecting at-risk patients to remain in their homes for months at a time, the researchers estimated that to prevent at least 80 percent of deaths from COVID-19, a total of 28.8 percent of the general population would have had to shield. They note that such a policy is unlikely to be acceptable at a time when governments are under increasing pressure to avoid further lockdowns.
Fortunately, not only does a science-based alternative already exist, it also involves neither risky COVID-19 vaccines nor toxic pharmaceutical drugs. Instead, it takes advantage of cutting-edge scientific knowledge in the burgeoning field of micronutrient research and immunity. Leading the way, groundbreaking research carried out at the Dr. Rath Research Institute has shown that combining vitamin C with other natural compounds inhibits key mechanisms of coronavirus infection. In China, doctors have found that high-dose vitamin C greatly reduces mortality even in patients at the life-threatening stage of COVID-19. With Spanish doctors similarly showing that high-dose vitamin D cuts the risk of death from the virus by 60 percent, it is time for a ‘great reset’ of our healthcare systems and for outdated lockdown, quarantine, and shielding policies to become a thing of the past.