But the island’s only physician is still worried about an outbreak!!!
Coronavirus: Decoding Covid-19
The global tally for confirmed cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 climbed above 16.7 million on Wednesday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, and the death toll rose to 660,748.
At least 9.7 million people have recovered. The U.S. case tally climbed to 4.35 million and the death toll rose
to 149,258. A report from the White House Task Force created to manage the pandemic says 21 states are in
the “red zone,” meaning they have seen more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week.
[MAP: The Spread of Coronavirus]
Live tracker: How many coronavirus cases have been reported in each U.S. state?
Brazil is second to the U.S. with 2.5 million cases and 88,539 deaths. India is third measured
by cases at 1.5 million, followed by Russia with 827,455 and South Africa with 459,761. The U.K. has 302,295 cases and 45,963 fatalities, the highest in Europe and third highest in the world. China, where the illness was first reported late last year, has 86,990 cases, and 4,657 fatalities. But nobody has did it better in the free world then South Korea that has 14,251 cases and 300 fatalities, New Zealand having 1559 cases and 22 fatalities and a special mention to Greece with 3,279 cases and 203 fatalities from the European Union.
Greece Has an Elderly Population and a Fragile Economy.
How Has It Escaped the Worst of the Coronavirus So Far?
https://time.com/5824836/greece-coronavirus/
Some Countries Have Brought New Cases Down To Nearly Zero. How Did They Do It?
John Cabot University student Federica Romeo joins Arthel Neville to discuss her experience
with Italy’s coronavirus pandemic and plans to graduate this year. https://video.foxnews.com/v/6155532348001#sp=show-clips
This Vitamin Deficiency Linked to COVID-19 Risk.
Questions abound as a tiny Italian island has been mostly spared from the devastation
of COVID-19. Were people on Giglio Island perhaps infected but didn’t show symptoms?
Was it something genetic? Something else, or just plain luck?
A tiny island off the coast of Italy has researchers confounded after the coronavirus failed to spread amongst
its mostly elderly population. None of Giglio’s roughly 800 close-knit islanders said they developed COVID-19 symptoms, even though the conditions seemed favorable for the disease to spread like wildfire,
Residents of Giglio Island, located in the Arcipelago Toscano National Park off the western coast of Italy,
were terrified when they heard the news of the disease spreading through Italy and that two people were infected on the island, but the virus failed to infect the 800 or so year-round residents known to socialize in large group settings. The Gigliesi, as the residents are known, have socialized in the steep alleys near the port or on the granite steps serving as narrow streets in the hilltop Castle neighborhood, with densely packed homes built against the remnants of a fortress erected centuries ago to protect against pirates.
Dr. Armando Schiaffino, the island’s sole physician for around 40 years, shared worry about a potential local outbreak. “Every time an ordinary childhood illness, like scarlet fever, measles or chickenpox strikes, within a very few days practically all get” infected on Giglio, he said in an interview in his office near the port.
Paola Muti, a breast cancer researcher at the University of Milan, where she’s been an epidemiology professor, decided to try to find out why it wasn’t happening this time.
“Dr. Schiaffino came to me and told me, ‘Hey, look, Paola, this is incredible. In this full pandemic,
with all the cases that came to the island, nobody is sick.’ So I said to myself:
‘Right, here we can do a study, no? I am here,’” Muti said.
By then, Muti was trapped on the island by Italy’s strict lockdown rules. What was especially puzzling
to her was that many of the islanders had had close contact with visitors.
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Giglio’s first known COVID-19 case was a man in his 60s who arrived on Feb. 18 — a couple of days before Italy’s first “native case” would be diagnosed in the north. The man came to Giglio for a relative’s funeral,
and had been “coughing all the way” through the service, Muti said.
The virus is known to spread through droplets when someone coughs, sneezes or talks.
The man headed back to the mainland on the ferry the same day and
died three weeks later in a hospital.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
In the initial days of the outbreak, several infected tourists had visited Giglio Islands, but none of the Islanders were contracted with coronavirus. Interestingly, several people have now started claiming that seaweed food habits among the islanders could be one reason that might be helping people to stay away from coronavirus.
Even though there is no scientific evidence to back these claims, several people have started propagating
the vitality of including seaweed in the diet to combat coronavirus infection. According to the new study,
sulfated polysaccharides effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2.
However, scientists made it clear that it is a complicated mechanism that is making heparin
to inhibit coronavirus infection.
“It’s a very complicated mechanism that we quite frankly don’t know all the details about, but we’re getting more information. One thing that’s become clear with this study is that the larger the molecule, the better the fit. The more successful compounds are the larger sulfated polysaccharides that offer a greater number of sites on the molecules to trap the virus,” said Jonathan Dordick, the lead researcher and a professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who led the study in a recent statement.
On March 5, four days before the national lockdown was declared, three more visitors came from the mainland and would test positive on the island. One of them was a German man from northern Italy, the initial epicenter of Europe’s outbreak. He socialized for several days with longtime friends in Giglio, including in public eateries. After a week, due to a bad cough, he was tested on the island and the result was positive.
He self-isolated in a house in Giglio.
Of the islanders evaluated, just one was discovered to have antibodies, a senior Gigliese guy who had actually cruised on the exact same ferryboat to the island with the German visitor, Muti stated. Intrigued about why
“the virus didn’t seem to interact” with the island’s native population, Muti had not reached any conclusions by the time she was preparing to leave the island this month. She stated she prepared to write her
research study for ultimate publication.
It’s possible, Muti thought, that islanders weren’t exposed to sufficient COVID-19 to get contaminated.
That possibility was likewise voiced by Massimo Andreoni, head of contagious illness at Rome’s Tor Vergata healthcare facility. He kept in mind some clients were just less efficient in spreading out the illness for factors that were still uncertain. There were other known cases, including an islander who had lived in Australia for two years before slipping back onto Giglio in mid-March during lockdown to see his parents.
Three days after arriving on Giglio, he developed a mild fever and tested positive, Muti said.
He self-isolated at his parents’ home.
No other case has surfaced on Giglio, including since lockdown was lifted in early June,
and tourists from throughout Italy have been arriving.
for its incomparable Tranquility 🙂
Giglio is part of Tuscany, and its health office quickly sent over kits to test for antibodies to see if others may have had COVID-19. In late April, just before the first lockdown travel restrictions would be eased, the islanders had their blood tested, lining up outside the island’s school and doctor’s office. Giglio lies in pristine waters in a protected regional marine sanctuary, and the islanders voice relief that they live in a natural environment they like to think is good for health. Of the 800 or so year-round residents, 723 volunteered to be tested.
“We all wanted to do it, to be tranquil” about any possible infection, but also “to help science,” said Simone Madaro, who had been working at the cemetery while the infected man had gathered with fellow mourners.
The Rev. Lorenzo Pasquotti, the priest who conducted the service for around 50 mourners, and who himself was tested recalled: “After the funeral, there were greetings, hugging and kissing,” as is the custom.
Then came the procession to the cemetery, where “there were more hugs and kisses.”
Of the islanders tested, only one was found to have antibodies, an elderly Gigliese man who
had sailed on the same ferry to the island with the German visitor, Muti said. Intrigued about why
“the virus didn’t seem to interact” with the island’s native population, Muti hadn’t reached any conclusions
by the time she was preparing to leave the island this month.
She said she planned to write up her study for eventual publication.
It’s possible, Muti guessed, that islanders weren’t exposed to enough COVID-19 to get infected.
That possibility was also voiced by Massimo Andreoni, head of infectious diseases at Rome’s Tor Vergata hospital. He noted some patients were simply less capable of spreading the disease
for reasons that were still unclear.
Chance might have played a role, said Daniel Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London. “It could be something more or less trivial — nobody got infected because through good luck there was little contact,” he said in an email exchange. Or, Altmann also noted that “it could be something important and exotic,” such as a genetic variant common among the island’s population.
With many of the Gigliesi intermarrying through generations, Muti would like to do a genetic study
someday if she could obtain funding. Giglio lies in pristine waters in a protected regional marine sanctuary,
and the islanders voice relief that they live in a natural environment they like to think is good for health,
whatever Muti’s study might determine.
“As an island, as the environment goes, we’re OK, no?” said Domenico Pignatelli,
as the elderly man kept company with friends in chairs placed on a stony street atop Giglio.
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