Now that the COVID-19 has spread all over the world, people from every corner have already heard about it. Media has been busy sharing the progress of the virus & some professionals have been explaining correct information. Unfortunately, not every piece of news is correct; so, keep your eyes open and know the source.

COVID-19: How to keep your Lungs & Throat Clean and Clear as a preventive measure?

Now we reach one important factor that I believe is essential to be handled in the case of COVID-19. This virus is a new powerful virus that enters through your throat and targets your lungs. So, people with existing lung problems will be affected very negatively. Also, those who smoke have a higher risk of severe complications, if they catch the virus.

Your lungs are essential: they give you life. They bring oxygen to your blood and entire body. When viruses and certain particles enter your throat and lungs, they irritate the airways leading to a higher production of mucous. When you cough, you are coughing out the excess mucous mixed with other elements like viruses and bacteria. When the mucous becomes very thick, you may experience a disturbing heavy cough and some shortness of breath. 

You body can produce excess mucous when you have acid reflux, allergies, asthma, infections like cold, lung diseases, a dry indoor environment, smoking and dehydration.

Keeping your throat and lungs clear and clean is very important. These are simple  ways to help achieve this goal, at home.

1- Warm Salt Water for the Mouth

Gargle with warm salt water to clear the mucous that accumulated at the back of your throat. 

2- Avoid Dry Air

Make sure the air at your home is not dry. Use Humidifiers if needed.

3- Drink Water

Drink enough water and juices to prevent any dehydration

4- No for Smoking

Stop smoking! This includes cigarettes, cigars and Hookah/Chicha.

5- Avoid Irritants

Avoid perfumes, chemicals, detergents and irritants.

6- Never Suppress a Cough

When you feel you need to cough, cough! This is how your body is expelling everything that should not be in the lungs and respiratory tract.

7- Herbs and Spices

Since this is a pro-lungs virus, it is wise to know about some naturopathic herbs to keep your lungs clean and clear. This is a list of lung-cleansing herbs:

1. Thyme and Oregano: It strengthens the respiratory passages
2. Peppermint: it helps fight off infections of the respiratory tract. It also helps widening the airways and clearing the mucous. 
3. Eucalyptus: it helps your body get rid of the accumulated mucous by loosing it and making it easily expelled.
4. Chamomile Tea: it reduces the inflammation of the respiratory tract and helps the body expel excess mucous preventing its accumulation. Make yourself a chamomile infusion tea with a small spoon of honey.
5. Sage: it is an expectorant that helps you expel mucous from the entire respiratory tract.
6. Licorice root: it helps the body produce healthy mucous that will transport infections out of the body when coughed out.
7. Marshmallow root: it is an anti-inflammatory. It tames down the inflamed passages in your respiratory tract, calming it down.
8. Green tea: It is an antimicrobial and expectorant. So, it helps the body expel excess mucous from its respiratory passages.
9. Fennel: It is an expectorant and an antispasmodic that can help expel the mucous from your chest.

8- Food and your Lungs

1. Garlic: it contains anti-inflammatory agents that can improve your breathing. Eating it raw gives better results than when cooked. 
2. Apples: they are high in flavonoids and can help keep your lungs functioning correctly while boosting your immune system.
3. Ginger: it has anti-inflammatory properties that can help clear your lungs in a natural way. It helps removing toxins from your lungs. Also, it signals the body that it does not need to produce more mucous to fight off an infection, leading to less accumulation of mucous in the lungs and airways.
4. Lentils, red kidney beans, garbanzo beans: they optimize the transportation of oxygen from the lungs to the body. 
5. Broccoli & Cauliflower: they are antioxidants. They have the proper enzymes to help breaking down your thick mucous helping you breathe easier. 

While keeping your immune system strong is essential for preventing or fighting off the COVID-19 infection, making sure you have healthy clean lungs is equally important!

COVID-19: Recent Statistics and how to analyze them

Up till now (April 1st, 2020) statistics have shown the following data:

• 893,995 cases of this novel virus, at a worldwide level with 189,470 infected people recovered and 45,050 deaths.

• USA is the number one affected country with 191,193 infections and a total of 4,138 deaths. Keep in mind that the population in the USA is 329 million people. This means that up until now 0.06% of Americans have the virus.
• Italy is the second worse country affected by the virus with 110,574 cases and 13,155 deaths. Keep in mind that Italy has a population of 60.46 million people. This means that 0.18% of Italians had/have the virus.
• Spain is the third worse affected country with 102,136 cases and 9,053 deaths. Spain has a population of 47 million people. This means that 0.2% of Spanish people are infected with COVID-19.

COVID-19 Infectivity Curve: What Does it Mean?

That being clarified, one has to truly understand what is the meaning of that graph that everyone keeps referring to. All experts keep talking about flattening the curve; but, what do they mean?

This graph above shows two different waves we call bell curves.

• The PURPLE CURVE shows the expectations of how the COVID-19 will keep proceeding if people did not take precautions. To explain it better, it shows that:
  • if people did not stay indoors all the time and exert social distancing, a very very large number of people will get infected by this virus and in a very short period of time.
  • This sudden scary increase of cases will reach a peak where too many infections would have occurred.
  • After the disastrous damages the peak would have caused, the number of cases will start decreasing.
  • This decrease will include the high number of deaths caused by this virus in addition to those who got healed.
  • Doctors and nurses, exhausted and overworked, could end up catching the virus and developing complications including death.

• The GREEN CURVE shows hope. This is the curve that will be the result of a good planning when facing a global pandemic. People are urged to stay indoors, stay away from each other and sanitize very intensively everything.
  • This curve shows a more flat shape meaning that less people will get infected in total, less people will get infected per day, per week or per month.
  • As a result, less people will come in to hospitals, at once, needing to be treated.
  • The doctors and nurses will have enough time to treat them properly since there will enough equipment, medications and beds for everyone.
  • Doctors will not get exhausted and malnourished, themselves, and end up having a weak immune system putting them at high risk of getting infected and showing complications leading to deaths.
  • Less people will die because of COVID-19.
  • Doctors will be at ease treating a reasonable amount of patients within a given time. 
  • More chances of survival for many.
  • People at risk, would be indoors, and safe from this preventable virus.
  • The world will go back to its normal life with less deaths, less complications and less damages.