What Is The Coronavirus? By Dr. Gil Carvalho

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   0:06
from the land of mystery with dreams become reality Always listening to stories from the past, the present and the future. This is back.

Brock Goldberg:   0:36
All right, let's do this. Thank you so much for coming on. Ah, the record button. This hit. Um, Just have a little brief introduction for my listeners. Doctor, will you introduce yourself and explain? Ah, you know a little bit about you.

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   0:48
Sure, it is a gill and I'm I'm a scientist. My background is in molecular biology, genetics and some aspects of nutrition in graduate school. And then after that, I've done working different things, including neuroscience. And recently I've been involved in a number of measures that have to do with science communication from doing educational videos on YouTube. I have this this channel that I started about a year ago called Nutrition Made simple. It mainly focuses on breaking down nutrition. People think it's so confusing. And so it's breaking down all this, all this stuff for people who have no scientific background. The idea is to make things simple and accessible and actionable that people could just think what matters just the nuggets and take action and eat healthy and be healthy. And then we, recently because of because of the obvious circumstances, were in. I've been making videos on the whole Corona virus situation as well and trying to break down same same idea. Take the science and try to break it down in simple terms and just distill the things that matter to, ah general audience.

Brock Goldberg:   1:58
I think that's incredible. You know, we were I was just speaking before we hit record. We live in a day and age where there's so much information that spread around constantly. It's going so fast and, um, and anything from the Corona virus to nutrition to ah, whatever it is in life, to be able to break it down into small, bite sized pieces so that you can easily digested and understand it, uh, is key. And that's and that's why you are seeing some growing success on your page. I mean, it's ah, fantastic to see the people are very intrigued and they're listening, and they're they're digesting it in a way that resonates with them. Um, what was before, before I could get right to the Corona virus thing? What was the influence behind you wanting to start the pot not broadcast Thea Siri's online.

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   2:47
Yeah, the YouTube channel. Um, I always thought that there's a gap between science as it's done professionally by scientists in labs and hospitals and all that and the public. There's a huge gap. Um, and there there some attempts to bridge that gap. But but there's a lot of voices out there that are not particularly qualified. And I've always thought that there's room for more, you know, more reaching out and explaining things to people. And and the idea is not to dumb things down. I don't think people want things oversimplified. People want the truth. People can handle the truth. They just want and they want to know what the facts are, and then they want to be allowed to make their own decisions. That's essentially a right, so they wouldn't they want to make informed decisions based on the facts. And so that's That's what my channel tries to tries to do. And I and I always provide all the sources and I actually one of the conducting threads of the of the videos is to invite people to have a critical thinking to develop critical thinking, to cultivate that and to question everything, including everything I say I constantly invite people to effect. Check me. To go to the source is to challenge me in the comments as well as challenge everything else. Do you hear?

Brock Goldberg:   4:01
Absolutely, Absolutely. I mean that that goes with anything in life, right? I mean, whenever someone delivers some, do you have to ask questions? Don't ever take anything directly at face value. Um, that's that's what makes ah, you know, these types of conversations so fantastic it allows us to dive deeper, um, in tow, whatever scenario, whatever topic we're discussing on, but especially for what you're trying to do and what you're trying thio what you are portraying and shame with people to then even say, ask questions. Look beyond it know always take things at face value. That's fantastic. That's Ah, it's a great character inside of you. Um, Gro growing up. Did you always know that you wanted to get into this field or was it something that just kind of happened?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   4:41
Uh, I had a scientific pensions Earl from early on, although I have many different interests and still do. I went to medical school right after high school sweater I grew up a little bit all over the place, and when I was ah, I was in Brazil. I was in Africa for a while. And then this is like growing up just a kind of a pneumatic history. And then when I graduated high school, I happened to be in Europe. I was living in Portugal at the time, and I went to medical school and after medical school, decided to get into research more and actually ended up moving here to the U. S. To do to go to grad school where I studied genetics, molecular biology, nutrition, a love that went into my PhD. Um, so, yeah, I wasn't sure exactly which sub fueled I was gonna focus on. I still have kind of eclectic interests, but I always had this This, uh, scientific interest, if you want to call it.

Brock Goldberg:   5:37
Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. I I love that. I'd love one of the last thing said is like, I have still more interest. I still have more things that I want to do. Um, I'm I I find myself very similar in that it's like I don't get settled on one thing. I want to know. Ah, and I want to do many different things, right? And it's good to expand its good to open up your brain and and look beyond, uh, you know just what you're doing. At that time when I came across your videos, I was just very blown away. Ah, by the presentation, by the way that you shared things, by the way that you were able to make things, um, understandable, like you could really digest it in a way doesn't matter at what level you are in your life. It was very easy to take in, and I think there needs to be more of that. But it doesn't mean that, um, you're simplifying it, but you're just making it easier to digest. And, ah, it really resonated with me. And so that's one of the big reasons why I reached out to you and when I watched your videos on the corner virus and this is something that you know, it's on everyone's mind right now. I mean, they all across the world never seen anything like this. No one's ever seen anything like this. And in the modern times to where the economy everything is just shutting down. And, um, a lot of people are are scared. A lot of people are freaking out for the listeners. Can you explain exactly what is the Corona virus?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   6:58
Uh, sure, it's a It's a type of virus. So if we want to take another step back of Iris is basically a pathogen. A very simple pathogen is. It's. In some ways, it's the simplest form of life. It's much smaller and much simpler than a bacteria. Even, uh, it can't survive on its own. It can replicate by itself. It's not self sufficient. Unlike a bacteria eso, it needs a host. Yeah, viruses can have all kinds of hosting that could be different animals, even plants, even bacteria could be hosts. And this one that we were talking about the novel Corona virus strain that people go. Some stars cov to. This one happened to evolve to have a human host. Unfortunately for us, that sense so and somewhat viruses do because they because they don't have that the ability to replicate by themselves. They enter specific cells inside the host and the the hijack. The machinery of those cells to replicate and in the process, end up a lot of times of destroying the cell. And so the symptoms of a viral infection have to do with the type of cells that the virus attacks. Right? And so that's why this one happens to be, Ah, happens to trigger a respiratory disease, although that's not the only type of symptoms. But it's the main type of symptom, and that's because the main target of this virus is a specific type of self. Inside. Our loans, called is the new mall site, and specifically they're the type to numerous sites, and the new most that just means, basically means that means a long sell. New Moe means air or lung and site is just the subjects for self, and so these cells are very important. We could get into the nitty gritty, but these cells are very important for for our ability to breathe, to extend these air sacs that we have in our in our lungs into allow gas exchange. And so when these shells were destroyed, uh, we have difficulty breathing. So that's one of the main symptoms of the of this. This strain of virus

Brock Goldberg:   8:54
Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, it's ah e when it when it was first coming, you know, t play when When people really started listening and hearing about it. Especially when I started, you know, hearing about the coronavirus. That's what I've been, you know, a few months now. Um, I don't think I was personally taking it seriously. I mean, I kept on ah, relating it to, you know, the common flu, the influenza, and looking at the numbers and all of that when people do that, when they try to compare it Toothy common flu, what is the main difference between the Corona virus? And, you know, the common flu that you know comes every single year?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   9:35
Yeah, there's there's a number of significant differences, so it's it's considerably more contagious. So there's this term that's been thrown out there recently that people are not by now probably familiar with the are not or are zero. It's written as our zero, but a lot of virologists and epidemiologists pronounce it are not, and it's basically just a measure of how contagious viruses on. So it's essentially a measure of if I have a virus, how many people am I likely to give it to right? And so just to give you an idea. They are not for the season of seasonal influenza. The your garden variety flu is around 1.3. Okay, so if I have flu average 1.3 people around me are likely to get it from me. Uh, they are not for this strain of Corona virus depends on the source. You you go to but it's around 2.5 to 3.5 that ballpark. OK, so it's 2 to 3 times get give or take more contagious. Uh, another major differences. That mortality and the difference there is even bigger. So the mortality in cause the carnivorous is 10 to 15 times higher than the mortality caused by the flu. So who is it is about 150.1%. So one in 1000 that have the flu are gonna, um, paso passed away, whereas for this virus is 10 to 15 times higher. There are some other differences of incubation period as much longer, which creates some other complications. And there are some some indication also that it may last outside the body outside the host for relatively long periods of time. So what do you put all that together it kind of explains why it seems more contagious and it seems Maur harmful wants you. Somebody has it?

Brock Goldberg:   11:28
Absolutely. Absolutely. What would you know? There's this, like whole thing going around with the masks. And I know that re Hera and in the States were definitely having to John masks. How important are these mass? I mean, you know, some officials say you you should win. Some say that you shouldn't. It's kind of like this back and forth thing. Ah, across the media and social media. I do this. Do that. Do this, do that. What is the actual answer for those masks?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   11:54
Yes, I think the authorities air pretty consistent. The most qualified sources are pretty consistent that the master doesn't seem to do much in terms of protecting one from infection. Now, if you have symptoms, if you're sick, then it does help prevent you from passing through somebody else. But as a protective measure doesn't seem to be too effective. It maybe because it gets around the mask it maybe because they're mucosal surfaces that are not protected by the mask. So and we're talking about these these regular surgical masks, right? There are other varieties of massive maybe, uh, more effective. Now what? What I said before on videos is it doesn't seem like it's super effective if somebody is going about their normal day to day business. Ofcourse, if you're gonna be around somebody who's sick. If your healthcare practitioner around people who have the infection, of course, then it does. It does. It becomes more more helpful. Also, what I've said is, if you haven't asked, you want you wanna wear, I don't see a downside. If it makes you feel better, it's not gonna hurt. But, you know, it might not be a, uh, panacea.

Brock Goldberg:   13:04
Yeah, definitely, Definitely. Um me and and there's definitely ah becoming a shortage of these, Max. So I mean, if you have them obviously will make you feel better, but going out and trying to buy a whole bunch of them What can people, um, due to be safe? I mean, everyone's you know where I'm in Los Angeles right now, and, ah, you know, everyone's on quarantine. We're like, really, we have to for the next month. Um, what are things that we can do to protect ourselves,

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   13:32
right? Just just thio follow up on What you said I think is a good point is if you haven't asked, you want you want to wear it, fine. But I completely agree with what you said. There's no point panicking and rushing out and trying to get him or, you know, we see people stealing them from hospitals and crazy stuff like that. There's no there's really no point. There's no it's not worth it in terms of preventing it. It's really the main Met. The main measures that we've heard from the authorities from the CDC from Anthony Fauci and all these people social distancing is that is the main thing, and that's why we're having We're hearing all these recommendations to avoid the crowds and to avoid, you know, small enclosed spaces that are poorly ventilated that are full of people, unnecessary travel, this type of thing, especially around people who are infected or where Sitwell, who seemed like they're sick. That's obviously a higher risk. Um, number two are the hygiene measures that we've also heard plenty about washing your hands thoroughly with hand, and so with water and soap for 20 seconds, maybe disinfecting surfaces that are commonly used coughing into the creek of your elbow. All these things that we've heard over and over, but it's really about. It's more about doing what we know then, then about knowing what to do at this point, right? It's about actually taking action on these things that we've heard. Um, the other thing is people who are in the at risk group. It becomes even more important for them to follow these measures into be weary. And that's of course, elderly people, people with other conditions, whether it's heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, smokers also seem to be at higher risk. Um, and last but not least, I would say, and in line with everything that I then I try to focus on. My channel is general lifestyle. I mean, yes, you want to prevent the virus from reaching you. You wantto, you know, implement all these social distancing measures. But if you happen to be exposed, one thing that's probably going to determine whether you are infected and maybe even more importantly, how dramatic the symptoms are or even if you are symptomatic at all, is your general state. But we know that people with morbid conditions are, ah, large majority of the deaths are people who have other diseases. They're not young, healthy people, with some exceptions. So taking care of your health in general, you know, healthy, healthy diet, exercising, sleeping well, not being super stressed all these basic measures. And I realized that this is the worst time to to Today I realized people are locked up at home. They're stressed out about the virus. They're not sleeping. They're probably eating really poorly because they stocked up on junk food and they're and they're not exercising. Is there because they're locked up at home? So I get it. It's it's it's It's not the easiest time to do it, but these are These are the things that are likely to give you the most bang for your buck.

Brock Goldberg:   16:31
Yeah, for sure, Absolutely. I mean, taking care of yourself, trying to eat healthy, Um, even your mental state. A lot of these things were going on. Ah, right now it's It's it's hard. I mean, everyone's, you know, stocked up on food. And then you have these crazy stories about people ah, stealing semi trucks that are filled with toilet paper and all of these crazy things, and it's just for? For me, it's so hard to wrap my head around all of this. I mean, as as a kid growing up, you know, we would play games with me. Let go for the end of the world was happening. You know, this is what were you doing? What? You know how we prepare. And I don't think this is definitely not gonna be the end of the world by any measure. But there are a lot of people out there that are feeling that I mean, gun shops. They were having lines out the freaking door. Um, it's it's definitely a strange time. Did we see this coming? I feel bad. E mean, especially in the States, Like we were not fully prepared for something like this. Where do your thoughts on that?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   17:32
Yeah, it's It's a good question. I mean, I completely agree that we were slow to take action, especially having the privilege of seeing other countries go through this first. And I'm not talking about general population. I'm talking about, you know, people who are in charge of making these decisions, and this is not a political thing. I'm not pointing fingers at one person in particular. I'm saying, you know, everybody was in charge of making these policies for for for an entire country. I think the United States was really slow to act. I think it's still being slowed Act. I think we really dragged her feet to take to take action. Um, way eventually did. And we are. To be fair, we are doing a lot more and we're taking this a lot more seriously now than we did a couple weeks back. Um, but it took too long in my opinion, and we're to some extent we're paying the price. But you know, it's not too late. We can still if there's one thing that I like to emphasize and and I focus in on this in my videos, it is looking at these countries that have ordered, you know, we have this huge a privilege of being able to look at China and South Korea, Singapore, all these countries that have to deal with the virus first that had no no advance notice, right? And they waken tell by the statistics by the curves that they have dealt with it very effectively. Yes, they have brought those numbers of new infections a day to very low numbers, Almost non existent numbers in some cases, so we know this is doable. We also know we could go back and see what they did. Right? So this is an incredible privilege. We have? Yes. Um, I don't think we're quite doing it enough yet. I don't think we're taking it quite seriously enough. And and I'd like Thio on your point of people going around and panicking and getting guns. I think there's a critical distinction between panicking and taking action so we can take precautions and take action and be relaxed and b uh, well informed without panicking and just pulling out our hair. Um and so I think that's that's what's missing. We have, you know, not enough information and not enough action and too much panic. And so that's what I tried to the limited extent that I can I tryto thio rectify that a little bit with my videos and with everything that we're doing.

Brock Goldberg:   19:51
Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. I mean, yeah, there's ah, there's a big difference between being prepared and freaking out and then, you know, go going crazy. Um, looking at all of this, um, is it pretty much proven that this is this started in China, correct?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   20:09
Yeah. Started in in Hu Bai Hu Bei province and then it really spreading in in Wuhan and then spread to other parts of China. And then from there from there, the world. Yeah.

Brock Goldberg:   20:21
How did this even happen? How did this virus emerge?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   20:25
Yeah, it's a good question. So there's a very recent papers. There's a paper I was looking at just before we got on. They came up today looking at a possible origin. So, uh, one of the progenitors of this of this strange seems to have seems to be a virus that that has a host in bats, and the papers they keep out today is actually suggesting that penguins this kind of like Chinese armadillo type animal may also be a host. So it may be a transition. Like the virus, we go from the back to the pangolin and then to the human. That chain of events is not 100% clear, but these two animals are pretty likely that the virus came from there and then adapted. There's a serious of mutations that it underwent to be able to colonize us.

Brock Goldberg:   21:15
How did that even happen? How did it go from eventually the bat to to us? Do you even know that yet?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   21:21
We don't know. 100% for sure. It could be It could be through the ingestion. It could be just the exposure. And so you know, these viruses will, with a certain rate, they'll undergo mutation is just like any organism DNA. It will mutate somewhat spontaneously. And then, if that if that mutation happens to be advantageous in this case, it finds a new host, the van it takes hold right, So? So that's what it seems like. That's that's what happened. But it's not. Yeah, Like I said, it's not 100% clear. The chain of events. This paper with the bangle in his front was from today. So this is, ah, lot of the stuff surrounding this. I mean, it's it's worth mentioning. This virus is five months old. Yeah, but the virus itself. So this is really unprecedented. What we're seeing in terms off the speak. Sorry. This feed that this this is thinking. Place that and then also the speed of on a positive note the speed of discovery and scientific advances that we're seeing is, is it unprecedented? The amount that we figured out and the amount of resource is that we've been able to, uh, create since then is something that I've never

Brock Goldberg:   22:27
seen. Yeah, I mean, I find it so incredible because I know that, like vac vaccinations and vaccines, they take a while, uh, t even get to that test trial point. But you're starting to hear more and more things that they are moving a lot faster. What is it that, uh, is it just because this is all over the world and we've kind of broken down those barriers to allow us to move? Ah, quicker in the process of trying to create a cure A vaccine for it?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   22:54
Yeah, important. It's the urgency, right? So there's there's ways that these vaccine development trials Normally, it's normally a more sequential process. And in this case, because it's so urges, some of these steps are being done in parallel and in fact, some of these. So there's one vaccine that's already in Phase One trial started this past Monday, and so if it's already being injected into people, just initials try 11 like 40 people or so just a test safety just to see if they have any adverse reaction. And normally for event for, you know, for a regular vaccine development process. You go through Maur sort of animal testing and things like that and then eventually go to humans. But here they are trying to speed this up. However, there's there's phases that you can't there's things you cannot speed up, right? So So from here on out, there is a limit to how much you can speed up speed up the process. And so these the phase one phase two and possibly a phase three. You know they need to take six months to 12 months each because you need to make sure that the vaccine number one is somewhat effective in humans emit more per, Perhaps more importantly, that it's not gonna make things worse. Yes, you can't start in vaccinating people by the millions and then realize they actually do worse when they're infected. So and that's their some precedent for that. So that's why we can't just rush it out within the next six months. It will take. And when you hear these estimates, um, found, she has has has brought up thes these numbers of, AH, 12 to 18 months. I think that's possible. I personally think that's very optimistic, and it's if everything goes well, I think that's best case scenario, right? But if these first vaccines that we're trying and end up not working or having some other side effects, we may have to go back to other options. So, uh, we may not have it. You know that soon we may have it at some point in 2021 if everything goes well. But we've got to get ready for the possibility that May or you may also not happen. We're not. Not so not so soon. I mean, it will happen eventually

Brock Goldberg:   25:04
will happen for sure will happen eventually. But, uh, that is a long time. Um, considering the state that we're in and so many people are out of jobs where they're they're ours again, cut their pays, getting cut. How do we do this? I know that in England they were talking about just kind of getting everyone together so that you know, eventually that they could, you know, create an immunity towards it, and I don't think that's happening. But How does society even live? Breathe, move, work. Um, if we have to wait, you know, six months, 12 months, 18 months for for a vaccine to come out.

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   25:39
Yeah, well, there there are other possibilities in the pipeline. Right? There are. There are many drugs that are being tested. There are many political trials ongoing for drugs, both drugs that already exist and are already used for other diseases and that are actually being being used by doctors in hospitals, for patients with Corona virus. Things like hydrochloric win antivirals. So things that we already have, and they're testing it. And there are some some reports coming from China. Think of these things having some, um, some Ben efficient some benefits, but it's not entirely clear, and the data is not at the highest level yet, so we can't We can't say we have a drug that works. Uh, but there are things that are being tried. And so that's one reason that this whole strategy of flapping the curve and delaying the spread he is a good idea, in my opinion, at least. And I think most of the authorities out there because if you if we end up getting the virus. Me, for example. If I end up getting the virus, it's probably gonna be very different. Getting it now. This is getting a six months or a year from now when our resource is in our knowledge and experience are gonna be in a completely different level. And we might have answers in a year or six months, even that we don't have. Now, things were gonna be a lot less experimental and a lot more, you know, try tried and tested. So this that's why that the strategy of flattening the curve and delaying things and spreading it out is one of the best things we have in our hands right now. That that and not over overwhelming the health care system, right?

Brock Goldberg:   27:16
Yeah, Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's it's crazy to see some of these hospitals. I mean, they're the limited resource is that we have and ah, elective surgeries. Or you know that that can't happen right now. Just so many things are having to get pushed to the side because of this. Um, our government's working together is one thing I I want to know is like our governments working together around the world to try to come together. They sharing information or is it just nation by nation? Um, you know, kind of like a race. Ah, like it was between, Let's say, the Russians and the Americans with building rockets to go to outer space Or are we coming together as one and putting our differences aside

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   27:57
two to a large extent, we're coming together. And definitely And this is this is one good thing about science is, uh, science works by sharing evidence, right? Once you have of finding him lets you publish it. The goal is to spread it into communicated, hoarding it for yourself. Scientific Justin The Scientifics fear doesn't make much sense per military or political purposes, Maybe. But yes, as pure scientists are concerned, the goal is to share it. And actually, there's the I showed this 11 among five videos. The pace of publication of these studies has been absolutely unbelievable. We're seeing dozens of papers being published almost daily, and this is something that you know, the pace of publication. Just to give people an idea usually takes months, sometimes years to get these papers speak like a paper peer reviewed and and then accept it and eventually published. It takes a long time. It's kind of a painful process, but it's something that's very important in ensuring quality in science here, for good and for bad. We're seeing incredible speed, lots of data being published, which is, you know, I understand it's necessary on. We're seeing a lot of data from from China. Obviously the people in the doctors and scientists who have to deal with this first coming out at that level. Yes, there's a lot of sharing. We are learning from what they did and what works and what doesn't. What didn't Ato level of governments there is there is some amount of learning is well, you do see some some level of sluggishness. So one example would be the testing that in this country still hasn't been really implemented and could have been implemented according to many sources, much earlier. If we had just bought the test from the same company that provided the chant that tests for China, they were already producing them by the millions, and we ended up going with first it was the CDC was gonna make them. Then I think, Rose, we were gonna contract another company and it ended up being a big fumble. And so I don't know how much of politics there is behind that. That's a little above my, you know, butt outside of my sphere of expertise. But But I think it's possible that there's a level of politics speed being played that unfortunately ends up delaying the process for

Brock Goldberg:   30:17
sure. Absolutely. I mean, you hear South Korea putting out 250,000 of those tests. I believe it was, uh I could be wrong on the

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   30:25
numbers. Yeah, I think that is right. 250,000 Syrians have have been tested. South Koreans have been tested for this and their their facilities, and they're they're the installations and all the the procedures, I think, should be a model for everybody else. The way they were doing it was just stunning. And we're definitely not doing that here. Not yet. Uh, so way need toe toe, learn an implement, Maur and faster. And you know, I think it's shocking that Korea was doing this in mid February, and here we are, more than a month later, we're still dragging your feet like we're reinventing the wheel. Uh, it's disappointing, in my opinion,

Brock Goldberg:   31:07
it is. It's really disappointing. I mean, especially when you see other nations doing it, right. They they're they're already doing it. Why are we not doing We have, you know, 300 plus 1,000,000 Americans living in the US We need to get out those tests, um, and and really start to figure this out. I I am happy to hear that. You know, scientists are working together. That does make a lot of sense, but there are things that don't make a lot of sense. Why is it that, um, you know, China had massive numbers and then all of a sudden, it's like zero. And I know there are people that are like, maybe they're, you know, not telling the truth. And other people like, Well, you know, it's fantastic. Uh, what's going on there? You know?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   31:48
Yeah. So, yeah, there's a lot of skepticism regarding the Chinese numbers. I don't think it's particularly relevant to focus on whether the numbers coming out of from China are 100% accurate or not, because we have this pattern in Korea. The same and other countries didn't even have the bump. Other countries handled it before it even escalated. So it's not particularly relevant whether the numbers from China are 1% trustworthy or not. The fact that we see across countries and this is what you try to do in science is you try to replicate an experiment, right? It's more. It gives you more confidence to see the experiment give the same general result done by different teams. Then by seeing a perfect experiment done once, right and so here. That's what we're seeing. We're seeing conserve pattern where these countries that came first and that acted very swiftly and very decided, simply saw either a reversal or not even getting too problematic levels. So in in China to specifically ask for your question in China, they were they implemented what? Some journalists are going draconian measures because they put the entire city of Wuhan in a complete lock down. It's a city of 11 million people, twice twice the size of L, A. Population wise. So imagine people not not a guideline like people would not leave their home. They had to. If they wanted food or groceries, they would order them. Somebody would bring him to them. There was a common area in each building or each street where the delivery person would leave the groceries and Emily and then go away and the person would come back, come back later to pick them up. So there was no overlap, right? So there was There was a very strong citywide, and it brought into the whole province of who paid to a large extent. And that's, like 58 million people. Uh, so in China, it was through very strong measures. In Korea, it was different. It was more through public education, uh, the extensive testing network, um, and and then quarantining people who tested positive, right? But it was It was a less draconian, if you want to call it that and more technology and education based approach. But in both cases, you see a very similar Grafton, not the exact numbers vary, but you see very similar graph for the numbers start to go up to get into that exponential phase, and then they reverse and they start coming down and get the very low numbers. They're not there now, in the double digits in both, in terms of new infections, a day in both countries and and we're averaging 5500. I mean, I shouldn't say average yesterday was 55 5500 a day before is, like 45 4500 around there cause we're still in that accelerating. Things were still going up and up every

Brock Goldberg:   34:33
day. Yeah, absolutely. What was with Italy, especially, though kind of jumped out, But what was it with Italy? That there was so many deaths. I mean, I know there's a lot more people in China compared to Italy, but there were a lot more deaths. I mean, don't they? If I'm wrong, please let me know. Don't Don't they have the most amount of deaths for any nation?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   34:55
Yeah, definitely. Buy if you if you correct for the population, right, and you and you could do a direct repairs that this is something a little kind of course analysis that I try to do in one of my videos where I put Korea, South Korea and Italy side by side, and their ah convenient comparison because number one, their population sizes similar. South Korea's 51 million, I think, and Italy is 60 million. So they're around the same order of magnitude, unlike China, which obviously is much higher in the US And then they were hitting around the same time. So, uh, Italy, the infection started to rise only three days after South Korea. And despite these similarities, what you see is the Rose at around the same time, Italy a little bit later. But the Italy caught up. So the infection started to rise around set mid February, and by early March they were both. There were kind of head and head, neck and neck, right? Uh, they were kind of even in the number of new infections a day that they were recording. But after that, you see a massive difference in South Korea. The number of infectious starts to go down and goes down to very low numbers in Italy just just kept rising, and it's still rising until now. So and it's been weeks. It's been now over 10 days of complete quarantine countrywide in Italy. And so there are several differences in their several factors that the experts have floated Thio to explain. This one is the age of the population. It seems that Italy has an older population average, um, another thing that's been floated is the number of smokers, which may also play a role. Third factor is cultural differences. Italians being touch here, more social, go out more, you know, closer. You know, more and more in your personal face. And that may also play a role in, uh, you know, enhancing contagion on and the last thing which I think is very relevant and likely to be a major factor is the timing of the government action in Korea we saw very early on throughout February. The Korean government, I should say South Korean, to make it clear that the South Korean government took it very seriously very quickly on all these measures that we talked about, all the testing and all the public education came out early, and they were telling people to work from home and not to avoid crowds. All these things that we've been hearing recently, they were hearing, you know, mid February and and implementing them and actually taking them seriously. Um, so Italy. The quarantine was implemented, or March 9. So that's almost a month after Korea. Uh, and so the timing when you line up the timing of the action of China and Korea. It matches very well. The reversal when the curve started, you know, with the number of cases start coming down. And so I I even predicted in one of my videos. I said, Look, the quarantine started March 9 in Italy was still seeing the numbers go up. This was like three or four days ago, and I said, This is the point where if this is all behaves like in Asia, this is where you could expect the numbers to start rounding down and it's gonna be about Tuesday. Give her give or take. There's variability. But we were still seeing the numbers go up in all the Western countries Italy, France, Spain, the United States. So we still haven't reached that point. We're in China and South Korea. We saw that relief that in

Brock Goldberg:   38:23
flesh. How long do you think it is until the U. S. Reaches that curve?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   38:29
It's hard to say because it depends on so many factors. But, you know, we gotta we gotta use a lot of ifs if if the virus behaves to hear, as it did in those agent countries and if we implement effective measures as broadly and as clearly as they did then we would expect it to be about about two weeks after those measures go into place. But bear in mind again in China, it was not ambiguous. They put the whole city and walk down in. Two weeks later, you start seeing the curve inflect in Korea again. Massive measures the country was on. They have a system of alerts and the first we're on yellow alert than orange alert and then red alert by the end of February. And then, you know, after a couple of weeks of those measures, you start seeing the numbers go down as well. So the kind of the guest imminent is that once you get serious and once you actually implement the measures a couple of weeks for it to start going down because it matches the period of incubation, right? Yes. So once you stop the spread, you still expect the curve to go up. While the virus that was incubating in the people that already had it is not manifesting itself, even though there's no no Noooo Noo noo spread no new infections of and then after about it, about two weeks, everybody, that was infected is infected and showing the symptoms. And now the number of new infections starts to go down, and then it takes another couple of weeks, give or take for the numbers to get lower. This is it. This is what we saw in China in Korea. So if it replicates here, that's what we're looking at.

Brock Goldberg:   40:03
So it does that mean that the United States of America would have to go on a nationwide locked down? Essentially, I mean, I know states are, but not all 50. No, no. All of the states in the U. S. Air doing that in my I could be wrong on that. But I know that the federal government hasn't instituted a full nationwide locked out. Is that what we would need to do to get to that curve?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   40:27
Not, Not necessarily. So there's a huge heterogeneity across the United States, right? You have ST States in the New York, for example. You see, Cuomo seems to be taking this the most serious out of any state, and that's probably because they're having the biggest problem over there, and then California. Maybe number two or three in Seattle, probably. Um, but to answer your question. Korea did it without a nationwide locked down, but they never forced their citizens to stay at home. They just educated them very clearly. Very, very widespread campaign of education and the testing the testing was was everything indicates the testing was critical because once you contest widely and you contest liberally, you can pick those those infections early on, and you can isolate those people. You don't need to isolate everybody. If you can isolate the people that are infected early on, it doesn't mean that it's magic. You still have the incubation period, but it's a huge advantage, and that, I think is the most is the main handicap we have. And to be fair, like, I don't wanna be just negative. We have taken steps in the right direction, and this is clearly something that douchey has come out and talked about repeatedly about testing and how they've tried to, you know, increase the number of tests available in that Obviously it's going to happen. It's just a matter of timing, but once you contest in massive scale, that gives you a huge advantage and that allows you to get faster to that point where you get to the peak and then you start seeing reversal

Brock Goldberg:   41:56
and it makes a lot of sense is this? I have two questions, but I'll ask 1st 1 if someone gets, you know, if they get the virus, Um and then they go through quarantine and it goes away. Can they be re infected?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   42:08
Yeah, it's a really good question. The short answer is, we don't know 100% for sure. Theoretically, you shouldn't Not the same strain anyway, once you're immunized, this is like, theoretically in terms of a viral infection. Once you get one, you're immunized against that strain. Now, if theoretically speaking, the virus mutates and there's a new strain you could theoretically get infected. There are some isolated reports off a second infection in the same person coming out of Japan, but they're isolated cases, so I don't know how much weight I put on him. You know, it could be a second strain, or it could be that there wasn't a complete recovery in the first place where he could even be, you know, false false negatives, false positives in the testing because they're so rare. I wouldn't bet my life savings on it. So the bottom line is we don't know for sure. And this is another thing that is gonna be really good and really, really privileged to have China and South Korea where we can watch what happens now that there they've got most of the problem under control and they're starting to relax the measures right. And people are starting to gradually go back to their normal lives. It's gonna be really informative for us. Tow. Watch that curve and see if there's another uptick secondary or if it stays down. That's gonna be really important for us to watch. But to be honest, this is kind of a quality problem, right? It's like now that they've handled that. What's gonna happen after? But we're not even there yet. We're very, very far behind at the point where we're still trying to handle the initial shock, so but it's possible it's not 100% sure. No, nobody knows for sure what's gonna happen.

Brock Goldberg:   43:50
Absolutely it now with, with with you know, the comments, Lou, there's different strains. You get the flu shot, but then there could be a different you know, uh, you're in strain of it is that likely to stay for some, you know, like the corner buyers can. That cannot happen, and we're gonna have to deal with this year after year.

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   44:06
It's a It's a formal possibility. There haven't been any different. Strange reported in the literature. It's a formal possibility. You can't say that more of the virus is not gonna mutate. One thing actually, that I've heard some experts talk about is trying to come up with the vaccine. That is kind of Ah, umbrella vaccine for Corona viruses because we talk about Corona virus and most people are thinking of this particular one. The star Scobie, too. But if you remember, we had, we had SARS, the original stars in 2003 and we had MERS into 2012 25. Yes, so all of those, including this one, are types of Corona virus. So you know, every 10 years or so every eight years, we're getting hit with a different strain of Corona virus, and they're obviously not kidding around, right? So a lot of experts are thinking about this and trying to come up with a vaccine that is more of a more of an umbrella vaccine worker for Corona viruses in general.

Brock Goldberg:   45:04
Yeah, I'd be like a family, right? Yeah,

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   45:06
There's, like a common protein tau all of them that you can target that. So that would be Obviously, that would be amazing if they can come up with something like that because not only would would help us with this particular problem, but then problems that we don't even know exist yet. In 10 years, there might be another one. Right? So it's gonna possibly help us with that as well, so that would be great. But it's still in very much in kind of planning and developmental

Brock Goldberg:   45:30
stage. Absolutely. With with all of this going on, do you have this feeling that the world is changed forever, At least for right now? I mean, what we've gone through what we're going through? Ah, as a society, I mean, just add pretty much everyone in the face of the planet. Things have to change. Um, I know that a lot of our medication the top 150 of them are made outside of the United States. I believe, like china. Um, if this got really bad. Ah, and we didn't start taking care of things on our own as a nation. And I know everything because I believe that Ah, I believe globally and its type of person that I am. But I do believe that their key things that we should develop and take care of. Do you think that after something like this, we're going to start looking at, um, are you know, some of our key aspects toe change.

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   46:29
I think we definitely definitely have. It could be a wake up call. And, you know, change can be incredibly positive. And if this works for us to be more alert and we're prepared, you know, that's a silver lining. I think clearly we have to have more mechanisms and institutions in place to handle something like this. Because it's not. It's not unique. We've seen some before. This one seems to be more serious, sure, but it's something that we see coming on a regular interval. It's probably gonna come again, you know, another, another strain of another virus may not may not be as problematic as this one, but it's clearly something that we gotta be ready for. Um and so clearly that's something that we gotta we gotta be prepared at at state level. Not not government, not individually. There have to be mechanisms. There has to be, you know, investigation. Ongoing cause. The tendency have heard from several experts, for example, and we're trying to develop a SARS vaccine back in 2003. But once the virus went away, the interest waned. They can't get funding that can't get people to support it. They had to drop the projects. Yeah, so we tend to think very short term. It's only when the problem hits you That were like, Oh, what's Where's the solution? Well, well, now is not the best time to look for the for those for those best solutions. Now we're just making do on. We see this with with everything. We see this with nutrition. We see this with with supplements. I mean one thing. We as soon as the virus hit, you see on old social media, everybody is looking for the magic supplement or the magic food that's gonna boost your immunity. That's not how you're gonna get the most bang for your buck, right? It's not. It's like tryingto. It's like tryingto work. When you need the money, it's you build these things, you know, in advance you optimize your health and and then you optimize the measures, uh, Countrywide to be prepared for these things. But what about So I think that could be a positive note if we're going to be better prepared in the future and another wake up call that I think has been really positive has been kind of a renewed esteem and respect for science in general. Uh, and we see this is it in this picture, the figure of Anthony Fauci, right where it's now the number one reference. And people are looking to him for answers. And I think this this could be, you know, a silver lining as well, something where people realized that on scientific issues You gotta listen to people who do this for a living. And I'm not talking about myself. I'm not a neurologist. I'm not an epidemiologist. I refer to the specialist to the experts, but it's it's madness to to turn a blind eye and to just pretend like that's not happening. And just and just be oblivious to the things when experts are warning you, this wave is coming. We have to take precautions and This goes for everything. This goes for climate change. This goes for so many things that we just tend to deny or or kind of ignore us a society because they're inconvenient. But it ends up biting us in the butt in the end, right? So if if this serves to prepare us better and Thio heed the advice of the experts when it when it's Wendy mean it, I I think it could be a good thing in the end.

Brock Goldberg:   49:41
Absolutely, absolutely. It has a society. It's kind of like, out of sight, out of mind, like once this blows over. Um, then some time goes on, we forget about it all right to manager. It's human nature, but it doesn't happen. I hope that we that this is a wake up call for everyone, especially at the state level, that we start looking at these things and listening to the scientists. I mean, like you said, climate change, it's a real thing, But some people, for some weird reason, they decide to deny it. It's it's It's crazy to me, um, and and and something like this, it's like, Do we get to a point where everything you know turns around and then we just forget about it. And then, you know, another 10 years later it happens again and again and again. And we don't want that. We want to be prepared for things. It's like if, ah, an asteroid is coming towards the earth, right? And we don't have any defense at this current moment to take care of it, right? So we have to be prepared. It goes for so many things in our life to be prepared. What are some of the key things that, um, in your videos that you like to share to people with everything going on right now, things that they can prepare for things just just anything.

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   50:50
Well, not my videos. Interestingly, they focused almost exclusively on nutrition all the way from my first video to now this this crisis and that when the coronavirus situation started, I made a conscious choice to shift and to start looking at this just because, you know, obviously people have a massive concern. Uh, and you know, it's an important issue. Um, So I would reiterate what I said it at the office at the start. That both for this and for general health lifestyle measures are the most effective things you can do, and it's simple things that we all know. But it's it's it's taking action. It's the healthy diet is the exercise. It's the quality sleep, and it's the mental health, you know, not being chronically stressed out these things. It's boring advice. Nobody wants to hear it. It's everybody. Yeah, yeah, I've heard that, but we know from statistics that most people are not doing it. So what I try to do with this visit those videos is give people the specifics, give people the evidence also because, people, it's one thing to hear. Oh, you gotta eat healthy. Yeah, yeah, But when you show people, here are the effects. When you eat this way, this general pattern And here are the effects. When you this general pattern people are people are shown the facts and showing the data. I think everybody has the ability to understand scientific evidence. You don't need to be an expert, you know, took to see, to see the facts and to and to interpret, interpret, come, everybody can do it. Uh, so that's what I tried to do. I tryto show people these truths and not not sugar. Quote the more anything but also not sensationalized them and try to show them. Look, this is where you gonna get the most bang for your buck. This is what you should focus the most attention on. And then these things over here, yeah, they could have an effect, but it's probably not gonna be major. So, you know, no point obsessing over those That's gonna my my my attitude to the whole thing.

Brock Goldberg:   52:48
I love that. I love that as we start to wrap up, I I do have, um Just one more question, I guess, Um, it pretending you're under various what are, uh, someone's at home and they think that they might have the corona virus. What are some of the symptoms? Ah, that an individual get. And what should they do once they start feeling those symptoms? Yeah,

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   53:12
it's good question. Uh, so main symptoms are fever, cough and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. Those air The main three. There are some others symptoms that have been reported that it is not as common. There could be gastrointestinal symptoms like abdominal pain. It up, Donald, Discomfort, diarrhea. But those are less common. Those stuff three are the Are the typical ones. Of course, that's that if you feel those symptoms, it doesn't necessarily mean you have Corona virus. The flu is almost clinically is almost indistinguishable. It's very similar to to this infection. And so, um, if you start t feel sick. Number one isolation, right, Don't spread it around a. Ll. The measures that we talked about of hygiene rested hydration, Tylenol If you need for the fever, If the symptoms remain very mild, you don't need to. You may not even need medical attention. If you're just having your cough and a little bit of the fever, you know it might be, it'll probably go away. And it and then this is due to remind people the vast majority of people that are infected with Corona virus are either asymptomatic, it's asymptomatic or the symptoms are relatively mild. They're not hospitalised. Of course, we in the media, we hear about the deaths and this gets This gets pushed in our face all the time, and that's relevant. I'm not minimizing it like let's be, let's be aware that that's a very small percentage. It's around 1% of people. It's significant, of course, but if you get Corona virus, especially if you're at a young and healthy in the young, healthy group, it's not guaranteed. Because actually, there's an interesting difference we're seeing in the West. We're seeing Maur young patients being hospitalized. Then we sign Asian. So there's look, there's one difference there, but still, statistically, you're gonna be more likely to be fine that if you're you know, 80 and you have heart disease and diabetes and all these things. So, uh, just took the wrap up. Uh, it may be that you're gonna be fine. Just with breast. Uh, fatigue is another symptom. That's very common. Just low energy. If if, however, the symptoms start to bother you, if you start having difficulty breathing starts to get worse. You know pneumonia on. You're not feeling well. Then you seek medical attention, of

Brock Goldberg:   55:31
course, for sure. Absolutely. Another question, you said in this state's, um, the younger generation is seeing it more because they're doing silly things like going to Florida Thio get great, and I think that I mean, I get it. It's spring break, but we got a lot of stuff going on right now You got that? I remember being a kid. My myself. So sure it shouldn't be doing it. Um, but why

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   55:59
I It's not? No, it's It's very. It's very recent. I've just started hearing over the last couple of days, people talking about it. It seems to be, uh, you know, I've heard from different sources that they're seeing, ah, higher number. So I've heard the number 40% of the people hospitalized are in their forties air below something like that. But it's it's early days, like these numbers we've seen these numbers change a lot and even the mortality rate and all that. So it's just a indication that there might be something different in the West, and there wasn't the in the Far East. It could be. It could be that you could be the behavior. It could be cultural. It could be a number of things. It could even be theoretically a mutation of the virus. But that's more speculative. And, you know, several experts are kind of dismissive about type offices. Um, so bottom line is, it's It's not known why we're seeing this difference. But whatever the reason, it's one more reason for us to be to take precautions. We needed to be to be careful. And it certainly seems that this idea that well, I'm 35 I don't have heart disease, so I'm, you know, the virus can't touch me. Does not seem to be entirely accurate. You're gonna be better off than somebody was 80 but yeah, take precautions anyway, not just for yourself, but because you're gonna If you feel enough contracting, if you're gonna potentially pass on to the older people and then, uh, you know, propagate the problem that way. So one more. One more note of caution there for us to take this seriously.

Brock Goldberg:   57:33
Absolutely. Hold this. You know, we we have to get seriously. It's ah, things were changing by the day by, You know, if we come together as a nation and we just kind of calm down and be smart about all this, this will pass. This will pass. It's definitely a big test for everyone across the globe, and it's ah, opening our eyes. Ah, and here's to really just start thinking about these things. And I hope that, um you know, generations to come we become more and more prepared for whatever is coming our way. I

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   58:05
think if I could just emphasize that I think is a great take home message that yes, the problem is serious, but it's in our hands. It's not gonna go away magically. Uh, we have the power to change this. We have the privilege of seeing other countries that have taken control of it and replicate their actions. So we can do this. I have no doubt that we can do this. It's just a matter of how seriously we take it and how much actually take so

Brock Goldberg:   58:29
course. Absolutely, absolutely. Um, And for the listeners, can you tell them where they can find yourself? Or they can look you up and check out all your amazing videos?

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   58:37
Sure. So that the channel is called nutrition made simple. So if you search it on, YouTube should be able to find it. I'm on true on Twitter as well. It's at nutrition made s three. Um, my name. I guess I just got my name because it's a mouthful. My first, my first name is G. I. L. And my last name is a Portuguese name. It's C A R V. As in victor a l h o. So if you if you Google me, you'll find all this stuff. And we also have a Facebook page. Also nutrition made simply if your Facebook search that you'll find it as well. Where research were we published a lot of news and analysis and opinions, and we discuss all this

Brock Goldberg:   59:13
stuff. I love that. I love that. I love that. Ah, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it from bottom of my heart. You have shared so much information, and I know people will, uh, definitely eat it up. And if you have any questions, I'll put all your information in the show notes and, um let's ah, let's definitely stay in touch. Thank you again.

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   59:34
So I was gonna thanks a lot for invited me. It was a lot of fun. And thanks for spreading. The important message is

Brock Goldberg:   59:38
absolutely, absolutely All right, everyone. Thank you so much for listening to back your story. Stay calm. Dream on. Thanks, man.

Dr. Gil Carvalho:   59:45
Thank you.