I'm no less confused than all of you.  It seems like one day we hear one thing only to have that pronouncement taken back the next day.  So, I think we're left with the admonition to go with what we know about infections and illness in general adding a  dollop of good old fashioned common sense.

 I was listening to an interview with a top Irish infectious disease scientist recently and she was talking about the holy trinity of protections to guard against C-19 (as they now call it).  She used to manage a level 4 lab in Berlin, so she's not a lightweight.  She said that if governments had just given a little guidance to their populations at the very beginning of what we knew was going to be a pandemic - in Jan and Feb, that if they everyone would take Vit D, Vit C, and zinc and clean up their diet, they would do wonders to fortify their immune systems and would rarely experience a serious illness should they contract the virus. (It is an established fact that 6 - 8 weeks of dietary change can change several negative health markers in the direction of good. Add to that a few immune enhancing nutrients and you can really make a difference in your response to all manner of illnesses)  And BTW, these 3 nutrients cost pennies a day and avoiding sugar and alcohol and junk food would more than pay for them. 

Another scientist I listened to is Dr Dariush Mozaffarian who is the Director of the School of Nutrition at Tufts Univ and a professor there: holds an MD, phD and several other degrees.  He stated that only 12% of the US adult population is "metabolically fit" and those are the folks who would not contract the virus - or- would have a very light case, never winding up in the hospital.  This is a shocking  declaration about the health of the American public. That means, according to his stats collected over time, that 88% of the american adult population is walking around with at least one or more comorbidity factors.  (obesity is cited as number one for those severely infected, followed by diabetes, HBP, heart disease,  etc)  If you have one of these comorbidity factors, he stated, your chances are 4x greater that you will suffer a severe case and add one more factor and it's 8x more likely that you will have a very bad outcome.  These are the folks who die from this disease.  He stressed nutrition as the number one protector against this disease.  Proper nutrition through eating real food, not cheap boxed snacks and junk food, low alcohol consumption, and being sure your (guess what??) Vit D, C, zinc levels are good, will offer a great  deal of protection.  Now is a good time, if you haven't done so, to get at least your Vit D status checked and to make sure you are in the 60-80 range.  Two of the most revered Vit D scientist/researchers in the world work at the Univ of S.Carolina in Charlotte.  They are now collecting data on those who have died and are dying of C-19 to establish the link they are sure is there between low vitD status and -19 death. (Hollis and Wagner)

I would add to this "trinity of nutrients" JuicePlus+ (to insure complete phytonutrient availability and coverage (in case you can't eat 9-11 servings of veggies a day,) and vascular protection - from the berries ) An inflamed vascular system is at the heart of those who suffer strokes and other blood gathering and clotting episodes with C-19. The berries in JP+  (vineyard) work powerfully to protect this critical endothelial lining of the blood vessels.  My personal physician also adds liquid silver to the mix which is  known to reduce the  "viral load" of many bad actor viruses, thereby leaving your immune system stronger in order to be able to handle the ultimate bad actors viruses and bacterias.

Practitioners in the field of complementary medicine believe this virus does not attack people randomly as we might believe if we watch too much TV.  It attacks those who are in poor health for whatever reasons.  It mystifies me why our science leaders aren't even mentioning our responsibility in getting healthy.  We can't continue to eat poorly and wait around for a vaccine to cure everything. That's an absurdly incomplete idea about health and how you acquire it.  We aren't born "32 vaccines short."  (or is it 39 now?) 

It actually doesn't cost more to eat well b/c you save much money if you avoid junk food and alcohol. If your income can only provide enough money for beans and rice plus some greens thrown in, you'll be way ahead of those eating empty, nutrition starved calories.

That's my take on how to conquer fear and build confidence in our own body's power to protect ourselves from every manner of illness, not just this one.  

We must continue to practice the measures known to slow down the spread of the virus, not just for our own health, but for those who might be the most vulnerable among us. We're all in this together. Masks, hand washing, social distancing, plenty of fresh air away from crowds, these things are still necessary as we try to learn more about this virus and it's message to us. I hope one of the messages is that each of us needs to take care of ourselves as well as each other.

Be well!

mary