A simple analysis of the states currently suffering the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths reveals clearly that California, Florida, Texas and Arizona are leading the list. One of the important epidemiologic observations in this context is that those four states have the highest percentage of Hispanic populations as well.
The problem is not in this observation but in the fact that prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is extremely high in America’s Hispanic populations. Since vitamin D deficiency has been linked to increased risk of COVID-19 death, it would be logical to conclude that the high number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in California, Florida, Texas, and Arizona are strongly related to this vitamin deficiency.
Similarly, the relatively high rates of deaths per million population in New York and New Jersey also could be attributed to their high numbers of vitamin D-deficient groups, namely Hispanics and African Americans. Both groups display much more vitamin D deficiency compared to white populations. For example, vitamin D deficiency affects 84% of non-Hispanic blacks and 56% of Hispanics, compared to 34% of non-Hispanic whites.
What's the problem here?
It turns out that both groups tend to have lower vitamin D levels mainly because they have more melanin in their skin. Melanin diminishes the skin’s ability to synthesize vitamin D from sunlight.
Additionally, the elderly population and those who live in nursing homes have an extremely high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, adding further evidence to explain why most deaths from the coronavirus have occurred in these two groups.
Vitamin D deficiency could also explain the recent observation of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that Obesity is among conditions that increases risk of severe COVID-19 disease as Vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent in Obese people.
All of which raises a question: Why have not Dr. Anthony Fauci, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and California Governor Gavin Newsom, among others, media champions all of the draconian lockdown measures, declaring campaigns to treat this vitamin deficiency to decrease the number of coronavirus deaths?
Tragic, but the primitive approach of these officials, who pushed for more lockdowns and more closure of public beaches to fight the epidemic, actually aggravated the problem by decreasing the public’s exposure to ultraviolet rays and thus causing further vitamin D deficiency in the already vulnerable Hispanic and black communities.
The unscientific handling of the coronavirus epidemic by ignoring an important factor such as vitamin D deficiency follows the war against hydroxychloroquine despite the fact that reputable medical centers such as Henry Ford Health System and Mount Sinai Hospital have demonstrated that the drug — particularly when used an early stage — can decrease coronavirus mortality rates by over 50%.
It's hard for me to accept that questionable approaches severely harming the nation’s economy, such as forcing healthy people to remain in their homes and away from their schools and workplaces, were chosen over encouraging people to go outdoors to correct a prevalent nutritional deficiency, because doing so likely resulted in increased deaths from COVID-19.
I hope this was merely tragic coincidence — though I also hope that at some point President Trump will direct his administration to investigate the motives behind these misguided actions.
Dr. Tawfik Hamid (aka Tarek Abdelhamid) M.D.; Mlitt (Edu) has testified before Congress and before the European Parliament. Dr. Hamid is the author of "Inside Jihad: How Radical Islam Works, Why It Should Terrify Us, How to Defeat It." Read Dr. Tawfik Hamid's Reports — More Here.
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