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March 20, 2020 - Louder with Crowder
39:14
#652 CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL! | Dr. Chris Choi Guests | Louder with Crowder
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Lotter with Crowder Studios.
Protected exclusively by Walther.
And Betty!
You're a strange animal, that's what I know You're a strange animal, I got to follow
I'm a strange animal Alright, we have a very special show for everyone out there
today It's a little bit different, and we are going to have some announcements regarding Mug Club.
While everyone else is kind of shutting down, slowing down, we've been taking the precautions.
We're going to do more to serve you, but I don't want to waste time with that right now.
We'll have another video on that.
I wanted to bring on a very special guest.
Full disclosure, this is why I brought him on.
I know him.
I love him as my own personal doctor.
He's an internist in Las Vegas, Nevada.
He's been practicing for 21 years.
I want to make it clear.
First off, Dr. Choi, thank you for being here.
How would you describe what it is that you do?
Because when I went and saw you, you did all kinds of different things.
And it was very weird to me that you were a doctor who actually listened.
Well, what I do is what basically other internal medicine doctors do.
I'm a doctor for adult and board certified internal medicine.
And so I serve as a primary care doctor for my adult population patients.
So with that, I mean, I'm supposed to be a jack-of-all-trades or at least know something about everything.
And then specialists are the ones who just delve into one or two fields of the vast medicine fields.
Cardiology is only dealing with the heart.
I may deal with a little bit of cardiology, but a little bit of kidney and a little bit of everything else.
And Dr. Choi, I'm detecting a little bit of an accent.
Is that Polish?
A lot of people think I'm Chinese, but I'm Korean.
I have a small Korean accent.
I came to the States when I was 11 or 12, almost 12.
So I've been here about over 40 years.
Now, good Korea or bad Korea?
It's supposed to be good Korea, South Korea.
They're the good ones.
Well, you know, ignorant Americans.
So you probably have some unique insight, because right now we're talking about, you know, coronavirus, Wu flu, all this.
It's as much of a cultural and economic, you know, we're seeing a ripple effect as it is just medical.
So being from South Korea and obviously a longstanding sort of, I guess, feud, for lack of a better word, with China, do you feel like you have a little bit of a different insight into this?
In some ways, in the sense that I still have some family members in Korea, including my brother,
who went back after growing up here. So I've been actually talking with my brother, so I have
some ideas to what's been going on in South Korea in relation to COVID-19. And I think their
relationship with China right now is probably on a good term, at least related to the virus.
So the Chinese have actually released a lot of info on the virus to South Korea. And that's
why they were able to make the kits to rapidly test a lot of their population. I'm talking about
South Korea. So they got the sequence of the virus from China sometime in
First part of January and that's what they used to actually come up with the kids.
Now when did we get that in the United States?
Do we know when China sent it to us?
They may be working with the U.S.
FDA to try to get those kits approved so we can use it here.
But that's a hearsay.
I'm not sure.
Right.
All right.
Well, OK, so we'll go back to that with South Korea and the United States and sort of the CDC.
I know you and I have talked about that a little bit.
But before we get to that, there's there are kind of two sides here.
There's there's pandemonium.
There's panic with some people.
And then there are some people who think that there's nothing going on at all.
We've maintained that, listen, take the proper precautions, but we don't want to cripple the entire economy.
There's somewhere in the middle.
So for people who may not be in the know, as someone who has had to deal with this yourself, how bad is it, the coronavirus?
How should people be viewing this right now?
The coronavirus is a virus, much like the flu, but it spreads faster.
and the mortality from the coronavirus, the novel virus, is higher than the flu, partly
because we don't have any vaccine for it and we don't have any treatments because it's
so new. But it is, we do need to take this seriously. I mean, this is a national emergency.
We do need to take this seriously, but this is not like a nuclear fallout.
This is not going to last five years, ten years.
We don't need to be panicked.
We do not need to hoard toilet papers.
We don't need to do that.
This is going to pass.
This is going to pass, but we just need to actually follow the instructions from the CDC and our government and actually do our part.
And we can hopefully get through this with a the least amount of mortality.
We can only do that if we actually follow the instructions.
Right, yeah, and speaking of hoarding toilet paper, I'm the worst person for that,
because my dog, Betty, she eats toilet, that's her thing.
She loves toilet paper rolls.
I came home yesterday, I'm like, that's Betty, that's my 401k.
That's gone completely.
She's just choosing the toilet paper and throws it all around.
Well, that's important.
But right now, obviously, people are... There's a difference between the blame game and then finding out how this happened so we can avoid it in the future.
Because now there's a lot of, you know, sort of Monday morning quarterback.
People say, well, we should have known.
What do you make of a lot of people right now blaming President Trump and this administration that they haven't handled this properly?
That's what they've been trying to claim in the media.
You know, hindsight is always 20-20 and whether a bit.
What do you think?
And what's your take on this?
And what's your take on the Biden administration's response to the pandemic?
Well, I think the Biden administration is very open about the pandemic.
I think they're very open about the pandemic.
They're very open about the pandemic.
They're very open about the pandemic.
And I think they're very open about the pandemic.
Right.
If this works, then we can really get it under control.
So, I mean, that's the key.
Right.
It's about flattening that curve.
And I wanted to ask you, going back, well, first off, you said novel coronavirus.
And I think a lot of people don't know this.
You know, I have, I clean my wrestling mats, I have a home gym with an industrial cleaner, and it says on there, kills coronavirus.
I think some people may be ignorant to that.
Like, the coronavirus has been around for a long time.
That's why you said novel coronavirus, correct?
Can you explain the difference?
Well, we've had a coronavirus for a long time, but this is a mutated.
It's a different strain, basically.
So we've had SARS-CoV-1.
We call it SARS-CoV-2.
So this is a new strain.
It's mutated.
Okay.
So we've had a coronavirus for a long time.
This just happens to be a different strain, and it is more potent than the SARS.
And we know that because it has caused more death and the spreading is faster.
And it spreads a little easier, a little easier.
Wait, more deadly than SARS?
We had SARS in the Toronto airport when I was from Canada.
The coronavirus is more deadly than that?
Because I'd read different mortality rates.
Yeah, right now the mortality rate is, they're saying, as high as like 30%.
Yeah.
So, which is higher, yeah.
Okay.
And that's predominantly, obviously, people who are elderly and people who have pre-existing conditions.
They're the ones who should be most concerned.
Exactly.
The younger patients really have a good immune system, and we can fight it off.
And almost most of the cases of COVID-19, the symptoms are very mild, by and large, most people.
They get it, it'll be like flu-like symptoms, and they'll get a little fever, some cough, and then they'll recover.
The elderly patients and the people with Immunocompromised states like diabetics or heart disease.
I am supposed to be a little bit of a higher risk now because I had a heart attack the beginning of this year.
The people with heart disease or cancer and so on, those folks are much higher risk of dying from it.
So I saw some statistics the other day and over the age of 80, mortality is as high as about 15%.
Right.
And people in their 70s are about 8%.
Below that, I mean, the mortality is very low.
Right.
So, it's predominantly for the elderly folks.
So, really, they need to be very careful.
Yeah.
Let me propose this.
This is going to be something where people get really upset.
This is just what we've had to handle in the office.
Let me explain why I'm saying this here, and you can shoot me down if this is totally out of left field.
Here in the office, we've made sure that people are basically quarantining themselves outside of the office.
And then we come to the office, because we're a small enough company, we can keep track of it, except for some older people, and when I say older, I mean like 58, so they're not really at high, high risk, but we wanted to take precautions, keep them away, and I wanted to do a corona pact where we all licked a popsicle stick so that we could just get it over with, but no one else would sign, apparently my lawyers, that's a liability, so, but here, and looking at that, here's my question, we're talking about quarantining the whole country, what about just quarantining Old people.
Old people and people who are sick because, you know, I'm reading that in the UK they want the herd immunity, where they want it to get to 60% of the population, and obviously that's an asshole thing to do.
If you allow that to happen and old people who are at high risk are exposed, but it seems to me that maybe instead of quarantining the whole country, if we quarantined people who are most at risk, let the virus run its course so people are no longer carriers, and then let them out of their cages, that maybe that would be a better approach.
This is just a layman, I'm not a doctor.
What do you think?
No, I'm just kidding.
This is a South Korean Yosemite Sam, what is he doing?
Does that come out?
No?
There's nothing to that?
I'm not saying kill them, I'm saying just keep them safe, because otherwise they're going to constantly be exposed to this virus until we get a vaccine, right?
For them, it's still obviously less risky, but it's not any less dangerous if they contract it four, five, six months from now.
That's the concern, not so much for young people carrying it, so just quarantine, you know, old people, no?
Well, that's an interesting idea.
That's an interesting idea.
But part of the problem is, we don't know how long it's going to take if we take this approach to get 60% of the general population, young people, to actually get infected and recover from it.
Is it going to take six months?
Is it going to take three months, six months or a year?
Right.
So from a logistic standpoint, how do we quarantine somebody for six months or a year, right?
That's one thing.
And then two, We still have young people who can die from this.
Right.
And yeah, do we really want to run the risk?
I mean, so is it kind of ethical?
So we're planning to try to take the approach where we're going to try to minimize the spreading of the virus and let it kind of die off.
Well, they're doing that, but there's talk of... The virus.
Yeah, yes, the virus.
Yes, the virus.
No one thinks that you are... We didn't bring on Dr. Choi Vorkian, okay?
We understand.
Yes, but we're looking right now at trying to stop the spread, and then the talk is, if it doesn't work, full quarantine.
And so I'm saying before that, quarantine most at risk, if we're going to go that route.
And again, some of this is hearsay, but I mean, that's pretty scary to a lot of us.
You know, you probably have some more insight on this.
When people point to South Korea as being successful, you and I have spoken about this.
It's a very different culture, and the kind of approach in South Korea are not measures that necessarily would be acceptable to Americans or work.
Can you tell me a little more about that?
Yeah, I mean, remember, Korea is a very small country, and it's a very centralized government.
So, I mean, they can mobilize much faster than we can in some ways, and the people are very densely populated.
This is why using the masks and so on worked.
It was probably necessary for them.
Because they're in a crowded place and they're always going to be in contact with somebody.
But for us, maybe somewhere like in New York, perhaps that might be an issue.
But like in Vegas, where I'm at, the density here is very low.
We could actually stay away from each other much easier than people in South Korea.
So we don't really need a mask.
We don't really need a mask, at least not right now, because we can't get the virus
just standing out here. And it doesn't exist in the air by itself.
It has to be transmitted from another person to the next person.
See, I think this is important.
This is why I wanted to have you on.
There are conflicting reports where some places say it is airborne, and then some places say it's only transmitted through contact.
So it is only through some kind of contact or, you know, sort of contact by proxy?
Well, contact, mainly what we're thinking is that It is by contact.
If we shake the hands of another person who has a virus or if we actually touch the surfaces, Soon after somebody who has a virus touches the surface and then we touch our face with it.
Right, right, right.
Because it enters through our eyes, our nose, our mouth.
So it's a respiratory virus.
But we can also get it, it can be airborne.
It's typically not, it can be airborne or droplet.
So if somebody coughs at us and then we can actually inhale that and we can get the virus infection.
Oh, okay.
A person who has a virus has to be in close proximity and cough.
Okay.
And then we can actually cough up the virus and then we can actually inhale that.
So if that's airborne, that's pretty temporary.
It would actually have to be like you're talking about, you know, basically a fine mist.
In other words, it's not necessarily airborne just because someone was breathing there 20 minutes ago.
No.
And it does become airborne.
It does become airborne in the cases where, like in the hospital, if somebody has the virus and if you use nebulizers or if you're suctioning the airway, that can actually make it airborne.
But it doesn't last very long.
I mean, it's not going to be in the air for a long time.
It's going to die off.
So you have to come in contact with somebody for a significant amount of time.
In order to actually inhale and get the virus.
No.
What about you being a doctor?
Do you wear- I notice you're not wearing- you don't look like Bane right now.
I notice that you're just yourself.
Do you wear a mask right now all the time when people come in?
Or a respirator?
No.
Absolutely not.
No.
Okay, well you seem pretty bold with that.
I would be scared.
Why not?
Why not?
Well, at least in Nevada right now, even in the hospitals, we're not routinely putting on masks.
We've actually locked down the hospital, so there are no visitors coming in.
And then even the staff, everybody is screened with questions to see if they have fever or symptoms.
And if they're dealing with a patient, remember, I'm sitting here and I'm not being exposed to anybody right now.
There's absolutely no reason for me to wear the mask.
It is not going to accomplish anything because there is no coronavirus in the air right now.
Right.
It's only if I'm in the close vicinity with a patient who actually has symptoms or who actually has an infection.
So if I'm actually treating a patient who has symptoms of potential coronavirus,
then I will actually put my N95 mask on.
I'll put my gown and gloves on.
Okay.
But otherwise, I'm not putting any personal protective gears or PPEs, equipments.
Right.
And what kind of... That is the CDC recommendation.
CDC recommendation is that the general public does not need to wear the mask, at least not yet.
And The healthcare workers, we do need to wear it if we're dealing with patients with COVID-19 or suspected patients.
Right.
But it seems, I've also read that really the reason they're telling people not to wear these masks is more so because of the shortage.
That there's still, if you have them, that it's not a bad idea to wear them.
But specifically, if you have the virus, that you should wear the mask yourself.
And then if you don't, and you're around people who do, that's where you want the N95 respirator.
Correct. Okay, all right. All right. That wasn't much of a question in there. That was that was my fault as an
Correct.
interviewer Not yours as a doctor. You can diagnose me as a prick
We'll talk about that later You just need to be safe and protect yourself which hey, dr.
Choi, are you protected online? Do you protect yourself online?
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So Dr. Choi, if you're not part of it online, that's expressvpn.com slash Crowder
for an extra three months free.
And you can use it on all your devices so that people don't know what you're looking up.
You know that you're South Korean, you're mistrust of the Chinese government.
They could be keeping a watchful eye on you.
They're none the wiser if you use ExpressVPN.
Let me ask you again about South Korea.
Do you think that also, I mean, we're kind of joking about this, but their somewhat mistrust of China, having worked with them for such a long time, helped them get ahead of the curve because they were skeptical in looking at the information presented to them, whereas here, we'll get into it, the CDC in China has been a nightmare as far as the false info.
How do you see the future of the Korean economy? What are the key trends that will be seen in the
coming months?
And what are the key trends that will be seen in the coming months?
Massively quarantining everybody.
So effectively, the South Korean government doxxed its citizens, and that might be something that Americans aren't super comfortable with, right?
Correct.
So in other words, when people say, look at South Korea and the failure, and this was a question I was getting to, well, why did it take this much longer?
People are saying we're more inefficient here in the United States.
I think the answer to the question is, to all Americans out there watching, are you comfortable with the government tracking you, using GPS, and releasing that data to the public?
Because that's how South Korea got ahead of it.
Oh, look, you're a busy man.
You're on your phone.
Is that what you're doing?
Have I bored you this much, Dr. Choi?
I get that I'm just a basic Caucasian here, but come on.
You're the most boring person I know.
Well, plus it's a much, much bigger country, and we're much bigger.
You're not funny at all.
No, but that, so that is the answer.
They literally were tracking and then releasing that information to the public to have that,
those kinds of results here, which would be harder because it's much bigger.
The United States government would have to do that with its citizens.
Well, plus it's a much, much bigger country and we're much bigger.
This is a geographically we're much bigger and we're also very diverse population.
So it just doesn't, it's not going to apply.
What they've done over there, it just doesn't apply here.
Let me ask you this.
You were talking about, you know, when we were talking about people sort of blaming Donald Trump and you said, well, no, really, the CDC doesn't have a whole lot to do with President Trump.
The CDC also wanted to, correct me if I'm wrong, go into China and offer help a while ago and were denied.
Correct.
That was the information I had.
It's close to society, China, right?
Right.
They probably just don't want to accept help from a Western country.
Right.
And what we've been told in the media is that President Trump told the CDC not to prepare.
Is that true?
Is there any truth to that?
I don't know.
I mean, I don't understand why anybody would tell the CDC not to prepare.
That's, uh, right.
Yeah.
Well, that'd be awfully unusual.
Yes, it would be awfully unusual.
And typically speaking, the CDC doesn't really have a whole lot to do, um, directly with the president in that capacity.
I know they mentioned the pandemic task force, uh, or team and, uh, the guy who was there said, no, that's actually not true.
We weren't disbanded at all.
We were, we were streamlined.
Um, and this is, I guess, a question is somebody who works in medicine, right?
And we've seen this with psychology, psychiatry, uh, A lot of Americans, and we see it now with the media,
a lot of Americans don't necessarily have the greatest amount of faith in their institutions.
We've seen, for example, the FBI and the DOJ, they can be politicized.
Is that also possible with agencies like the CDC, because we see, or the World Health Organization?
Do sometimes these different organizations have different political agendas
where it makes it hard to sift fact from fiction?
I'm sure every organization, whatever field it is, they're in, probably does have some,
they can be influenced to an extent by politics, I'm sure.
I'm sure that's just the way it is.
Right.
But I would imagine an organization like CDC would be much more driven by scientific data and for the public good.
Yeah.
And CDC has been sending... I do get a regular update from CDC.
on a regular basis about the COVID-19 and what we're supposed to do.
So, I mean, it's not like they haven't done anything.
They have been doing things.
Initially, we didn't have all the proper information from China.
And so we thought this wasn't a huge deal.
And then later on, we thought, ooh, it's spreading in South Korea and Italy and Europe.
And we started getting more concerned.
But we still didn't have a lot of cases here.
And as far as we know, really no death until I believe beginning of recently.
And that's when I always said, okay, it's actually spreading here too.
And that's when we start getting much more concerned.
Right.
And so I think this is important to note.
A lot of people think that the United States is unique.
We are unique in a way that you've sort of drawn attention to.
We're large.
We're very diverse compared to a lot of other countries.
But we're not unique in that up until more recently, globally, this wasn't seen as a big concern based on the information that we were getting from China.
Everyone was kind of in that boat until not too long ago.
The World Health Organization declared a pandemic on, I believe, the 12th, March 12th.
11th or 12th.
So, you know, that's when we really started getting concerned.
And the schools were shutting down.
And Nevada is basically kind of locked down at this point.
All the non-essential businesses have closed as of yesterday.
and all the casinos have closed.
So only the essential businesses have stayed open, such as medical practices and the gas stations
and the food places where they, like the supermarkets.
Right.
And so on.
What about weed and hookers in Nevada?
Are they still in business?
Is that considered essential?
Business is booming, man.
Still going.
I guess that's been around since the humanity.
Since the beginning of history.
Yeah, but it's not taxed everywhere, so I don't know if they're open.
You know, you have drive-thru dispensaries there in Nevada.
I think that sort of answers my next question, then, because it matters to get to the root cause of Why did people not think this was... And honestly, like you said, this isn't the kind of pandemic that is going to kill 20% of the population like people have misreported initially, but the reason that people didn't take it as seriously as maybe it has ended up being is because of the information we were having.
You know, according to Dr. Leong, who was actually the epidemiologist who dealt with the SARS in Hong Kong, he said that with this COVID-19, What are some of the challenges facing the U.S. and China?
What are some of the challenges facing the U.S. and China?
Right.
And I don't think we're going to have that because we are already taking measures.
We're taking measures.
So I seriously doubt we're going to have anything close to that.
So we don't need to be panicked.
We don't need to be panicked.
Right.
The best thing we could do is simple measures such as washing our hands very frequently and don't touch our nose.
Don't touch our face without washing.
Right.
And wash our cell phones frequently throughout the day.
And if we're out, try not to touch public places, and just try not to go out, if we can, for a while, until we get this under control.
Right.
But I really doubt we're going to have 60% of the U.S.
population infected.
I really doubt we're going to have 40% of those dying.
We're just probably not going to see that because we're jumping on this.
No, no, of course not.
But that does sound like, from what you're saying, that means that playing a good old game of head and shoulders, knees and toes, eyes, ears, mouth and nose is out.
That should be...
None of that.
Dang.
Yeah, I know.
You're a killer at that game.
It's not even a game, I thought it was a limerick.
As a practitioner, how urgent is it for you to get the testing kits?
Because that seems to be the focus of the media right now.
We don't have enough testing.
Sounds to me like maybe you're saying that's not as necessary as taking these precautions and these measures, or have you been disappointed in the lack of testing kits available?
Why don't we have testing kits?
It sounds like we've sort of answered it by the root cause of not having the right information, but as a practitioner, what's your point of view on that?
I do have some testing kits now.
Okay.
I do have some testing kits.
Initially, we were rationed about five last week, but we now actually have probably about 20, 30 of them.
Oh wow, that's a big increase.
I mean, I don't think a lot of people... Dr. Choi, don't skim past that.
Don't play coy.
Most people think that there are no testing kits available.
That's a four or five fold increase.
No, no, no.
There are testing kits.
There are testing kits.
And the hospitals are testing, and so we're going to have of the year.
I get it.
We can't be touching our faces.
I understand this, Dr. Choi.
I get it.
I didn't know you were a pediatrician, but this is sort of like a taco truck, but for coronavirus testing kits.
Correct.
They're actually going to implement mobile units apparently.
Do you know why you went from 5 to 30?
Is a big part of that because they've been recruiting sort of private laboratories now to to assist in creating more testing kits?
Correct.
So the big private labs like the Quest LabCorp, they have the capability of doing the tests and Now they've had approval from the, I think, FDA or CDC, clearance to use more of the regular swabs to test.
Okay.
So that's why now we have more kits.
Now, why was that not approved before?
What's the difference between the regular swabs and the other swabs?
Well, I think they just didn't know if it was going to work.
So they probably had to test it.
Okay.
It seems like there's a lot of red tape there.
And it seems like this is a good thing, though, that at this point, had we relied only on the federal government, we wouldn't be able to get as many kits this quickly.
So having private laboratories working in, you know, sort of in tandem with them, seems like, I mean, you went from 5 to 30.
That's a huge bump.
Correct.
Yes.
Okay.
So that's good.
So there's a silver lining there.
And I do, you know, I want to ask you about your health, but speaking of which, I see that you're drinking coffee, but I don't think you're drinking the right coffee.
We're going to send you some with Black Rifle Coffee.
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I'm a big coffee snob, Dr. Choi, and I don't like what I'm hearing about what you're drinking there at the office.
That, to me, is more concerning than corona.
It's not cool.
Sorry.
Yeah, bad coffee will kill, right?
Yes.
Well, there's mold.
There's mitotoxins.
I know.
I read Dave Asprey.
I know what I'm talking about.
Are you a medium roast or a dark roast guy?
Duck roast.
Dark roast.
It sounded like you said duck roast.
Duck roast.
All right.
Okay.
Yeah, my accent.
So you've been in the United States for how long?
Forty-two years?
That explains it. The accent only goes away at 44. 44 years.
You're just under the cutoff.
One more year.
When that happens, let my French-Canadian mom know, because she still hasn't figured that out either.
But Dr. Choi, you mentioned sort of nonchalantly that you had a heart attack.
Um...
That was a big surprise to me when you told me that, and I think it's a big surprise to people watching.
I mean, you're a trim guy.
I've always known you to stay healthy, and you eat pretty well, and you certainly have helped me.
How did that happen?
A relatively young, fit, healthy guy have a heart attack?
Well, doctor, heal thyself, I guess.
I had high cholesterol, and I thought I could control it with a diet and exercise, which I've been doing.
And obviously not, that's one.
And then two, my job is very stressful.
And then three, there's a family history of early onset heart disease, and I kind of ignored that, I guess.
So a combination of all of those probably led to the early heart attack.
And do you think you maybe ignored it because you felt so good and you were kind of fit and spry?
You felt like, oh, I'll be fine.
Correct, because I've been eating healthy and I've been exercising with a trainer for a long time, many years.
And you know, I run on the treadmill, I don't have chest pains, and I'm okay.
So I thought I was okay.
Obviously not.
You know what?
That brings me to an interesting point, and I think it may also relate to this, you know, the COVID-19.
But how important are genetics in health?
I think often we overlook that.
Well, first, let's start with that.
Genetics.
How important is that?
Because that seems to be the sort of new frontier with health.
Genetic testing.
Now they're even talking about gene doping, which I don't understand, but... I mean, genetic testing is It is important.
That's kind of the direction a lot of the new technology is going to, to try to figure out which medication actually works better for this particular individual based on their genetic disposition.
We've been doing a study on that for quite some time and there are companies out there who are testing to see which medication I should be giving each individual because there are maybe 10 different medications for one condition.
And they may not be all equally effective for a particular individual.
Or some of those medications may cause more side effects on a particular individual.
And we are actually trying to figure out how to test, do genetic testing to apply to that.
But we're still not there, in my opinion.
It's getting, you know, it's getting more accurate.
And my second question is, because you said you have a stressful job, how much of an impact does, a lot of people think about diet and exercise, how much of a physical impact, because stress isn't seen as a physical thing, right?
You get in the gym, you get in the treadmill, people go, okay, I'm physically moving, or I'm physically moving this way to bench press, or I'm physically putting this food in my mouth.
Stress is sort of conceptual for a lot of people.
How much of a physical impact does stress actually have on one's health?
Because of stress we know that it will decrease the immune system.
Stress will decrease the immune system.
So obviously if your immune system is lower then you're more likely to catch the virus.
Not just coronavirus, but any other virus, right?
Right, yeah.
Any other infections.
Yeah, but this podcast will be titled about coronas because that's what sells.
So, that's what we're talking about.
Who cares about the old normal flu?
So, that's something that's known right in the medical field.
I mean, that's a physical observation.
Stress lowers immunity that can be quantified.
Yes.
And I guess what other, in closing here, what other tips would you give if you had to tell, we get it, wash your hands, social distancing, but is there anything else that you think maybe some people can take as extra steps or they're missing, either whether it's lowering stress, whether are there any supplements or anything that you think might be not, we're not saying any of this is a cure, but is there anything that you would also advise on top as supplementary measures for people to take precautions?
There are some, there are some, data or suggestion that the zinc may help.
There are some studies that were done where the zinc has shown to slow down the replication of the RNA from the virus, intracellular replication.
So the zinc potentially may help, but there is no absolute data that says it does for the COVID-19.
But generally speaking, it may help.
So it's not going to hurt to take some zinc supplement.
Okay.
And there was some initial data that some anti-retroviral medication, HIV medications, were used with some success in treating the patients, but that's in the hospital.
Right.
Or anti-malarial medications such as Plaquemine, which is a hydroxychloroquine.
They've also used that in South Korea and in China to treat the severe cases.
Well I just read about that today and that's relatively new.
How does that work?
Like you're saying this anti-malaria medication because it seems like there's a lot of promise there and it's a little weird to me that they've been using it for a while overseas and it hasn't really been discussed until this current 24-hour news cycle.
There's some mechanism apparently the chloroquine or the hydroxychloroquine may assisting the transport of the zinc from extracellular to
intracellular where it is needed to stop the replication of the virus
But that might be the mechanism. I'm to be honest with you.
I'm not exactly sure right but But that's that may be the mechanism, but they have been
using it to some degree of success Correct
Wow.
At least the report from South Korea and China.
Well, I trust the report more from South Korea than China.
If it was only coming from China, I'd be like, I don't know.
South Korea, you know, guys make good phones.
I've never had Korean food that I didn't like.
You know, the Samsung Galaxy 7 exploding in people's faces.
You have to admit, that's one for you guys.
That was a little bit of a mess up.
But aside from that, We've had a pretty good relationship with them.
Alright, well, thank you so much, Doctor.
I know that you are a busy man, and you have a lot of patients to get to, so please, do take all precautions that you can to stay safe.
I know, I'm saying this.
You're the doctor.
And, you know, if there's anything that happens that's new that you think the public should really know about, please do let me know, or let them know, because people are desperate for information out there right now, and they're looking for non-politically charged sources to give us the straight story.
And I think that's very hard to come by right now, unfortunately.
Yes.
Well, thank you very much.
Sometimes he's a man of few words, and then sometimes he's a man of intense mockery.
Did you notice that?
He finds the words when he's mocking me.
For everyone watching right now, we really appreciate you taking the time, and we'll have some big announcements here coming from Mug Club and the kind of content that we'll be doing for everyone out there.
When everyone else is stepping back, I think we're going to be stepping up and Trying to make it worth your while, because we know that a lot of you are lonely out there, and we want to help with that as much as we can.
Thank you so much, Dr. Choi.
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