True, but there have been studies into Vitamin D deficiency and infectious respiratory disease in general and it was found to be a factor:

It’s quite a punt with people’s lives to rule out a cheap/free action that has no downside and has been shown to reduce ARIs from 60pc to 30pc.

outofbreath, I agree. As I said previously there is a lot of evidence out there and the solution as you say is very cheap and easy. Not something drug companies want to hear obviously or many others who refuse to see the evidence.

Vitamin D deficiency across the World is a huge problem not just in terms of covid-19 but in many other diseases. It is a Global scandal that such a cheap and easy fix is being overlooked. The ironic thing is that the lock down is/was just making matters worse by forcing people to stay indoors rather than getting out into the sunshine.

outofbreath, I agree. As I said previously there is a lot of evidence out there and the solution as you say is very cheap and easy. Not something drug companies want to hear obviously or many others who refuse to see the evidence.

Yeah, 100pc in agreement with you – I was just trying to add another voice of sanity and point to the evidence so people can judge for themselves, sounds like you know more about this than me anyway.

Point B is exacerbated by people of colour living in Northern latitudes as malatonin in their skin cuts down vitamin D absorption from the sun.

Forza and OOB, not being funny but do you know the difference between a review of the available evidence and looking at individual trials/case reports? The Oxford review team will be neutral, they’re not carrying out research in that area, they’re looking at it from a population health angle. They did a good job on reviewing the Tamiflu stuff if you remember that and highlighted it was ineffectual.

I don’t think that’s what the evidence is saying though, vit D levels aren’t contributing to COVID cases. I don’t think anyone’s saying you shouldn’t take vitamin D supplements for general health and a better immune system, and I agree you should (thats what the Oxford review says). Just that it’s not a contribution to COVID cases in BAME people.

There is a smidgen of disapproval in your tone I think you’d agree?

I disapprove of their reckless and selfish actions. I would be equally disapproving if it were a bunch of white grannies getting together for tea and scones.

a global pandemic which has so far killed six and a half million people and counting.

Has it?

No, it hasn’t, I read the wrong stats column. 6 and a half million confirmed cases, approaching 400,000 deaths. 40,000 of those – fully one tenth of the world – is in the UK.

but do you know the difference between a review of the available evidence and looking at individual trials/case reports?

Yup, they looked for existing reports into COVID-19 and Vit D specifically and found none. Fine, COVID-19’s only been around for a few months why would there be? However there *is* overwhelming evidence of a link between Vit D and ARIs. COVID-19 is an ARI.

If they’d done a review of Vit D and ARIs in general they would have found evidence.

Just that it’s not a contribution to COVID cases in BAME people.

…but you do accept it *IS* a contribution to ARI in BAME people.

So you’re arguing that although Vit D deficiency *is* a factor in ARIs, (60% down 30%), it can be ruled out in COVID-19, and the reason that you think it can be ruled out the is The Argument from Silence that nobody’s done a study on it yet.

There are shades of face covering here here. Nobody did a study to see if there was benefit to normal punters, so ‘they’ went with the argument from silence and assumed there was no benefit. 4 months later when they actually did some tests they found there was a benefit. Meanwhile countries in the East decided it was worth a low risk punt, wore face masks in spite of the lack of evidence and, guess what, they had far less infection and months later the evidence caught up. Wearing face masks was risk free and costs about £3. Maintaining healthy levels of Vit D is risk free and cheap/free.

In fact if we’re going with a facecovering analogy, ruling out Vit D is like having studies that prove every colour of face mask works and then not using white facecoverings because there’s no specific study for white facecoverings.

You know Vit D helps prevent other ARIs, but you’re not willing to accept it might work on the latest ARI. A cynic might wonder if you’d take a different view if the people who were going to end up dead from that tenuous assumption didn’t have dark skin.

I don’t think anyone’s saying you shouldn’t take vitamin D supplements for general health and a better immune system

No, but they *are* saying there’s no benefit to taking it to protect from CORVID-19. Which, given CORVID-19 is the ARI of the moment, is literally a fatal assumption based an an argument from silence and contradictory to everything we know about ARIs.

No, it hasn’t, I read the wrong stats column. 6 and a half million confirmed cases, approaching 400,000 deaths. 40,000 of those – fully one tenth of the world – is in the UK.

So far. tbh, this pandemic is far from over. Just even taking a laymans look at these graphs, looks like we’re heading, on a world wide scale, to another up tick. Which if you consider the first up tick as, China, second, as Europe and the US. I worry that this next up tick is going to massive, if you consider the difference between the first and second. I hope I’m wrong.

As for the UK, I wonder if there’s a limit to how many vulnerable will be affected with a certain amount of time. Biggest worry is the advise saying to the vulnerable, the ones that have been completely isolating, they are allowed to go out doors now. I think that is probably more of a worry than anything else.

Any protest really should be spread thinly though. And if you are protesting, you should really be avoiding vulnerable people in your lives for a few weeks.

But it’s not just protesters eh, things are clearly getting busier everywhere and people are interacting more.. Protests are a tiny part of that.

Yeah, 100pc in agreement with you – I was just trying to add another voice of sanity and point to the evidence so people can judge for themselves, sounds like you know more about this than me anyway.

You’re doing an admirable job of catching up mate, keep going!

But it’s not just protesters eh, things are clearly getting busier everywhere and people are interacting more.. Protests are a tiny part of that.

Aye. This time last week if I went for a walk up to the park I’d see like three cars go past. After they announced easing the lockdown, the Saturday before the Monday it was due to start the same road was like the bloody M6.

We’re doomed, aren’t we.

Aye. This time last week if I went for a walk up to the park I’d see like three cars go past. After they announced easing the lockdown, the Saturday before the Monday it was due to start the same road was like the bloody M6.

We’re doomed, aren’t we.

Not if the proportion of people who have actually contracted the virus but are asymptomatic are to be believed. It would be interesting to see how many people involved in the UK protests fall victim to the virus now. I’m guessing they were mostly young people though who will have little or no reaction so not much will be made of that. It would be ironic if Barry Gardiner came down with it though!

As I said previously there is a lot of evidence

You can keep saying this but it wont make it true 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣.

Appropos of nothing:

https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/88198/Doctors-in-Egypt%E2%80%99s-quarantine-hospitals-to-receive-million-Vitamin-D

The Egyptian Health Ministry will distribute a million drug doses of Vitamin D to quarantine hospitals, as an important element to support the immune cells of the doctors treating coronavirus (COVID-19) patients.

One could argue that now is the safest time to protest. Lockdown has only just eased and the virus hasn’t had time to ramp up again. If it was delayed to August there’s every chance that the actions of the nutters down the beaches has us deep in peak 2 with far more likelihood of transmission if a protest were to take place.

@Cougar, Big Hitting aside, your OP focuses heavily on Asians, with a cursory mention of whites.

You may believe yourself to be right-on, and that reporting what you see locally is relevant, but I’d suggest you look into the numerous articles flying around about unconscious bias.