Has Covid Saved Lives? A Reframing of the 6 months of Doom and Gloom

As a friend of my said recently, “Covid has been hard on everyone”. No matter what your circumstances are, Covid has increased a lot of suffering in the world and unfortunately there is no immediate end in sight.

But to help endure these challenges (or any for that matter), I often go back to the technique of “cognitive reframing” – a way of viewing and experiencing events, ideas, and concepts that promotes more positive interpretations. Granted, this technique is not always useful, but hopefully I can highlight some perhaps new ‘benefits’ that have come from Covid.

Air Quality and Mortality Rates

Prior to the onset of Covid, I think we were all aware of the climate challenges the world was under. Air pollution in particular, has been shown to impact mortality rates through cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, respiratory disease, and cancer ^1,2,3. In another source, the quality of our air has been shown to impact obesity, diabetes, anxiety, suicide, psychosis, low birth weights, decreased cognitive performance, all-cause mortality, lung infections and atherosclerosis ⁴. Air quality has a significant impact on our overall health, not just our lungs.

So, in recognizing how important air quality is, the last 6 months have had an amazing impact on a variety of health markers. According to the European Unions’ Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, large parts of China have shown a 20-30% reduction in their PM2.5 (PM2.5 are ultra-small inhalable particles, and is a standardized marker for air quality).

In early March, it was calculated that the decrease in air pollution in China this past winter may have saved 20x more lives that were lost due to Covid-19, in that country! _⁵

After analyzing data from the 2008 Olympic games it was noted that a 10% decrease in air pollution concentrations resulted in a monthly reduction in all-cause mortality by 8% ⁶. Remember how China went to great efforts to reduce air pollution for the Olympic games? These are some highly significant impacts!

Covid and Cardiac Events

Eerily in the beginning of Covid my sisters (two of whom are Nurse Practitioners) commented on how few cases of heart attacks were being seen in hospitals and medical practices. Where did all these patients go? We wondered if people were too afraid to visit hospitals and so were suffering at home.

Interestingly, Spain cardiologist reports a 40% drop in ER cardiac procedures as well as a 40-60% reduction in hospital admissions for heart attacks ⁷. California was reporting similar numbers with a 50% reduction in heart attack admissions for its hospitals ⁸ and in nine other major US hospitals, a 38% reduction was reported for hospital admissions for serious heart attacks ⁹. Is this just coincidence or could the change in air quality be having an impact so quickly?

Cognitive Reframing

Despite all the many challenges Covid has brought, this data does offer me some hope. While we continue to live in a time of crises – a health crisis, climate crisis, and political crises – perhaps this pause can help show us how quickly a global effort can make a significant change. Who knew that slowing travel and traffic could impact our climate and our health within a couple of months!

One of the principles of naturopathic medicine is “to co-operate with the healing power of nature” and to me, these climate changes do just that. Our planet can heal itself and in turn, heal our bodies but it takes radical change. Perhaps this ‘covid-challenge’ is, in some ways, an opportunity for us to re-evaluate and make some radical changes that benefit our bodies, minds, and the planet.

In health,
Dr Chanel, ND

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2. Pranata R, Vania R, Tondas AE, et al. A time-to-event analysis on air pollutants with the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality: A systemic review and meta-analysis of 84 cohort studies. J Evid Based Med. 2020;13(2):102-115.
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7. Krumholz HM. Where Have All the Heart Attacks Gone? April 6, 2020. NY Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/well/live/coronavirus-doctors-hospitals-emergency-care-heart-attack-stroke.html.
8. Solomon MD, McNulty EJ, Rana JS, et al. The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Incidence of Acute Myocardial Infarction. N Engl J Med. 2020;10.1056/NEJMc2015630. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2015630. [Epub ahead of print]
9. Garcia S, Albaghdadi MS, Meraj PM, et al. Reduction in ST-Segment Elevation Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Activations in the United States During COVID-19 Pandemic. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020;75(22):2871-2872.