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> a) 95% of severe covid cases in Indonesia had vitamin D deficiency (n=780) Indonesia is a developing nation, with most people still laboring as rice farmers
by redis_mlc 6y ago
> a) 95% of severe covid cases in Indonesia had vitamin D deficiency (n=780)
Indonesia is a developing nation, with most people still laboring as rice farmers and making $1 - $2 per day.
I'm sure they're deficient with any vitamin not found in rice, which they eat 3 times per day. (Rice is packed with calories, not vitamins.)
Also, due to corona, there is starvation in the cities. In the West, we use automation to ship groceries, but in Indonesia they unload trucks using manual labor. So the lockdown means they can't unload food trucks, or it gets delayed.
Additionally, many people have no income, or 50% of their former low office salary, and Indonesia is not a welfare state, so people cannot afford food at this time. Very tragic example of lower-income group receiving the worst treatment during this pandemic, basically famine.
It's totally unrealistic to expect them to hang on until 2022.
- nl 6y ago> I'm sure they're deficient with any vitamin not found in rice Vitamin D generally comes from sun exposure, and people laboring outdoors are extremely unlikely to be suffering of this particular deficiency. It's more likely to be older people who spend all their time indoors. It'd be interesting to see this controlled for age of deaths.
- anpago 6y agoMany people in hot countries tend to cover up however hot it is.
- nl 6y agoThey do, but it's still extremely unlikely that outdoor labourers are getting insufficient vitamin D. The problem occurs when people in the same ethnic groups (with the same dark skin) start working indoors and actively avoiding sunlight (often because light-colored skin is seen as high class or aesthetically pleasing).
- redis_mlc 6y agoThis is what I was told by two different people in Jakarta last week. Not sure what the downvotes are about in this case.