Vitamin D Life
- COVID-19 increased: 3.5 if Ultra-Orthodox, 2.6X if dark skin (52,000 Israelis) - Sept, 2020
- Ultra-orthodox Jews also suffer from 10 ng vitamin D levels – Nov 2010
- Note: Beards probably have decreased effectiveness of masks
- Note the women (with higher levels of Vitamin D) do not wear as much conealing clothes nor do they have beards
- Concealing clothing worn by Christian Orthodox monks result in low vitamin D (9 ng) – Nov 2018 - similar concealing clothing
- 15 Vitamin D Life pages had CLOTH in title as of Aug 2021
Extremely high SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in a strictly-Orthodox Jewish community in the UK - Feb 2021
Preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.01.21250839
View ORCID ProfileKatherine M Gaskell, Marina Johnson, Victoria Gould, Adam Hunt, Neil RH Stone, View ORCID ProfileWilliam Waites, Ben Kasstan, Tracey Chantler, Sham Lal, View ORCID ProfileChrissy h. Roberts, View ORCID ProfileDavid Goldblatt, View ORCID ProfileRosalind M Eggo, View ORCID ProfileMichael M Marks
Background Ethnic and religious minorities have been disproportionately affected by SARS-CoV-2 worldwide. The UK strictly-Orthodox Jewish community has been severely affected by the pandemic. This group shares characteristics with other ethnic minorities including larger family sizes, higher rates of household crowding and relative socioeconomic deprivation. We studied a UK strictly-Orthodox Jewish population to understand how COVID-19 had spread within this community.
Methods We performed a household-focused cross-sectional SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey specific to three antigen targets. Randomly-selected households completed a standardised questionnaire and underwent serological testing with a multiplex assay for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies. We report clinical illness and testing before the serosurvey, seroprevalence stratified by age and gender. We used random-effects models to identify factors associated with infection and antibody titres.
Findings A total of 343 households, consisting of 1,759 individuals, were recruited. Serum was available for 1,242 participants. The overall seroprevalence for SARS-CoV-2 was 64.3% (95% CI 61.6-67.0%). The lowest seroprevalence was 27.6% in children under 5 years and rose to 73.8% in secondary school children and 74% in adults. Antibody titres were higher in symptomatic individuals and declined over time since reported COVID-19 symptoms, with the decline more marked for nucleocapsid titres. Interpretation In this tight-knit religious minority population in the UK, we report one of the highest SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence levels in the world to date. In the context of this high force of infection, all age groups experienced a high burden of infection. Actions to reduce the burden of disease in this and other minority populations are urgently required.
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From PDF
- "Our estimate of 65% population seroprevalence is markedly higher than recent estimates of 6.9% (95%CI 6.3-7.4%) nationally and 10.8% (95% CI 9.3-12.5%) in London by random sampling in October by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)"