Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 15, 2020 (ZIZ News): Health professionals in St. Kitts and Nevis are touting the benefits of the sun in the fight against COVID-19.
Medical Chief of Staff at the Joseph N. France General Hospital, Dr Cameron Wilkinson says getting sunlight at least twice a day is a great source of Vitamin D which can help to boost the immune system.
He made the recommendation during the May 13 NEOC daily briefing where he explained the benefits of having a healthy dose of Vitamin D during the pandemic.
<>“In studying the severity of persons with COVID-19, it was found that persons, like in Italy and Spain, who were doing quite poorly and requiring respiratory support and ending up dead, these persons had low Vitamin D levels whereas persons who had normal Vitamin D levels they tended to do better,” he said.
He added that persons more at risk from having low deficiency levels of Vitamin D are the elderly, males, individuals with diabetes and hypertension, persons with sedentary lifestyles (low physical activity), and others.
For residents of the twin-island federation, Dr Wilkinson noted that persons walking around town with exposure to direct sunlight would help the body to produce Vitamin D while persons who are unable to get safe amounts of sunlight were advised to take Vitamin D supplements to improve the chances of surviving the dreaded coronavirus.