Denver Catholic

I f you're like me, you're probably tired of hearing about the coronavirus pandemic. What's even worse, however, is to have to listen to all the conspiracy theories – from both sides. For whatever reason, I seem to have friends on both sides that believe in some of these conspiracy the- ories. From the right, there are those who believe the U.S. government and pharmaceutical companies are driving the coronavirus epidemic and using it to their advantage to make money or to outlaw religion. From the left, I hear that the president is forcing agencies like the CDC to issue inaccurate scientific statements that minimize the severity of the epidemic. As with many conspiracy theories, they are ultimately unsupported nonsense and lead us nowhere except to further divide us. It's time to take a collective "deep breath" and think about where we have been and what we currently know. The objective and unbiased facts are this: A coronavirus, previously unknown to us, has gotten into the human population and spread throughout the world. And this is the worst-case scenario; a new virus for which everyone is susceptible, for which there is no vaccine and that spreads through casual contact. In this case, the only available public-health response was to try and limit its spread through human behavior modification. As a result, in March of 2020, based upon epidemiological models and the best advice from public health officials, most of the country adopted a series of risk-reducing measures that led all the way to the shutdowns. In their decision making, public health officials erred on the side of safety. This is a reasonable course of action, given the priority that we should rightly place upon preserving human life. Now let's fast-forward approximately two months. We certainly know significantly more than we did at the beginning, and this should guide future policy decisions. Specifically, we know more about who is most likely to die after being infected. First, however, let's review how people are getting infected with this virus; something that we already knew from other respiratory viruses before all this started, yet has not been emphasized. We know that the primary means of transmission is by close contact between people in which infected droplets from one person move to another, generally by coughing or sneezing. In general, the role of the asymptomatic carrier in transmission has been overstated. From previous studies of other respiratory viruses, we know that in many cases, people without symptoms are expelling fewer infectious particles than those who are sick; this is consistent with what we know about viral replication. The reason people show symptoms is because the epithelial cells lining the respiratory tract are infected and then die; literally exploding and releasing virus particles. Those without symptoms have more healthy epithelial cells and are releasing fewer virus particles. So yes, asymptomatic carriers can theoretically transmit the virus, however, this is not thought to be the primary means of transmission and should not overly concern us. Another secondary way that this virus can be transmitted that has also been over emphasized is by contamination of surfaces. There were many news reports describing how long the virus can survive on a surface. Please keep in mind one very important thing. These are all artificial and simulated studies. The only conclusion that 13 DENVER CATHOLIC | JUNE 13-26, 2020 Around the Archdiocese

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