Symposium summary: DEBUNKED, MISCONCEPTIONS SURROUNDING COVID-19 IN PUBLIC HEALTH

Written By: Arushi Sahai (CC'23)
Event Moderated By: Kat Wu (CC'23)
Student Organizers: Boyuan Chen (SEAS'23), John Nguyen (CC'23), Nick Vaughan (CC'22)
Speakers: Dr. Bob Fullilove (Columbia University), Dr. Vincent Racaniello (Columbia University),  Dr. George Gao (Director, Chinese CDC)

Overview: We are covering the medical and public health/social side of COVID-19

Medical-related questions:
How does COVID-19 compare to past epidemics?

• COVID-19 is the most dangerous of swine flu, SARS, etc because it overwhelms healthcare systems (the number of people requiring hospitalization is unprecedented) 
• The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic is the only one that comes close… we haven’t seen something like this for a century!
• Experts have been expecting a virus like this for a while but could not predict when it would occur. Others say that it could have been prevented using technology (aka vaccines) 
• What’s hard about coronavirus is that a lot of people are asymptomatic 

What are the resources most urgent to finding a solution to the problem?

• We have to do a lot of testing and contact tracing
• We have to figure out how to protect essential workers, especially health workers 
• There’s no way to rush the development of a vaccine 
• We must share information for vaccine development amongst countries-- solidarity is key
• There are over 70 vaccines in development right now… it’s a fault of our system that most of these companies just want a profit, and that’s why we didn’t have a vaccine ready for this pandemic 

There is a dramatic difference between different countries of mortality rates and case rates. Why is that? What are countries doing differently?

• COVID-19 in America has exploited the social faults that are usually covered. Higher rates of mortality exist in areas with higher rates of diabetes, densely packed communities, etc.
• 80% of infections are mild or unapparent. If we don’t know the denominator of infections, the “case rate” isn’t going to be accurate. It varies according to population, medical care, and testing. 

Public health/social-related questions:
How have narratives in the news and social media contributed to incidents of racism and xenophobia, and how do they play a role in COVID-response?

• It’s problematic that the US government described this as the “Chinese flu.” We have a tendency to blame people, especially now that millions have lost their jobs, rather than listening to science and reason.  
• The virus has persisted more in black neighborhoods, which makes COVID-19 seem like a “disparity disease” where only some people are impacted and everyone else is going to be okay. This is dangerous thinking because it can lead to second and third waves.
• Fake news of bad science feeds the frenzy of people wanting to blame others for the virus, when we should be blaming the virus itself. 
• News perpetuates scientific hypotheses that are often not peer reviewed
• Mixing science and public opinion together is dangerous 

How should the public view pandemics of foreign origins?

• Leave this question for the scientists
• The “Spanish” flu has been misnamed for more than a hundred years-- it wasn’t actually “from” spain
• The national origins of a virus have nothing to do with the mortality associated with it

Audience questions:
How will climate change affect the viruses we see in the future?

• Climate getting warmer takes away seasonality. There will be changes in terms of where viruses occur

What is the most likely time frame of the virus?

• Public health officials are worried about going back to normal too quickly. It’s likely we’ll have multiple waves before we see the end because even with social distancing, the virus is still resting in pockets.  
• We have to balance the disease control. Currently looking to China for an example of bringing down the case rate (zero cases for a month!) and see what happens when China opens back up.

Why are the rates of infection and death so high in the US compared to other countries?

• We were very slow getting prepared. Our leadership had us wait too long, even though we had committees anticipating that a virus was coming. We didn’t invest in building up vaccines, etc. We also didn’t convince the American public that it was in their best interests to socially isolate fast enough.

What is the best way to tell which news is scientific information we can trust?

•  It’s crucial to seek out scientists themselves that are communicating rather than the press
• Social media makes it possible for scientists to communicate directly to the public

Did the virus originate from animals and got passed to humans?

• This is based on our knowledge of other viruses as well. We know that these kinds of viruses come from animals in general, and we believe it was a mammal 

Could the next viral pandemic occur soon?

• We have had a series of viral pandemics in recent history, so it will probably happen again often. The features of modern life that make it easy for a pathogen to be transmitted exist, like high mobility, dense living, etc
• The next time this happens, the virus will behave differently 

How should we react to skepticism in the news towards test results and the suspicion that there are underestimates?

• We should expect that as a truth that there are people who are dying at home or who hadn’t been tested, so we are definitely undercounting the mortality rate
• There is a lot of skepticism that is fed by the inaccuracies in the numbers today. We are still debating the best metric for determining when we should go back
• Testing is very iffy for a brand-new virus. We can depend on knowing the extent of this outbreak in 2-3 years