In joining other members of Bowling Green City Council tonight in support of the Resolution regarding the need to Promote Public Safety as local commerce resumes, I need to emphasize that the danger of infection by the novel COVID-19 is much greater now than it was back in March, 2020, when we were forced into a lock-down. This is because there are now many more infected and contagious people than there were just a few months ago. Where? Here in Bowling Green and Wood County, all over Ohio, and across the country. Any one of us can get infected and infect others without knowing it, since (1) many infected people are contagious before having symptoms, (2) others are contagious without EVER developing symptoms, and (3) there are not enough tests available to test people who don’t have symptoms. As a result, for our own safety and that of others, we should assume that the virus is all around us, and potentially in our own bodies.
According to a recent scientific report from the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Science (published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science), 46% of new infections are spread by infected persons who don’t yet show symptoms (pre-symptomatic persons), and 10% of infections are spread by asymptomatic persons who will never show symptoms. This means that more than half of the new infections are due to people that don’t know they are infected — and that could be any one of us! Here is the link to this article: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6491/eabb6936. This is actually a hopeful article because it shows that we can reduce the chances of spreading with digital contact tracing, and so contain the epidemic. Please, check out this article!
How does wearing face masks protect others? Recent research shows that the virus can spread through tiny droplets from our lungs that are emitted when we speak. These droplets stay suspended in the air for many minutes. This was documented in a recent scientific report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Here is the link. For this reason, it is extremely important that we all wear face masks in public places like stores and other public buildings. If we don’t wear masks, these tiny droplets will remain in the air after we leave and infect other customers or the people who work in the places we have visited. It is essential to keep in mind the Ohio motto for COVID-19: We are all in this together — literally meaning that we need to think of the safety of others if we are to stay safe and free of infections ourselves.
Finally, to ensure that we avoid a ‘second wave’ of infections as we open up the economy and gradually move toward normalization, we will need statewide Contact Isolation – with medical and nutritional support — so that infected people do not endanger those they love. This approach is being used successfully in countries such as Israel, China, and Korea, which is why they have been able to control the epidemic while minimizing disruptions to their economies. We must be doubly cautious until such programs are fully implemented in Ohio. For details on Contact Isolation please see this recent report at this link: The Key Tool to a Safe Opening is not Social Distancing but Contact Isolation. Here is an excerpt:
This is how Contact Isolation works: Most adults are permitted to return to work and routine activities, though masks, for now, should continue to be required. Anytime someone tests positive — regardless of symptoms — their close contacts are identified. The person with the positive test result and all of those contacts are then required to move temporarily into a government-run, hygienic, isolated environment — probably in a hotel or similar setting — until they can be ruled out as infectious. For anyone who tests positive, the tracing program would extend to their close contacts, and so on. In Hong Kong, many people get out of isolation in just a few days, thanks to the availability of tests. Daily tests per capita in America today are higher than in most countries with contact isolation programs, so it is likely that a similar pattern would occur among Americans.
This strategy is highly effective at breaking the chain of transmission, not least because contacts are presumptively isolated. Thus, contact isolation does not depend on mass testing but, rather, reduces the load on the testing infrastructure.
This system also encourages compliance because the centralized facilities would provide isolated individuals with all their basic needs (plus daily supervision so they would get treatment if they become sick). Food and medication can be delivered, WiFi would be free, and governments should provide financial compensation for lost work time. And, since covid-19 is much less dangerous to kids, families could choose for their children to be quarantined with them or separately, whichever they prefer. All of this would require legislation by state governments, but none of it is infeasible.
We need to learn from countries that are beating the epidemic with effective and humanely implemented Contact Isolation. The good news is we don’t have to reinvent the wheel – we just need the wisdom and political will to heed the advice of our public health authorities and implement what is known to work, and stop wishful magical thinking that the virus will disappear on its own.
Neocles Leontis, At-Large BG Council person and Professor of Biochemistry, BGSU
