CORONAVIRUS Death Thread

[Ennewi]

Myth 1. Contact Tracing. First off, this virus can spread in the asymptomatic phase and you can't start contact tracing until some presents with the disease, so its usefulness is blunted from the beginning. Second, our public health system did not have enough trained personnel to do all the contact tracing work for other diseases before coronavirus--where are we getting the actual people trained to do contact tracing?

Myth 2. Antibody testing. So the idea is we just give people an antibody test and if they are positive than they are immune and safe to be moving about. Sounds great, right? Except we don't have a good idea of what these tests mean with regards to immunity. First problem, false positives. Many of these tests cross react with antibodies raised by your body against non-COVID19 coronaviruses that you have been exposed to in your life. Second problem, without a vaccinated control group that we know is immune, we don't know where to set the threshold of the test to claim immunity and this varies for every disease. We have no idea what a positive on these tests actually means in terms of immunity.

Myth 3. Herd immunity. Viruses evolve. Every person that gets infected is an experiment for the virus. It makes billions of copies of itself and everyone has a chance to be a new mutant that will evade any herd immunity that has been acquired and will start spreading freely again. If we let this virus just burn through our country, everything we know about viral evolution tells us that it will evolve variants that can reinfect those that are currently immune. This is one of the reasons for keeping the global case count low, until a vaccine can be developed. But once a few major variants develop, than it is likely to mean a new permanent human disease and a very different and worse problem for the world.

Myth 4. Treatments. Viruses are not alive and that makes them very hard to "kill". The simplest bacteria that we have discovered has to do nearly 200 biochemical and biophysical reactions to stay alive. Many of those reactions can be targeted specifically (without hurting our cells) with drugs to kill the bacteria and that is why we have so many effective antibiotics. Do you know how many biochemical and biophysical reactions a virus needs to do in the environment? Zero. That is why it is not alive. It is inert. Understand that drugs to treat this disease will only reduce symptoms. That may save lives, but people will still be in hospitals and on ventilators. The likelihood of a magic cure is very remote. Cures for most viruses don't exist, vaccines however do, which must be taken as a preventative measure. We are really good at making those and we will, it just takes time.

The current thinking within the scientific community (that I'm hearing from at least) is that, by the end of June, more than a few metropolitan areas in the U.S. will be at NYC levels during its peak. Atlanta may be one of them, based on how the general population is responding.

My fellow Watkinsville citizens:

These have been uncertain times, but I believe it is time to turn off the television and all the distractions in the media and get back to the basics.

Our parents and grandparents worked thru tougher times than these: World War II, the Great Depression. Even the Great Recession challenged us over a decade ago beyond our comfortable existence.

I have the utmost faith in the creativity, ingenuity, and perseverance of the citizens of this city to return to work safely and effectively to serve others and provide for their families.

Fearless fire fighters and police officers ran into burning buildings on Sept. 11, 2001.

Soldiers walked onto the battlefield with bombs flying overhead during multiple wars to protect our freedoms.

It's now time for us to emerge from our homes and utilize smart, common-sense safe distance practices and resume our lives.

It is imperative for our emotional, spiritual, physical, and economic health.

I encourage you to get outdoors and exercise. Go to work. Earn a living. Assemble to worship. And be grateful for every day we have.

Because life is a gift.

Let's not waste it continuing to sit at home, looking at four walls.

As those brave Americans said on Flight 91 over Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, LETS ROLL!

Your Mayor,
Bob Smith