"I Can't Breathe", the Demonstrations and Equal Opportunity Virus Myths

The Demonstrations

“I can’t breathe” the final words of George Floyd before his life was taken by a police officer kneeling on his neck. Also coincidentally, the same phrase used by Eric Garner in 2014 as he died at the hands of the police. To be honest, as a physician I can hardly breathe when I watch the video of these men being asphyxiated!

The demonstrations are without doubt justified and the obscene number of deaths inflicted on African Americans in this country is a public health issue, and a valid source of outrage, as are all forms of violence and social injustice.

I have a big concern right now for the protestors because there may be an increase in Covid infections among them. I realize that in the heat of the moment Covid precautions may not be top of mind but in my opinion they need to be. Clearly there is no social distancing and many are not wearing masks. In addition, shouting increases the spread of droplets which may contain the virus. They should also be wearing gloves if they are going to be in such close proximity. Perhaps those trying to disperse them could use something that would deter the spread  of the virus rather than tear gas which increases the likelihood of injury to the mucous membranes and hence increases Covid spread!

The wearing of a mask has now been politicized, have we as a country just gone plain crazy? How does doing something to protect yourself and those around you become a partisan issue?

The number of hospitalizations and deaths in Maryland and DC is starting to level off. Virginia is still on the rise. My gut, and positive thinking, tells me that we should be on the other side of this in a couple of weeks but then again, now we have the riots! Let’s see how they impact us.

Myths

It is beyond comprehension that myths about Covid still persist after 105,000 deaths but unfortunately they do.

So let’s go over some of them again because our lives depend on the truth.

1.  “Masks don’t help”

(Reuters Health) –“ Cloth masks may help prevent transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus by at least partially blocking droplets expelled by people when they speak, cough and sneeze, researchers say.

While the weave of cloth masks may not be tight enough to block individual virus particles, most virions spread in aerosols (smaller than 5 micrometers) or larger droplets, and there is ample evidence that the masks can prevent such droplets from getting into the air or onto surfaces, the authors argue in an opinion piece published in the Annals of Internal Medicine last week”

(Cloth Masks Can Help Stop Spread of COVID-19 - Medscape - May 27, 2020.)

Let me break that down for you: Most virus particles are not floating around in the air, they are usually in droplets which are bigger than the actual virus. These droplets are stopped by having something covering your nose and mouth period!

This issue really needs to be put to bed so we can move on.

2.  “Regular people will not get sick from Covid if they don’t have underlying conditions”.

The Covid-19 virus also known as the SARS-2 19 virus is an equal opportunity virus. Anyone, anywhere, any age can get it and get very sick from it. There are of course other factors which determine if someone is going to die from it. Some of which I have gone over before.

3.  “Just as many people die from the flu”. Actually when you die you usually don’t care too much about the cause. This is how frivolous this argument is. Literally hot air nonsense!

Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.

105,000 people have died in 3 months from Covid! Which means that if you add up all the deaths in 2018 of the 46,000 Americans who died from opioid overdoses, the 36,500 who died in traffic accidents and the nearly 40,000 who died from gun violence  we can expect more than that with another 3 months of the pandemic. Just so you can understand how devastating this is, and will continue to be if we don’t turn it around.

4.  “You are usually only really sick for a week” and then you recover.  Some people even talk about getting it so they can “get it over with”! No, you don’t necessarily live happily ever after,14 days later.

There is a Post-Covid syndrome in some people which lasts for a month or more after they ‘recover’.

People continue to shed the virus in their stool for over a month. We don’t know yet if they are still contagious. The average time a patient stays in ICU with Covid is 14 days if they need a ventilator, if not it is 11 days. It costs between $10,479 and $4000 per day in the ICU. $1500 a day on the regular floor.

5.   “Social distancing is just a hoax to keep us separated (or from rallying)”. A study out of Minnesota lasts week showed conclusively that social distancing is responsible for 40% or more less deaths nationwide than those predicted by models in different cities across the US. Enough said: like the slogan says Just Do It! Why would you not? I understand... a demonstration but you need to be alive to make an impact.