We Live in Each Other’s Shadow: Social Distancing is Our Social Responsibility

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As you may know, a new coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 has been spreading, causing a disease that epidemiologists have named COVID-19. The disease is new (so the majority of people aren’t immune), spreads easily from person-to-person, and can cause severe illness in the elderly and medically fragile. The spread of the disease to so many people in so many places has led the World Health Organisation to declare the spread COVID-19 a pandemic.

The situation is very, very serious, but there are lots of steps you can be taking to keep yourself healthy. At this stage, Public Health is also needing us to keep our communities healthy through actions we call “social distancing.”

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Preparing not Panicking: Finding Good Information in a (Potential) Pandemic

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COVID-19 is a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses (like influenza viruses are a family of viruses) and circulate in our communities every year. They usually cause mild, flu-like illness. Notable exceptions to this were SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome). This coronavirus is new to humans and so public health scientists are still learning a lot about it. Like other coronaviruses, this one seems to be a zoonotic infection and crossed into humans from an animal—likely bats.

COVID-19, like its coronavirus brethren, causes fever, cough, and breathing difficulty. Public health scientists estimate 80% of people who come down with COVID-19 would experience mild symptoms and not need hospitalisation. Several cases in Washington State alone have managed their own illness without hospitalisation. While most people will have very mild illness, some people may get quite ill. Public health scientists expect that most of the severe illnesses will be in patients who are older. They also expect that most deaths will occur among older individuals.

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Bats Are Not For Snuggles: You and Nature’s Cutest Insectivores

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For the last two months, my Twitter feed has been a very long series of requests for people to not touch bats, so, in celebration of Halloween and #BatWeek, I’m going to talk about how you should (and should not) interact with one of nature’s cutest creations. I love how adorable bats are and am constantly amazed at how important they are to our natural environment. Their noses are incredible feats of evolution and wiggle like they don’t even care that my heart can hardly bear it. That said, they're not safe for humans to touch without special training and personal protective equipment. 

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Vaccine Hesitancy: A Case for Compassion

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The purpose of writing this isn’t to shame parents who are vaccine hesitant or vaccine resistant or even to convince you with data. The purpose isn't to make anyone feel like they don't love their children enough or somehow aren't smart enough to be parents. Or, honestly, to make you think that I think those things. The point of writing this is to speak to the parents who are frustrated and frightened by the declining immunisation rates in places like Vashon Island in Washington State, who are worried when they see a notice come home that there’s been an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease in their child’s school. It’s scary for parents whose children are potentially exposed and school exclusions, while effective, can cause frustration in affected communities. 

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