Garth Rattray | Dangerous, divergent COVID-19 rhetoric

One of my esteemed colleagues has publicly and repeatedly professed to having so much knowledge of virology and such a prodigious understanding of this new and deadly (SARS-CoV-2) plague that he has decided that our epidemiologists, infectious disease and public health specialists are all wrong and are acting with “absolute hysteria”.

He has given our Ministry of Health and Wellness a failing grade, an “extreme F”, for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, when explaining his ‘expertise’ in virology to the TVJ’s ‘Smile Jamaica, It’s Morning Time’ hosts, my colleague only spoke to his medical student days, when he observed patients with HIV, HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 (all obviously incomparable to SARS-CoV-2).

Like Donald Trump before him, he said that this is a “winter virus”, which will dissipate in heat. We all know how that turned out. Generally, the increase in any respiratory viral infection during winter is due to the cold, dry conditions and human behaviour at that time. Conversely, tropical conditions appear to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses, but there is a multiplicity of factors at work, not just the temperature and humidity. Additionally, SARS-CoV-2 is not the same as any of the other coronaviruses that cause the common cold/influenza. SARS-CoV-2 is a novel (brand new) coronavirus to which the human immune system is naïve. It is extremely unpredictable and has unique attributes, which make it a formidable and dangerous pathogen.

SARS-CoV-2 is more dangerous than the flu because: Many people infected with SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic carriers, they spread it to unsuspecting, exposed and vulnerable people. The reproductive number, severity of infection and need for critical care are higher than with the flu. SARS-CoV-2 interacts with non-communicable diseases in ways hitherto unseen and sometimes results in severe organ damage and long-term disabilities. The crude mortality ratio for SARS-CoV-2 is generally between three to four per cent, it is below 0.1 per cent for the seasonal flu. Consequently, all sensible scientists and health authorities strongly advise that, despite the climate, hot countries should adhere to COVID-19 prevention policies, but my colleague adamantly disagrees.

My colleague also claimed that the vaccine was manufactured in the likeness of the winter virus, and therefore must be stored in sub-zero conditions. This is farcical; several vaccines for non-winter viruses require sub-zero storage too, and the Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine can be stored at regular fridge temperature (2-8°C).

INACCURATE

It should be noted that the summer of 2020 was still relatively early days for our experience with the virus, and there were mitigation procedures in effect. As the year progressed, community spread increased significantly, but several restrictions were eased in order to stimulate the economy. So, to attribute lower summer figures in New York and California and the recent easing of the mask mandate in Australia solely to the warm weather is inaccurate.

Like Buju Banton and Donald Trump, my colleague criticised the wearing of face masks. He said that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is so small (0.125 microns) that masks cannot stop it. But viruses never fly naked through the air; they travel within or attached to droplets or aerosolised particles; masks will stop most of those. Masks are vital because they protect you from me and me from you, and, at the very least, they lower the transmission dose (the inoculum).

My colleague’s only prescription for protecting ourselves against COVID-19 is, “Exercise, lose weight, control your metabolic conditions, make your body very hostile to the coronavirus setting up and making disease inside your body, and control your cholesterol…”. Even when pressed, he made no mention of sanitising, distancing and wearing masks.

My neurosurgeon colleague blasted infectious disease specialist Dr Wilmore Webley for not agreeing with him. Dr Webley subsequently posted this on social media: “I am not a medical doctor and never claimed to be. What I am is an expert in infectious disease. That is what SARS-CoV-2 is. I would never presume to tell a neurosurgeon how to do surgical procedures. That is why specialities were created. However, when you have a physician who specialized in a surgical speciality after four years of medical school and one course in medical microbiology, telling people that if you turn off your AC and go outside then you do not need to worry about one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we have ever encountered, his statements have to be countered. This is not something I am guessing about. I work with infectious microbes every day in my research lab. I understand the nature of these infections. I read just about everything that has been peer reviewed and published since this pandemic started. I know what I am talking about.”

Those who think that we are being hysterical about COVID-19 should speak with victims, recovering victims, chronic sufferers, relatives of the dead, any ER physician, and note what Associate Professor Alverston Bailey (from University of Technology, Jamaica) said: “Our case fatality rate is now 2.33 per cent which is higher than the USA, which as at December 12, 2020, was 1.84 per cent. Our average positivity rate (a marker of community spread) between December 1-12 is 9.3, with a range from 7.2 to 14.9. The above data reveal some uncomfortable truths; namely, that despite a valiant effort on the part of the Government to contain the virus we are faltering, and the primary cause for this is widespread complacency on the part of the populace and a serious lack of understanding of the nature of the challenge that we face.”

This herd immunity (by infection) proponent, anti-vaxxer neurosurgeon seeks to usurp all epidemiologists, infectious disease and public health specialists yet doesn’t even know that SARS-CoV-2 infection does not impart long-term immunity. He ignores the fact that vaccines save billions of lives. This current vaccine began development with SARS-1 (in 2003) and MERS (in 2012). It combines new technology with old science. I urge Jamaicans to ignore people like him and listen closely to the real experts.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.