Brian Barrett: For the first time in many years, I thought about contact tracing and I was very glad that I didn’t think about it for so long because it is a very complicated process and really challenging work. Emily, with all this in mind, what is the level of concern given what the World Health Organization and other organizations are saying? This sounds like caution, but maybe it’s not time to panic yet, but I’m giving you the floor because maybe I’m just trying to feel better.
Emily Mullin: No, I think you’re right. The hantavirus expert I spoke with said there have been clusters of the Andean strain in the past, but not major outbreaks. These clusters usually involve long-term close contact with people with the disease. This is a virus that does not spread as efficiently as other respiratory viruses we are used to, such as Covid or the flu. Hantavirus symptoms are also usually quite severe. So this is not again a virus like Covid, where many people are circulating infected with the disease and spreading it asymptomatically without knowing it. That’s at least a bit of consolation, although the flip side of that is that the disease is quite grave. So the World Health Organization says the risk to the general public is currently low and this is likely not another Covid-19 situation.
Brian Barrett: Leah, how are we feeling?
Leah Feiger: Not good, guys. I don’t know. Are you kidding? How do you feel? Maybe this is my moment to ask, “Are you with me yet?”
Brian Barrett:No, it was fine, but then Emily hit me probably pretty challenging in a way that suddenly made me feel a little more anxious.
Leah Feiger: Yes, it was probably swallowed.
Emily Mullin: I was the one who edited it. The World Health Organization probably did not take into account.
Brian Barrett: Okay. What if they just wrote it in italics or in huge quotation marks? Like it’s “probably” okay.
Leah Feiger: I don’t know, guys. I think, first of all, I’m fascinated by the fact that there are different variations of this phenomenon. And so early on I went back to the armchair scientists of the early days of Covid who said, “No, no, no, everything is fine.” So to officially declare this disease, yes, it is a strain that can spread from person to person, and I think that is at least noteworthy. You have to give it to me.
Brian Barrett: Oh, I think that’s true. And I think my open questions are, how long do these people have to stay on this ship before everyone says, “OK, you can go now,” or do they send them back to shore and just isolate them for a certain amount of time? Contact tracing is disturbing because I’m having flashbacks again. But I think what you said, Emily, about how this is different from Covid in critical ways in terms of how quickly it can spread and how easily it can spread, especially now that we have the mechanisms in place to do contact tracing, I won’t worry too much just yet.