CRiiAS Streams Online Conference on COVID-19 Featuring Public Health Experts
Date 03/30/2020
by Abimarie Rivera Martínez
Student Reporter
Office of Communications
Río Piedras Campus – UPR
In light of the world-wide crisis triggered by the quick spread of COVID-19, a group of public and mental health experts from the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico (RRP-UPR) and from the Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU) joined forces to offer Puerto Rico residents information about the new pandemic that has affected 188 countries and has reported more than 534,000 positive cases.
The online conference, titled Biology, Health, and Epidemiology of COVID-19 (La Biología, Salud y Epidemiología del COVID-19), was organized by the campus’ Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Undergraduate Learning (CRiiAS). The panel featured Dr. Melissa Marzán Rodríguez, associate professor at PHSU; Dr. Gary Toranzos Soria, professor at the Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences at RRP-UPR; and Dr. David Pérez Jiménez, director of the Institute of Psychological Research in the College of Social Sciences of the RRP-UPR. They provided important information regarding the challenges currently being faced in Puerto Rico as a result of the virus on the island.
By March 26, about 80 cases of COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) had been detected in Puerto Rico. However, epidemiologists estimate that the real numbers could be around 1,400, based on the trends seen in other countries.
At the beginning, Dr. Carmen Maldonado Vlaar, director of CRiiAS, introduced the panelists. Afterward, Dr. David Pérez Jiménez, director of the Institute of Psychological Research and the Center for Social Research (both affiliated to the College of Social Sciences), gave his presentation titled Between fear and anxiety and our capacity to manage community social psychology (Entre el miedo y ansiedad y nuestra capacidad para manejar la psicología social comunitaria). During his presentation, the psychologist explained that the current situation has generated intense feelings of vulnerability, fear, and panic of being infected.
“The literature states that the pandemic has triggered the emergence of many mental illnesses, but it also mentions the most frequent emotional reactions to these illnesses.” Reactions include anxiety, worry, fear, panic, social isolation, feeling helpless, and others. “The ones that are mostly mentioned in the literature are fear and anxiety,” the expert in topics like HIV/AIDS and partner violence explained.
The researcher added that these reactions occur mainly because of the newness of this pandemic and because of the unavailability of a vaccine that can cure the illness or lower the chances of infection.
Along these lines, he added that scientific documentation recommends controlling exposure to the media, such as spending no more than 30 minutes watching the news and making sure people don’t lose their sense of humor.
“The literature suggests that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be led by emotions, but to focus on reason,” he underscored.
He also urged the community not to underestimate the capacity for resilience of Puerto Rico residents or the breadth of the virus, and to not allow fear to control us.
“This epidemic will leave [Puerto Rico] just like it did Wuhan. Soon, we will be able to wear t-shirts emblazoned with ‘I survived coronavirus!’” he concluded.
Increased exposure to infections, viruses, bacteria, and pandemics
In his own presentation, virologist Dr. Toranzos Soria said that as the population increases, the probability of infection will also increase. He urged people to learn from past pandemics.
“We forget that when colonizers came to the Americas, they brought countless illnesses that killed much of the local population,” he said.
The scholar put the origin of COVID-19 in context, as well as the virus’s mutation when it passed from animals to human beings.
“The more virulent the pathogen, the lower the risk of infection, because people feel sick and stay at home, but the lower the virulence of the pathogen, there’s a higher chance of infection, because when people have mild, moderate, or no symptoms, they believe they’re well and leave the house, go to the supermarket, go shopping, and expose themselves and others to infection,” he indicated.
As for the mutation process, the environmental virology and microbial ecology expert revealed that this can occur when a person hunts and comes in direct contact with the animal’s fluids, therefore creating favorable conditions for viruses and bacteria to spread from animals to humans. He also explained that the current situation can be classified as a tropism, which means that viral strains that are more likely to spread from animals to humans may transfer to humans from a particular tissue.
He also underscored that the genome present in coronavirus is RNA, not DNA, which makes it more difficult to fight the virus. Furthermore, the researcher mentioned there’s a higher frequency of mutation in virus that carry the RNA genome.
On the other hand, the microbiology professor did not recommend wearing latex gloves for daily use. He explained that the virus can linger on the gloves and spread infection if they aren’t properly disposed of. Therefore, he urged doctors to wear fabric gloves and face masks, and to wash them in boiling water and one percent of Clorox to make them reusable.
COVID-19 from the perspective of epidemiology
Dr. Marzán Rodríguez shared the updated contagion numbers and the coronavirus symptomology available up to March 24, 2020. In her presentation, she reminded viewers that COVID-19 is a new infection, since it is the first time it has been detected in humans. She underscored that it can be transmitted from one person to another.
She also confirmed that even though the virus remains active on surfaces, it does not necessarily mean it can be transmitted to people. The public health expert stated, that, to this date, there are more than one thousand scientific publications about the SARS-COV-2.
“This information is cataloged as ‘descriptive epidemiology.’ We are approaching half a million cases around the world and the available information is highly important to prevent the spread [of the virus],” the former epidemiologist of the Office of HIV/AIDS at the Department of Health emphasized.
As for the manner in which the infection is behaving around the world, the alumni from the undergraduate program of anthropology at RRP-UPR said that, even though the situation in Spain is severe, as is New York’s, the United States population is heterogenous, which is why experts can’t pinpoint how the virus will behave, as much in North America as in Puerto Rico.
Like the other two panelists, the PHSU associate professor agreed that although 80% of cases can be considered mild or moderate, not everyone will require hospital attention.
Uncertain the COVID-19 mortality rate in Puerto Rico
The number of deaths by COVID-19 has reached almost 25,000 worldwide. Nevertheless, Dr. Marzán Rodríguez believes that the international mortality rate depends on the population in each country and risk factors such as age, preexisting conditions, and the state of people’s immune system.
When answering questions about possible mortality rates on the island should the infection continue to spread, the epidemiologist said that, “we can’t determine a specific mortality rate or make any reliable predictions,” because only a few diagnostic tests are available and not everyone can be tested.
“The rate in other countries is four percent on average, but until we have accurate statistics as to the number of infections, we won’t be able to make a reliable prediction,” she added.
The public health specialist was firm when explaining that once the virus is contracted, the person can recover in about 14 days. In severe cases, recovery can take up to six weeks.
She underscored the importance of keeping up to date with current statistics so Puerto Rico’s public health system can prepare in case that, as seen in international statistics, five percent of infected cases require intensive care.
Social distancing as a preventive method
Dr. Marzán Rodríguez emphasized the importance of continuing social distancing as a measure against the spread of infection. However, Dr. Pérez Jiménez, a mental health specialist, didn’t agree with the use of the term “social distancing” because of its implications in social behavior. He offered examples, such as people choosing not to engage in conversation in public spaces instead of simply standing at the recommended distance.
Although this term is used in the field of public health, Dr. Marzán Rodríguez agreed that the term must be reexamined, which is why both health specialists agreed that “physical distancing” would be a more appropriate term.
An appeal to mass media
According to the data presented by Dr. Pérez Jiménez, mental health statistics have shot up around the world because of SARS-COV-2; Puerto Rico hasn’t been the exception. For this reason, the community social psychologist used the opportunity to make an appeal to mass media not to focus on negative news.
“Mass media has focused on disseminating negative news that raise fear and anxiety levels in the population. However, there are reasons to be optimistic right now. For example, 24.1% of people infected around the world recover satisfactorily from COVID-19 versus the 4.5% of deaths after facing complications associated with the coronavirus or to preexisting conditions. We should focus on these recovery rates,” he underscored.
Autumn and winter would see a spike in infections
Dr. Toranzos Soria appeared concerned about the arrival of autumn and winter in the southern hemisphere. He remarked that the virus is now beginning to spread in South America, and, that the lower temperatures could worsen the rate of infection, since it has been proven that viruses thrive in lower temperatures rather higher temperatures.
Training certification
CRiiAS director Carmen Maldonado Vlaar announced that everyone who accessed the online panel Biology, Health, and Epidemiology of COVID-19 can request a training certificate by emailing criias.degi@upr.edu.
The conference is available in the CRiiAS YouTube channel at the following address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcZdSMDaWrc.
The conference was followed by 237 people.
