Clarifications

A number of terms and stories that have been in the media recently are not exactly what they seem, but unfortunately people just read a headline and don't look any further...

❌ Defund the police: This term has gotten a lot of publicity recently through the Black Lives Matter protests. It doesn't mean to eliminate the police, or not provide any public safety services. The "defund" movement was already in progress before the current protests. It refers more to reallocating the funds currently spent on things like military-grade equipment, and direct it to services that support communities, like people trained in dealing with mental health issues, substance abuse, domestic violence, etc. It doesn't take resources away from innocent people who need assistance; if anything, it directs them in a more useful way. Camden, NJ is being cited a lot right now as an example of successfully disbanding the police.

❌ Coronavirus doesn't spread via surfaces: Toward the end of May, the CDC announced that surfaces are "not the main way" the coronavirus spreads. And everyone rejoiced that they no longer had to be as diligent about hand hygiene, cleaning high-touch surfaces, etc. Unfortunately, this wasn't actually anything new, it had already been determined that the virus is more likely spread via respiratory droplets than fomites (contaminated objects). That doesn't mean that all surfaces are safe - someone could have coughed on an object, or coughed on their hand and then used that hand to touch something. The CDC tried to clarify that they aren't changing any guidance, but I bet a lot of people heard they no longer have to wash their hands and aren't looking back 🤷‍♀️

❌ Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is rare: This week, the WHO announced that the virus isn't really spread by patients who don't have symptoms. And everyone said, hooray, we only need to be wary of the really obviously sick people! Once again, the organization had to clarify their comments. There are 3 types of people who could be infected but not have symptoms: truly asymptomatic (they test positive but never have symptoms), mild symptoms (maybe they chalk it up to a cold or allergies), and pre-symptomatic (they don't have symptoms now, but will develop them). A meaningful number of mild and pre-symptomatic people do transmit the disease to others, and even truly asymptomatic people can transmit the disease, especially with prolonged, close contact. Bottom line, social distancing, masks, etc. are still worthwhile, and just taking people's temperature isn't really going to tell you if they're likely to spread the virus.

❌ Dr. Fauci says masks are just symbolic: Not sure how widespread this one is, I just saw one person post an article with information and quotes taken totally out of context and presenting old information as new. In the actual interview with Dr. Fauci, he says masks are effective and he wears one as a symbol of what you should do (he probably should have said "to be an example" to others). The false article also refers to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that was originally published on April 1 but for some reason reposted on another NEJM site in late May, so was being misrepresented as new information. Either way, it's nothing we haven't heard before: cloth masks are meant to protect others, not the wearer; you also need hand hygiene; virus is most likely to spread with prolonged, close contact, but other preventative measures are still worthwhile. Even information from a legitimate source like the NEJM can be twisted to fit an alternative narrative if it's cherry-picked, misattributed, and taken out of context.