May 14 to May 20, 2020
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PANDEMIC & POLITICS: CONGRESSMAN AND DOCTOR RAUL RUIZ SPEAKS ABOUT DEFEATING COVID-19 BY HEIDI SIMMONS
Raul Ruiz, m.d.
U.S. Representative, 36th Congressional District “
T
he Corona virus is not going to disappear,” said Representative, Raul Ruiz, M.D., 36th Congressional District. “We need to reduce the transmission rate until we have a safe vaccine and stop the spread around the globe. We need to focus right now, because we haven’t reached the levels for containment.” Ruiz has stepped up as a leader not only for the district he serves, but also for the country. It may be great luck that our Representative is also a M.D. from Harvard Medical School, a former emergency room physician, and has a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health. It doesn’t hurt that he is the first Latino to earn three graduate degrees from Harvard University – all with honors. When Ruiz has something to say about public health, he is credible. Maybe even more important, on his Curriculum Vitae, is that he is a local graduated from Coachella Valley High School. Ruiz knows the people here, our communities, and the significance of our valley and its industries. Busy these days, Ruiz is in demand as a leader, medical expert and media spokes
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person. He is also a man of science and faith. Ruiz is not intimidating and he is generous with his time and is never condescending. He believes in education and telling people the truth. If you want to know the truth about the Corona virus and what scientists actually know, he can tell you with as much detail as you want to hear. When Ruiz talks about the nature of Covid-19 and its evolution, he is describing a monster lying in wait to invade your body and spread itself throughout your system. That is exactly what Covid does. The Corona virus requires a host, and while the strangely invisible and beautiful floret–like sphere loiters on surfaces or disperses tiny droplets in the air, it bides its time when it can get close enough to enter your body without you knowing, multiply until it steals your breath away depriving your brain and organs of oxygen. As health care professionals, virologists and a myriad of scientists and genome specialist try to get a handle on the nature of this deadly invader it moves around the globe unimpeded. It currently has no know natural enemies making it very powerful. I asked the Congressman about the evolution and life span of the virus. So, as I listened to Doctor Ruiz explain in
layperson terminology how humans have been able to survive these sophisticated organisms, I begin to see the only way to stop it is to out smart it. But how? You already know the answer. Stay away from it! Don’t let the virus anywhere near you! Pretty simple. But, it is not that simple. As Aftab Dada said in the CVW story “Surviving Covid-19: The Health and Wealth of the CV” (see this issue), “We are a society that likes to move, to get out and around.” The good doctor explained the me that the Corona virus is just beginning to get its footing as it explores its evolutionary path towards mass duplication and global take over. But Ruiz was much more scientific. He wasn’t just telling me a scary bedtime story or waxing poetic pandemic. With a few examples, Ruiz explained what scientists call the “Ro” pronounced R-naught -- the rate of transmission. He shared with ease the “Ro” as a basic reproduction ratio, a metric used by scientists to evaluate how a pathogen can spread -- and how it can be stopped. Ruiz made perfect sense as I listened carefully about the nature of a virus like Corona. The “Ro” formula determines the rate of transmission as well as containment. The virus is clever, efficient, and even elegant. If one person has it, then it can move to another. When Ruiz made the “Ro” perfectly clear, I diligently wrote it all down so I could share this amazing bit of human ingenuity. Then, he kindly simplified it -“It’s strategy,” he said in his impish enthusiasm. “It is a way to stop the spread. We want active immunity.” Ruiz clarified how we can stop the Corona virus monster. “Two things,” Ruiz said, like he was holding up his fingers to me even though we were on a phone conversation. “One: Use of a vaccine here and around the globe.” “Two: Bring down the “Ro” so individuals cannot infect someone else and it just stays with that person, and they don’t infect other people. Those are the only two scenarios to eradicate the virus.” I get this, and it isn’t too challenging for a right- brain person. “Of course, the challenge is the virus can mutate,” said Ruiz. “Once it mutates, it’s a whole new threat, because the vaccine can be rendered non-effective for the mutated virus, but also,” he said like a science fiction writer, “Our own immune system can be rendered non-effective, therefore people who got sick with the first virus, can get reinfected with the mutated virus. So that is how it is always evolving. There are reports that there is a second more aggressive corona virus out there.”
I ask about similarities to the flu? “The flu has many different strains and every year based on early infections, epidemiologists pick a handful of strains with an educated guess, put it in a vaccine so you are protected from those strains and it decreases the severity if you get sick.” “In this case, there are not dozens of corona virus,” he said making perfect sense. I think to myself, “novel” Corona virus. It means unique. “If we [Ruiz, doctors, scientists, Coachella Valley residents?] can get it right and get the one predominate strain, then we can make a bigger difference with a vaccine for this virus. “In terms of its lifespan, the corona virus is not going to disappear.” I had to ask. We live in a desert where temperatures reach triple digits. Does heat stop the spread? “Heat does not kill the virus and is not a form of treatment,” Ruiz says definitively. “Those who are carriers, and if they sneeze, cough, or spittle lands on your face, you may get infected and the heat won’t change that. If droplets land on a surface of something, extreme heat may shorten the lifespan on some objects based on bench studies, not case studies. Even with our heat, we are still seeing people get infected, and still seeing deaths. Other areas around the globe with warm environments are not seeing any change just because it’s hot. We can’t lower our guard or have a false sense of security during summer because the virus is still going to be in our community even at 100 to 125 degree heat.” In the companion article “Surviving Covid19,” Palm Desert Mayor, Nestande, is compelled to get an antibody test for her community in hopes to lower the denominator, which could reveal a lower death rate, and hopefully put things right again. “There are numerous types of platforms to test for antibodies. It’s very important to understand that while we are still increasing in the cases of new positives with the antigen -- the PCR test which is to see if someone is actually infected. The reason is because, if they have the Corona virus, then they are infectious. That test [PCR] is the most helpful right now because we need to determine if someone is infectious and they can quarantine to prevent others from getting infected.” The antibody test is more for prevalence studies in the downslope, or when we contain the virus. A current antibody test does not mean if you are positive or you are immune, and therefore, you’re safe to go back to work and you won’t get infected. The reason is this: We do not have the science and don’t now if there is a certain level of antibodies that a person needs to render them immune towards the Corona virus. There is a possibility that a minimal infection or the viral load in the body, which
