COVID-19 panel: It’s here to stay, and will change how we do things

DALLAS TWP. — Expect the COVID-19 disease to become a recurring problem, much like other virus infections, at least until an effective vaccine is found and made widely available. Expect more money spent on — and more job available in — the sciences related to pandemic preparation, prevention, tracking and treatment. And expect the first half of 2020 to be declared a full-fledged national recession in the near future.

These were among many prediction offered by a panel of Misericordia University faculty during a one-hour virtual discussion on the pandemic Thursday afternoon. Heidi Manning, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, moderated, posing questions submitted in advance and online from those who sat in via Zoom.

Panelists were Frank DiPino, Professor of Biology; Erin Burns Kilduff, Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant; Annette Weiss, Associate Professor of Nursing; Soumendra Banerjee, Assistant Professor of Business; and Amanda Caleb, Associate Professor English and Medical and Health Humanities.

Dipino lead off answering question about the virus itself, pointing out that viruses are inactive outside of a host and “do nothing” until “we move into them or if something moves them into us.” Viruses are also host and cell-type specific, and only cross species after mutating. In fact, he said, most such mutations never get past the first human victim, because a second mutation has to occur to become infectious. There are 219 viruses known to infect humans, he said, with three or four new ones each year.

This virus — technically SARS-CoV-3 — causes illness like all others by taking over cells, forcing them to produce more virus, then leaving the cell, killing it in the process. Also like others, it’s little more than the genetic material for replication (in this case, RNA rather than DNA) and some protein.

Kilduff said the virus is so infectious because evidence so far suggests a person can have it up to 10 days without symptoms, spreading it to others during that time. She noted the symptoms may include those common to other infections including colds — chills, fever, coughing — but new evidence is developing that suggests it may cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Weiss noted that, so far, about 85 percent of those infected can self-treat at home with plenty of fluids and rest, but that they should self-isolate to prevent spreading the disease. She also said there is growing evidence that the pandemic has peaked regionally, even in the hard-hit Hazleton area. The peak appears to have happened early enough to avoid overwhelming local health care system, she added.

Caleb talked of the need to look beyond the basic science and watch for changes in how we make decisions after the pandemic is controlled, from triaging patients to allocating resources. Data increasingly suggests the disease hit some demographic sectors (ethnicity, income) harder than others, exposing “structrual” problems that will need to be addressed in society and health care. She also warned against growing biases, not only overt prejudice being shown toward Chinese but subtler examples, such as acting differently if you learn someone had Covid-19.

Banerjee pointed out that a recession requires two quarters of declining Gross Domestic Product, so “no one can officially say” the pandemic prompted a recession until the end of June. But he predicted “there is no doubt” this will be deemed a recession, but that it will be a “recession by design” because much of the economy was shut down in an effort to prevent the pandemic from spreading to fast. He likened it to the difference between not eating because you are sick and not eating because someone ties your hands behind your back.

Banerjee also predicted a big shift in how resources are spread among industries, with a boom in online business and the people who create the software and hardware that make sit work, as well as a growing demand for streaming entertainment services. Telemedicine — consulting with health care professionals via phone or internet — will also grow.

But Weiss and Kilduff said how much it grows hinges partly on insurance companies agreeing to pay for it, and partly on how important it is for a provider to physically see — and smell, and touch — a patient to recommend treatment.

All of them predicted rapid growth in fields related to epidemiology, with more money spent on tracking diseases that infect populations, researching diseases with potential to jump from animal to human, and advanced work in vaccines and virus treatments that would reduce the impact of future break outs of such diseases.

All agreed the use of remote live communication systems like Zoom will not disappear once the pandemic subsides