A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words

A picture is worth a thousand words. On January 23rd, a Chinese man traveled from Wuhan to Guangzhou (500 miles away) to have lunch with 9 friends and family at a nice restaurant. He had no symptoms. The picture shows our man seated at (A1), and how the virus passed to those seated at adjacent tables B & C. Of the 83 people in the restaurant at the time, only those seated at these three tables contracted COVID-19. Of the twenty seated near A1, half caught it and brought home to their families, friends, and coworkers. The man became symptomatic the next day and the others on the dates noted. This transmission rate is alarming. The virus missed some of the people seated closest to A1. The air conditioning seems to have spread it to the adjacent tables. Note: 1) No one at that restaurant was behaving any differently than we were before social distancing. We can’t safely return to our airconditioned sports venues, workspaces, and houses of worship this summer without real testing, contact tracing, and a willingness to wear masks. 2) Chinese researchers tested all 83 people at that restaurant and then utilized contact tracing to reduce further spread. Further, they provided this detailed report to our CDC (read abstract here). The president is lying to us again when he blames China or the WHO for our poor response to this crisis. 3) We are learning new things about this virus every day. We will learn faster and get on top of this crisis more quickly if those at the top stop chasing miracle cures and simply let the experts tell us what to do.