The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - How Germs Move Around Offices And Homes In No Time At All - An Amazing New Study

Episode Date: May 28, 2020

Tracking germs. Understanding Vietnam's anti COVID-19 success. And how to cheer for a game you're not at. Something for everyone today.

and hello there peter mansbridge here with the latest edition of the bridge daily if you are at all like me you've probably been confused over the last week or so since the announcement came out from the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, that it wasn't as infectious as they first thought for you to pick up the COVID-19 virus by touching surfaces. They were still dangerous, but not as dangerous as they thought. They'd been doing all kinds of studies, and they determined that, you know, not a lot of people were getting COVID-19 by touching certain surfaces or doorknobs or what have you. But they said, you know, you still shouldn't do that.

So it kind of left a lot of people puzzled as to why did they say anything? You know, is there some harm in wiping down surfaces? Of course not. It would be a good idea. But they did put that out there, which has left a lot of people, as I said, myself included, kind of puzzled as to, well, what is the proper procedure? What should we do?

Well, a number of journalists have been trying to sort that out for us, and, you know, there's been a lot of good have been trying to sort that out for us, and there's been a lot of good work done on that front. But I find today's piece in the New York Times by Tara Parker Pope as a really good piece. She's found some studies that I hadn't heard of, at least, and I find them interesting because she's trying some studies that I hadn't heard of at least, and I find them interesting because she's trying to find out, well, actually, how does this stuff move around?

I mean, we all know about not being next to somebody who's coughing, you know, wash our hands, you know, wear a mask, social distance, all of that. We get it. We understand, and we understand why. But how does the germ actually move around? So she found this study, a number of studies actually, that use invisible fluorescent tracers. In other words, fake germs that glow under black light to track how germs are spread from surfaces. So here's what Tara Parker Pope of the New York Times says in today's piece.

The findings are unnerving. In one series of experiments, 86% of workers were contaminated when spray or powder tracers were put on commonly touched objects in an office. Okay, so think about this. Your office. Offices you've been into. This is what they used, the places they used to study. So back to the article. When tracer powder was put on a bathroom faucet or an exit doorknob, the glowing residue was found on employees' hands, faces, phones, and hair.

That's just when they put it on a faucet in the bathroom or the doorknob to exit the bathroom. From a shared phone, the tracer spread to desktop surfaces, drinking cups, keyboards, pens, and doorknobs. A contaminated copy machine, the button on it, added a trail of fluorescent fingerprints transferred to documents and computer equipment. And just 20 minutes after arriving home from the office, the fake germs were found on backpacks, keys, and purses, and on home doorknobs, light switches, countertops,

and kitchen appliances. Amazing, right? That's by just tracking a fake germ, trying to see it could go. It is quite remarkable. Okay. So one of Tara's goals in this article was trying to determine whether this all means we can catch coronavirus from touching a doorknob, catching a frisbee, sharing a casserole dish. So well beyond just what happens in an office. The answer is, in theory, yes, which is why you need to wash your hands often and avoid touching your face. As she says, a number of studies of various flus and viruses and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new COVID-19, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like daycare centers, offices, and hospitals. Okay, so that's one side of this issue about surfaces. Here's the other one she found.

By talking to an infectious disease epidemiologist. It's a great word, right? I stare at it often before I say it, trying to figure out exactly how I should say it. Anyway, an infectious disease assistant professor in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Julia Marcus, this is what she says. There's a long chain of events that would need to happen for someone to become infected through contact with groceries,

mail, takeout containers, or other surfaces. The last step in that casual chain is touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with your contaminated hand. So the best way to make sure the chain is broken is washing your hands. And that is what it always comes down to, right? The bottom line. That's how Tara completes her article today. The bottom line is that the best way to protect ourselves from coronavirus, whether it's surface transmission or close human contact, is still social distancing, washing our hands, not touching our faces, and wearing masks. And I'm sure you've noticed, as I have, in the last week, ten days, that the mask wearing issue is more and more and more important.

It's happening at a time where masks are more available now. And they're a kind of fashion statement for some people. There are all kinds of masks out there. Some of them are apparently useless. But there's some real pretty ones out there. But it is still this kind of dividing line, mask or no mask. And it gets ugly out there sometimes on that question. But, you know, I wear a mask.

I'm not shy. I'm going to wear one, and I'm going to keep wearing one until this thing is gone. So get used to it, folks. There are going to be a lot of people in masks out there. And you might want to seriously consider it yourself if you haven't already. Okay, topic number two.

This one I ripped off from the Globe and Mail. That's a great piece of writing by Eric Regulier, European Bureau Chief for the Globe, a long time well known much respected correspondent. Eric writes about Vietnam which to some people has set the standard for the fight against COVID-19. And it's set the standard in a number of ways including moving

really fast on this virus. Here's some basic facts right now. Beginning of this week, Vietnam had only 327 confirmed cases. 327 confirmed cases about 3 per million in population for Vietnam which is a country of 97 million people the comparative figure in Italy is 3.822 per million

sorry not 3.3,822 per million. Sorry, not 3. 3,822 per million. In Canada, it's 2,320. The United States, 5,247. Vietnam, 327 confirmed cases. In other words, three per million in a population of 97 million. Those are pretty remarkable numbers. So how did it get there?

How did it get to a point where it is, you know, they haven't had a single death. They have someone, one person who's very sick this week. He's on a ventilator in intensive care. We'll see what happens there. But how did they get to the point of numbers that low in a country that big? This is not some tiny country, 100 million people. Now, some people may distrust the Vietnamese numbers, but at a certain point, you've got to deal with what you've got to deal with,

and those are the numbers. And listen to this. This is why they seem to be in the good position that they're in, is because they moved early. And here's why they moved early. In the past 20 years, it suffered, Vietnam. This is what Eric Regula is writing. In the past 20 years, Vietnam has suffered from outbreaks of SARS, avian influenza,

measles, dengue fever, and hand and foot and mouth disease, which attacks young children. The Vietnamese are very respectful of the threat of infectious diseases and know they have to be treated early. They were well prepared. Europe and North America seem to have forgotten about infectious diseases. So here's when they started moving early, and this is early. On January the 3rd, the day before the WHO said there was a cluster of cases but no deaths in Wuhan, China, Vietnam announced some border control measures. On January 22nd, health authorities began monitoring body temperatures at border gates and started detection and contact tracing

with orders for the mandatory isolation of infected people and anyone they had come into contact with. That's all happening in January. They started border control measures. They've got a huge long border with China. They started border control measures on January the 3rd. All right? The news didn't even really break until December 31st

that there was a problem in Wuhan. January 3rd, Vietnam's already moving on it. By January 22nd, they have moved to the point of taking body temperatures at borders, started tracing, isolation procedures. By late January, 22 hospitals have been chosen to treat COVID-19 patients. Schools and universities were closed.

This is all happening in January. At this point, nobody's doing anything of any consequence in Europe or North America. You know, you can hear Trump running around saying, oh, he closed the border. You know, he stopped flights from China in January. That's hogwash. He stopped certain flights from China. There were still tens of thousands of people coming in from China by air to the U.S. after January. Anyway, the Vietnam story is fascinating to read.

I was not aware of it in the detail that Eric brought to us today in The Globe. All right, last point for today. It's kind of a potpourri of stuff the last. All right. Last point for today. It's kind of a potpourri of stuff the last couple of days. And I find it all very fascinating because it gives us a sense not only of what's happening elsewhere in the world, but some of the trends

that are taking place that can impact us as well. And here's one that may end up impacting us. This one's a lighter note, okay? With all this talk of hockey coming back, and you know, a couple of weeks ago we did our special hockey broadcast with Gord Miller and John Shannon podcast talking about whether or not

the NHL would come back and they both seem to indicate it would and now it appears they are going to. But what's it going to look like? Because there's going to be nobody in the stands. Just the players on the ice. Hardly anybody else in the arena. You know, coaching staff obviously and some of those who help the team.

But I read a piece today that suggested even the play-by-play commentators wouldn't be in the arena. They could be off-site at a television studio and just do the commentary over the live video feed. That wouldn't be the first time that's happened. But I'm sure the broadcasters will tell you they'd rather be in the arena than out of the arena. Anyway, one of the things you're not going to see

are fans in the stands, and that's part of the atmosphere of the thing, right? Hearing fans react. Cheering, booing, whatever. However, there may be a solution to that. Japan may have the answer. It's developed a remote cheerer app that will allow housebound fans to root for or heckle their teams from the comfort of their couches.

This is from the Washington Post. The cheers and jeers then will be broadcast into the stadium through loudspeakers during matches, bringing a little dose of their adulation and frustration back to the players. Got it? You sit at home. You've got the app on your phone. You like the goal you just saw. You push cheer.

And then, bingo, it starts cheering in the stadium, the arena. Obviously, the more people who push the button, the louder the cheer will get, and it will be part, the arena. And obviously the more people who push the button, the louder the cheer will get, and it'll be part of the atmosphere. That's the plan anyway. So before, people had tried with kind of artificial crowd noise that was just on the broadcast, right?

Didn't actually hear it in the arena. The players will hear this one if it's used, the Japan app. Because it goes much further. It allows fans to choose a range of reactions, cheer, chant, clap, shout, groan, boo, with a simple tap. Personal messages also can be recorded, and all the noise then will reverberate around

the stadium. I wonder if the NHL will try something like that. Here's one they won't try because it didn't work. And you know, one sense it's funny and the other sense it's like really ignorant. However, it happened. Okay. It was in South Korea. They started out, you may have heard it, they started up, I think, both soccer and baseball in the last little while. On the soccer front, FC Seoul, Football Club Seoul, was fined about $80,000 after its attempt to add a little atmosphere to one of the games

backfired spectacularly. The club was actually forced to apologize. It had put a bunch of mannequins in the stands to try and give the appearance that there were fans there. There was only one problem. Turns out the mannequins were actually sex toys. Dolls. I guess that guy got fired.

Tomorrow on the Bridge Daily, it's the weekend special. And, you know, I was going through some of the letters today, and there are some great letters, a couple in particular. So there's going to be this battle for who gets the last letter on this weekend's weekend special, weekend special number 11. All right, so that's coming your way tomorrow. You won't want to miss it. So for now, if you want to get in on the action for the weekend special,

time to jot down that address again, themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com, themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com. The Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. And while you're surfing the net, you can always go to extraordinarybook.ca. Check out the book that's coming along later this year. November publication. Pre-orders available now.

With Simon and Schuster for the book written by Mark Bulgich and moi. It's called Extraordinary Canadians. Some pretty special people. So anyway, got a thought on your mind? Draw me a line. The Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. This has been the Bridge Daily for Thursday of week 11.

Glad you joined us. Hope you enjoyed the various issues we kind of touched on on this day. Rainy day here in Stratford after, gosh, four or five days of beautiful sunshine. So we're taking a break from the outside weather. Although if you get outside, wear a mask and try to get outside. I mean. And try to get outside. I mean, obviously try to get outside in areas where there aren't a whole lot of people around. Go for a walk. Get some fresh air.

You know, you can even get fresh air through a mask. And hopefully, nothing else. All right. enough is enough. Thanks for listening. The Bridge Daily will be back in 24 hours. Thank you.