Usually a season ends in the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat, holding the trophy in triumph or leaving the field of play with the disappointment of coming up just short. For Aggies this past week it was neither. It was being pulled off of the track of the NCAA Championships. It was unloading a bus destined for the beginning of SEC play. It was being told that for your team there would be no more dancing in March. Seasons cut short and teams' potential failed to be realized because of an opponent few could have ever imagined. As the 12th Man stood in silence, a simple yet profound "Oh no…" could be heard from the office of Dr. Rebecca Fischer.
Dr. Fischer is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Texas A&M University in the School of Public Health. She specializes in infectious diseases and has over 12 years of experience in the field. While many of us were hearing of the coronavirus for the first time this past Thursday, Dr. Fischer had been studying, tracking and watching the virus since January. However, this didn't stop her from feeling the gravity of what Aggieland was feeling.
"I remember thinking 'Oh no,'" said Dr. Fischer of the decision to suspend college athletics' spring season. "I know the athletes and coaches worked really hard to get there. However, I immediately followed that reaction with 'this is the right thing to do'."
Many A&M head coaches echoed this sentiment. They described the disappointment of not being able to finish out their seasons, but offered the trust they have in those put in place that make these decisions.
Fischer described it as the right thing to do for a number of reasons. The first being the practice of social distancing that has the ability to help reduce the spread of the virus.
"In social distancing we talk about staying six feet away from somebody, or about two arm lengths," Dr. Fischer said. "This is really the farthest we expect a respiratory droplet to spread, so any time you cough or sneeze you know that the person immediately in front of you is going to feel that. From six feet away though, it should not reach them. Part of that reason is gravity and the elements act on these droplets to dry it up and drop it to the floor."
COVID-19 lives in the respiratory tract and other mucus membranes of a person. These areas include your mouth, nose, eyes, the lining of your airway and gut. That is why social distancing is so important. A cough, sneeze or touch of an infected surface can spread this disease unknowingly. An arena or stadium filled with thousands of spectators, workers and athletes can act as a hot bed for transmitting the virus.
"Certainly in a place where you have spectators, you would want them to engage in social distancing and be six feet apart from each other. You can imagine how that would be hard in a stadium or arena," Dr. Fischer said. "I can imagine that it would be logistically difficult to hold an event where everybody was adhering to guidelines like social distancing."
Another huge factor in these events is hygiene. Public restrooms and locker rooms provide a lot of human traffic. Dr. Fischer described that even a touch of a door knob is enough to spread the virus to numerous people if the proper precautions aren't taken.
"The issue becomes 'how do you force hand washing and hygiene where there is a lot of traffic through public restrooms?' Door knobs are being touched," Dr. Fischer said. "I believe the decision to cancel attendance was motivated by these factors. It is a good public health measure. For the fans and players, it is inconvenient and frustrating, but it is to prevent the attendees and athletes from having an outbreak of their own."
The social distancing has sent people into their homes for the foreseeable future. However Dr. Fischer feels like those who are completely isolating themselves and not going outside may be making a mistake.
"Staying inside is the wrong message," Dr. Fischer said. "Staying away and distancing yourself from people so you don't spread is more accurate. Just staying inside in pure isolation is not good for our long term emotional and physical health. We want to be physically separated, so that we can break a possible transmission, but we do not want to be isolated. If you are out walking your dog, and you wave at a neighbor maybe you will both feel good and use it as motivation to continue healthy activities. You should still practice staying a safe social distance from people and not over exerting yourself to the point where you put your immune system at risk when going outdoors."
Fischer urges people to make time to go outdoors, while doing it responsibly and adhering to guidelines. She mentions that people should exercise, linking moderate physical activity to helping boost one's immune system. Go for a jog, ride your bike and get some sunshine, adding that UV radiation is an effective sterilizer against many viruses. Dr. Fischer also pointed out that there is also research that says over-exertion can weaken your immune system, and that if you have been exposed or are exhibiting symptoms then you should not engage in rigorous activities.
Fischer makes it clear that if you do use exercise equipment, you should use caution and disinfect any surfaces that you touch because most of the time those surfaces are shared by many individuals.
"People do need to be cognizant about the transmission of this disease," Dr. Fischer added. "And how to keep surfaces like exercise mats, treadmills, elliptical machines and free weights disinfected. These things may be shared by family members, at an apartment complex, home gyms or other recreational facilities. Cleaning and using disinfectants that are alcohol, chlorine and bleach-based is important."
Dr. Fischer on Our Community
We do expect to see more cases in the Bryan/College Station area and that is the natural course of an epidemic. However, how many people are affected and how long the epidemic goes on is completely up to us. I say that because it is all of these things we can do as individuals that are going to make sure we have the capacity for hospitals to treat everybody they need to treat. We can protect our elderly, family, friends, children, neighbors, emergency responders from getting sick through the guidance that is out there. Things like social distancing, washing hands, covering your cough, disinfecting surfaces. Being a good neighbor and helping prevent the spread of this disease between neighbors will help us get through this situation. I believe in Aggieland, the community will be able to pull together and effect that change. There is a unique opportunity here for our community to get ahead of this thing and change how the virus could play out in our community.
Important Things to Think About From Dr. Fischer
This is a serious situation. This disease spreads quickly. It has gone from where it was first observed in a market on the other side of the world to Texas and Brazos County in a matter of months. That being said, it doesn't cause super severe illness in most of the population. Every person does not need to be terrified of this disease and we do not want people who do get infected by this virus to feel like it is their fault or they did something wrong. There is a need to do our part in protecting the people that are likely to have severe illness. The death rate is high among individuals whose immune systems are somewhat compromised. These include the elderly and individuals with existing health conditions.
Also it is important to protect people that we need during this response to COVID-19 like our physicians, nurses and emergency responders. We should think about this when going to the stores and buying resources as well. Buying all of the particulate masks, hand sanitizers, soap or gloves that could be beneficial to an emergency responder is detrimental. Certainly buying up all of the resources so that no one else can have them is not something we want to see in a public health situation.
Protecting ourselves from diseases because we don't want to get sick is one motivation. Protecting ourselves from disease because we don't want to overwhelm our health system is another consideration. That is exactly what has happened in areas with higher infection counts like New York, Washington and California. People have trouble getting admitted to the hospital after a car accident because the hospitals are full of people who have the coronavirus disease. This is a major problem and something we should all keep in mind. Thinking specifically to areas like Brazos County and other rural areas, access to care and testing isn't as readily available as other areas.
Information on COVID-19
For more information on the coronavirus in regard to Texas A&M please visit www.tamu.edu/coronavirus. For information on the virus on a global scale and information how to protect oneself, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.
Dr. Fischer is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Texas A&M University in the School of Public Health. She specializes in infectious diseases and has over 12 years of experience in the field. While many of us were hearing of the coronavirus for the first time this past Thursday, Dr. Fischer had been studying, tracking and watching the virus since January. However, this didn't stop her from feeling the gravity of what Aggieland was feeling.
"I remember thinking 'Oh no,'" said Dr. Fischer of the decision to suspend college athletics' spring season. "I know the athletes and coaches worked really hard to get there. However, I immediately followed that reaction with 'this is the right thing to do'."
Many A&M head coaches echoed this sentiment. They described the disappointment of not being able to finish out their seasons, but offered the trust they have in those put in place that make these decisions.
Howdy, Ags! ??
— Texas A&M Athletics (@12thMan) March 20, 2020
Thoughts from some of our head coaches:#GigEm pic.twitter.com/RLmckQq2Tx
Fischer described it as the right thing to do for a number of reasons. The first being the practice of social distancing that has the ability to help reduce the spread of the virus.
"In social distancing we talk about staying six feet away from somebody, or about two arm lengths," Dr. Fischer said. "This is really the farthest we expect a respiratory droplet to spread, so any time you cough or sneeze you know that the person immediately in front of you is going to feel that. From six feet away though, it should not reach them. Part of that reason is gravity and the elements act on these droplets to dry it up and drop it to the floor."
COVID-19 lives in the respiratory tract and other mucus membranes of a person. These areas include your mouth, nose, eyes, the lining of your airway and gut. That is why social distancing is so important. A cough, sneeze or touch of an infected surface can spread this disease unknowingly. An arena or stadium filled with thousands of spectators, workers and athletes can act as a hot bed for transmitting the virus.
"Certainly in a place where you have spectators, you would want them to engage in social distancing and be six feet apart from each other. You can imagine how that would be hard in a stadium or arena," Dr. Fischer said. "I can imagine that it would be logistically difficult to hold an event where everybody was adhering to guidelines like social distancing."
Another huge factor in these events is hygiene. Public restrooms and locker rooms provide a lot of human traffic. Dr. Fischer described that even a touch of a door knob is enough to spread the virus to numerous people if the proper precautions aren't taken.
"The issue becomes 'how do you force hand washing and hygiene where there is a lot of traffic through public restrooms?' Door knobs are being touched," Dr. Fischer said. "I believe the decision to cancel attendance was motivated by these factors. It is a good public health measure. For the fans and players, it is inconvenient and frustrating, but it is to prevent the attendees and athletes from having an outbreak of their own."
The social distancing has sent people into their homes for the foreseeable future. However Dr. Fischer feels like those who are completely isolating themselves and not going outside may be making a mistake.
"Staying inside is the wrong message," Dr. Fischer said. "Staying away and distancing yourself from people so you don't spread is more accurate. Just staying inside in pure isolation is not good for our long term emotional and physical health. We want to be physically separated, so that we can break a possible transmission, but we do not want to be isolated. If you are out walking your dog, and you wave at a neighbor maybe you will both feel good and use it as motivation to continue healthy activities. You should still practice staying a safe social distance from people and not over exerting yourself to the point where you put your immune system at risk when going outdoors."
Fischer urges people to make time to go outdoors, while doing it responsibly and adhering to guidelines. She mentions that people should exercise, linking moderate physical activity to helping boost one's immune system. Go for a jog, ride your bike and get some sunshine, adding that UV radiation is an effective sterilizer against many viruses. Dr. Fischer also pointed out that there is also research that says over-exertion can weaken your immune system, and that if you have been exposed or are exhibiting symptoms then you should not engage in rigorous activities.
Fischer makes it clear that if you do use exercise equipment, you should use caution and disinfect any surfaces that you touch because most of the time those surfaces are shared by many individuals.
"People do need to be cognizant about the transmission of this disease," Dr. Fischer added. "And how to keep surfaces like exercise mats, treadmills, elliptical machines and free weights disinfected. These things may be shared by family members, at an apartment complex, home gyms or other recreational facilities. Cleaning and using disinfectants that are alcohol, chlorine and bleach-based is important."
Dr. Fischer on Our Community
We do expect to see more cases in the Bryan/College Station area and that is the natural course of an epidemic. However, how many people are affected and how long the epidemic goes on is completely up to us. I say that because it is all of these things we can do as individuals that are going to make sure we have the capacity for hospitals to treat everybody they need to treat. We can protect our elderly, family, friends, children, neighbors, emergency responders from getting sick through the guidance that is out there. Things like social distancing, washing hands, covering your cough, disinfecting surfaces. Being a good neighbor and helping prevent the spread of this disease between neighbors will help us get through this situation. I believe in Aggieland, the community will be able to pull together and effect that change. There is a unique opportunity here for our community to get ahead of this thing and change how the virus could play out in our community.
Important Things to Think About From Dr. Fischer
This is a serious situation. This disease spreads quickly. It has gone from where it was first observed in a market on the other side of the world to Texas and Brazos County in a matter of months. That being said, it doesn't cause super severe illness in most of the population. Every person does not need to be terrified of this disease and we do not want people who do get infected by this virus to feel like it is their fault or they did something wrong. There is a need to do our part in protecting the people that are likely to have severe illness. The death rate is high among individuals whose immune systems are somewhat compromised. These include the elderly and individuals with existing health conditions.
Also it is important to protect people that we need during this response to COVID-19 like our physicians, nurses and emergency responders. We should think about this when going to the stores and buying resources as well. Buying all of the particulate masks, hand sanitizers, soap or gloves that could be beneficial to an emergency responder is detrimental. Certainly buying up all of the resources so that no one else can have them is not something we want to see in a public health situation.
Protecting ourselves from diseases because we don't want to get sick is one motivation. Protecting ourselves from disease because we don't want to overwhelm our health system is another consideration. That is exactly what has happened in areas with higher infection counts like New York, Washington and California. People have trouble getting admitted to the hospital after a car accident because the hospitals are full of people who have the coronavirus disease. This is a major problem and something we should all keep in mind. Thinking specifically to areas like Brazos County and other rural areas, access to care and testing isn't as readily available as other areas.
Information on COVID-19
For more information on the coronavirus in regard to Texas A&M please visit www.tamu.edu/coronavirus. For information on the virus on a global scale and information how to protect oneself, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.