After agonizing about letters in The Newtown Bee that were “fraught with scientific misinformation about the process of COVID-19 infections and the importance of masks and social distancing,” related to maintaining public health, a local microbiologist has reached out to offer her trained expertise on the subjects.

“I received a PhD in microbiology from Georgetown University School of Medicine and finished a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Molecular Biology, a virology lab at the University of Connecticut Medical Center,” said Dr Phyllis Braun. “What I present are straightforward scientific facts that have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and well-documented events.”

While her advice mirrors mainstream authorities around the globe, Dr Braun believes reinforcing it through a source you might find standing (six feet) in front of you at the grocery store may have more meaningful impact.

“Infection is initiated by breathing in viral-infected air,” she stated. “If we want schools, restaurants, businesses [and the like] to return to normal, viral transmission must stop.”

To maintain public health, Dr Braun says masks are the easiest method to prevent respiratory aerosols from entering the nose — and to prevent viral secretions from leaving the body of an infected individual.

Taking aim at those who walk around or, worse, populate workplaces where employees and customers mix, the local health expert plainly states that in public, the nose and mouth must be covered.

“If the public was compliant with wearing masks for six to eight weeks, viral transmission would stop,” Dr Braun said. “So, please, you must wear a mask, stay away from large crowds, and stay socially distant in public if you want to end this nightmare. No masks, stay home. Nothing else will work until an effective vaccine is discovered and distributed.”

How COVID Spreads

Understanding why masks and face shields play such a critical role in reducing COVID-19 means digging into the science of how COVID spreads.

Dr Braun explained that viruses are inert, non-living biological entities a million times smaller than what can be seen by the naked eye. They exist to replicate, and do so in cells that have the specific protein receptors on their surface.

“Viral attachment to the host cell is the first step to the infection process,” she continued. “Each viral family has evolved transmission mechanisms that will direct them to the cells that they can replicate in.”

So where HIV and Hepatitis B are sexually transmitted or blood borne, West Nile needs mosquitoes. Polio and Norovirus replicate in cells of the gastrointestinal tract, and ingestion of fecal-contaminated foods and liquids is the method of transmission.

Others, like the coronavirus, are respiratory viruses that replicate in susceptible cells of the nose and lungs.

“Initially COVID enters the nose, attaches, and penetrates the outermost nasal surface within ten minutes,” Dr Braun continued. “In the cell, the virus uses the cellular machinery to make more identical viruses, which takes approximately ten hours, and results in the release of hundreds of viral particles. When the viral load gets to a critical level, the virus travels down the trachea to the lungs.”

The alveoli, which makes up the architecture of the lung, has the receptor for viral attachment. As the virus continues to bind and invade these cells, COVID replicates and releases progeny that destroy lung tissue and function, she said.

The alveoli are surrounded by capillaries, and as the progeny are released, the virus at this point can enter the blood stream and become systemic.

“Organs known to have viral receptors for COVID include, but are not limited to, the heart, liver, kidney, bladder, and nervous system, including the brain,” Dr Braun said.

Initial symptoms of a COVID-19 infection begin with a lack of taste and smell, indicating the virus is replicating in the nasal cavity, then progressing to breathing problems, indicating the virus is now cycling through the lungs.

“How far this virus progresses in the body is dependent on the patient’s immune system, age, gender, pre-existing conditions, and other factors,” she continued. “In asymptomatic/mild infections, viral replication remains in the nasal cavity.

‘Appalling Misinformation’

The insidious nature of this infection is that unknown extent of viral infection progression, she said. Symptoms vary depending on which infected organs are involved in the viral replication. Each person is different, and the infection can go from asymptomatic to death in a matter of two weeks.

During the infection process, Dr Braun said COVID accumulates in and is released from the naso-pharyngeal cavity through talking, sneezing, coughing, singing, yelling, and breathing. She said a pervading anti-science stance in the US at the federal level during the epidemic phase in China did nothing to prevent the pandemic spread.

“The appalling misinformation regarding not wearing masks or that masks were not effective was the result of a CDC leadership shakeup,” she said. “Wearing masks was not a priority — still isn’t — and the CDC acquiesced, which has now led to the recent backpedaling and mass confusion on mask wearing.”

The local microbiologist reminds fellow Newtown residents that in recent history, America has faced a number of pandemics, which had effective scientific and government leadership in place to thwart progression.

“Eighteen years ago, a relative to COVID, SARS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] appeared,” she noted. “SARS, as a novel virus, started as an outbreak in Guangdong, China, in November 2002 — and in six months, July 2003, the pandemic was stopped with only 774 deaths worldwide, not the [nearly] 800,000 and still counting in our present situation.”

Dr Braun assures readers that all citations were drawn from recent published medical journals, or scientific/educational texts.