Another Fallacy of Contact Tracing

COVID-19 is not AIDS. Let start with that fact, by definition. Generally we believe we know how AIDS is transmitted, several means, but well defined. One can do contact tracing with AIDS.

I am reminded of a Nature article a month ago, no real updates here, but it states:

Since early reports revealed that a new coronavirus was spreading rapidly between people, researchers have been trying to pin down whether it can travel through the air. Health officials say the virus is transported only through droplets that are coughed or sneezed out — either directly, or on objects. But some scientists say there is preliminary evidence that airborne transmission — in which the disease spreads in the much smaller particles from exhaled air, known as aerosols — is occurring, and that precautions, such as increasing ventilation indoors, should be recommended to reduce the risk of infection.

Namely, as of this moment, there is no truly accepted means of transmission. We argued this two months ago. It could be aerosol, it could be surface. In fact I watched Fauci yesterday, bare handed but face masked, scratching his face under the mask with bare hands! Try that one in a Level 4 Lab! As I have also noted multiple times, surface transmission is real, significant can can be mitigated only by the wearing of gloves. Unfortunately our wizards at CDC seem to forget that, hopefully not in the lab.

Professionally I live with gloves. There are so many pathogens and chemicals that can enter the skin or be transmitted through the nasal passages. Fauci was thus a bad example, wear your gloves Doc, at least in my Lab.

Now as regards to contact tracing. It serves two purposes. First to find the initial transmitter and second to identify those who may have been infected. But if we do not really know how transmission occurs we will have a massive number of false contacts, assuming the interrogations lead to truthful and accurate results. Given a failure to understand transmission one wonders what good this contact tracing is other than expanding the heavy handed approach of the Government entities.

Let's remember that all these folks rely on "science". However here the science is uncertain if not wantonly wrong. No one seems to admit this but it will be key to our success to understand how this is transmitted, then address that issue and not waste time on contact tracing.

Simply put, if you do not know how the disease is transmitted then you cannot contact trace properly. You do not know what you are looking for. But that has never stopped a politician from spending money.