for the latest info, visit https://www.ascpskincare.com/updates/blog-posts/coronavirus-and-your-practice 25
6. Andrea Kitta, T he Kiss of Death: Contagion,
Contamination, and Folklore (Louisville, CO:
Utah State University Press, 2019), 5–7.
7. World Health Organization, Coronavirus Disease
2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report—46 (Geneva:
WHO, 2020), w w w.who.int/docs/default-source/
coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200306-
sitrep-46-covid-19.pdf ?sf vrsn=96b04adf_2.
8. Paul G. Auwaerter, "Coronavirus COVID-19
(SARS-CoV-2)," in Johns Hopkins ABX Guide,
The Johns Hopkins University (March 2020),
w w w.hopkinsguides.com/hopkins/view/
Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/540747/all/
Coronavirus_COVID_19_ _SARS_CoV_2_.
9. Kenji Mizumoto and Gerardo Chowell,
"Estimating Risk of Death from 2019 Novel
Coronavirus Disease, China, January–February
2020," Emerging Infectious Diseases 26, no. 6
(June 2020), preprint accessed March 22, 2020,
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2606.200233.
10. Timothy W. Russell et al., "Using a Delay-
Adjusted Case-Fatality Ratio to Estimate
Under-Reporting," CMMID Repositor y, March
2020, https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/
severity/global_cfr_estimates.html.
11. Joseph Eisenberg, "RO: How Scientists
Quantif y the Intensity of an Outbreak Like
Coronavirus and Predict the Pandemic's
Spread," T he Conversation, March 2020, w w w.
theconversation.com/r0-how-scientists-quantif y-
the-intensity-of-an-outbreak-like-coronavirus-
and-predict-the-pandemics-spread-130777.
12. Robert Koch Institute, "Coronavirus
Disease 2019: Daily Situation Report of the
Robert Koch Institute," March 2020, w w w.
rki.de/DE/Content/InfAZ/N/Neuartiges_
Coronavirus/Situationsberichte/2020-
03-24-en.pdf ?_ _blob=publicationFile.
13. Arthur C. Macedo, Andre O. V. de Faria, and Pietro
Ghezzi, "Boosting the Immune System, From
Science to Myth: Analysis of the Infosphere with
Google," Frontiers in Medicine, July 2019, https://doi.
org/10.3389/fmed.2019.00165; Beverly Merz, "What
Can You Do to Improve Your Immune System?,"
Har vard Health Publishing, September 2016, w w w.
health.harvard.edu/healthy-eating/what-can-you-
do-to-improve-your-immune-system; National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
"Overview of the Immune System," Immune
System Research, December 2013, w w w.niaid.
nih.gov/research/immune-system-overview.
14. Paul G. Auwaerter, "Coronavirus COVID-19
(SARS-CoV-2)," in Johns Hopkins ABX Guide.
15. Irani Thevarajan et al., "Breadth of Concomitant
Immune Responses Prior to Patient Recovery:
A Case Report of Non-Severe COVID-19," Nature
Medicine, March 2020, https://doi.org/10.1038/
s41591-020-0819-2; Puja Mehta et al., "COVID-19:
At the beginning, I explained why it
is almost impossible for human nature
to accept holes in such life-changing
narratives, but this may well be a
valuable lesson for many communities,
particularly those with healing as a
vocation. The best we can do to shape
those narratives into something that
helps, rather than hindering the efforts
being made by physicians, researchers,
and the general public, is focus on
developing rational coping mechanisms.
It can help to understand how "noise"
and subconscious patternicity hinder us
from doing so, and the links in the Notes
below provide many places to start.
By developing rational responses,
understanding the need to link these to
localized narratives so that they can be
better understood, finding ways to explain
them to others, and strengthening our
own resilience, we ensure our survival,
both physical and mental. This may be the
most valuable tool for healing when the
time comes to emerge from self-isolation
and return to healing our communities.
Notes
1. World Health Organization, "Policy Statement
on Data Sharing by the World Health
Organization in the Context of Public Health
Emergencies," World Health Organization
Procedures, April 2016, https://w w w.who.int/
ihr/procedures/SPG_data_sharing.pdf.
2. Max Roser, Hannah Ritchie, and Esteban
Ortiz-Ospina, "Coronavirus Disease
(COVID-19)—Statistics and Research," 2020,
w w w.ourworldindata.org/coronavirus.
3. Jon D. Lee, An Epidemic of Rumors: How Stories
Shape our Perceptions of Disease (Boulder:
Utah State University Press, 2014), 2–3.
4. Michael Shermer, "Patternicity: Finding
Meaningful Patterns in Meaningless Noise,"
Scientific American 299, no. 6 (Dec 2008): 48, https://
doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1208-48.
5. Kevin R. Foster and Hanna Kokko, "The Evolution
of Superstitious and Superstition-Like Behavior,"
Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276, no. 1654
(September 2008): 31–37, https://doi.org/10.1098/
rspb.2008.0981; Sophie Fyfe et al., "Apophenia,
Theory of Mind, and Schizotypy: Perceiving
Meaning and Intentionality in Randomness,"
Cortex 44, no. 10 (November–December 2008): 1316–
25, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2007.07.009.
concludes: "Our analyses clearly show that
SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct
or a purposefully manipulated virus."
The authors make a strong case,
and cite earlier studies warning of the
potential for zoonotic viruses (originating
in animals and jumping to humans) that
provide further evidence for the way that
coronaviruses have the potential to lead to
outbreaks among humans.
35
Both the 2020
article and its 2015 predecessor updated in
March 2020 (see note 35) pass the checks
I listed earlier in the article, and sharp-
eyed readers noticing that both are listed
in Nature Medicine as "correspondence"
rather than feature articles may be
reassured that letters are fully peer-
reviewed by the journal's reviewers and
editors, forming a clear-cut category
within that journal's editorial policy.
36
In short, not only is there no evidence
to support the claim that COVID-19 is
a manufactured virus, there appears
to be evidence that in fact proves it is
definitely natural. The sources provided
go into some detail to explain and cross-
check the possibilities and there seems
to be no reason to believe otherwise.
WHAT NEXT?
As shown in the examples above, it is
very easy to jump to conclusions, make
assumptions based more on our own fears
than on reality, and to make connections for
which there is simply no evidence. Ideally,
you should not take my word for this.
Compare the sources against the
checklist provided earlier, and use your
own judgment—but attempt to avoid
reading more or less into the material
than is present. It is crucial to realize
that precisely because this virus is new,
there are still many unknowns. "No
evidence" or "incomplete evidence" is
not the same as "negative evidence."
Unknowns are areas that need research
and clarification—fewer words, not more.
