Friday, February 28, 2020

THE CORONAVIRUS RODEO--Interview with Dr. Mark Pandori--NEVADA STATE HEALTH LAB

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     The Interview--


     (UNR State Health Lab)--The new director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory on the university campus in Reno has been there before. It’s the same epidemic, just a different virus, Appointed in late 2019, the new director’s credentials are impressive, as found at the laboratory website;



Credentials
     “Pandori earned his Bachelor of Science degree in genetics from the University of California, Berkeley; his Ph.D. in biomedical science, virology, from the University of California, San Diego; a Certification in public health microbiology, public health microbiology from the California Department of Health and completed a fellowship at Harvard Medical School.“ (UNR)
In addition, he was recent director of the public health lab in Alameda County and an associate at UCSF Med School.



COVID-19 Test Kits
     The director was the ideal candidate for an interview to discuss the role of the newly arrived test kits designed to detect COVID-19, which is the official name of the virus. Conducted on February 14, 2020 in his office on campus, the session bore out the details of the virus, its complexity and in particular, the process of detection. He first explained just how the lab came about acquiring the test kits;


Methodology
     “There's a website and a methodology that allows us to order reagents and test kits for free. So what the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) did was to utilize that existing infrastructure so that the public health labs could order the coronavirus test kits through that same mechanism,” said Pandori, adding that the kits were at his facility just a few days later via FedEx.
It is important to note that not all of the test kits that were sent out to the states functioned according to plan. (Newsweek) Still, the methodology may be correct since it follows a process already in place for similar respiratory diseases;

Isn't Our First Rodeo


     “It's similar that they both utilize the same diagnostic mechanism... So these are tests that test what we call the genome of the organ, the RNA. You have a DNA genome as human beings, these viruses, the coronaviruses have what we call an RNA genome and what the test does is to look for that genome,” said Pandori adding with a certain amount of confidence, “We do this, this isn't our first rodeo, so to speak.”
Emergency Use Authorization
  Tacit approval for using the test kits was given by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on an immediate basis known as emergency use authorization involving local and state agencies in conjunction with the CDC. Even then, the requirements can be rigid and related to symptomatic criteria. More surprising is the fact that if one case is detected it is an indicator of others going undetected;

Ground Zero
     “Generally when there are already sick people around, you're not seeing the first infected individual that means there's already other infected people,” said Dr. Pandori reflecting on why China found itself playing a game of catching up at ground zero in the southern city of Wuhan.
     Of course, the epidemic in China and the controls placed on international travel by the United States doesn’t guarantee that the virus will not have a major impact on Americans.


Clowns
     Certainly the rodeo has just begun. The clowns are in the arena with fake news and  ridiculous statements accusing China of  germ warfare and Asians being targeted as virus spreaders. There is conflict among the various agencies tasked with informing the public. The President has appointed Vice-President Pence as a new task force director and money is being appropriated from Congress. Is all of that enough?


Never Ahead
 “Now being in the United States and overseas, here we are at the advantage of being able to react to what was happening in China, so we were able to establish at certain airports fever screens for example and we were able to get these tests unrolled very quickly so, are we ahead of this?” said Dr. Pandori. “ I've learned in my time of studying infectious disease is that you are never ahead of these agents.”
Headline--

BREAKING: Second man in King County with coronavirus dies

Public Health - Seattle & King County confirmed Sunday the second coronavirus-related death in the United States, a man in his 70s, in Kirkland. Both men who died had underlying health conditions. The first man who died had no travel history, health officials said. Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency Saturday.
Sources
Pandori bio, https://med.unr.edu/news/archive/2019/mark-pandori
Newsweek, https://www.newsweek.com/us-coronavirus-response-testing-kit-problems-present-colossal-failure-warns-doctor-1489667
Fake News, https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/21/805287609/theres-a-flood-of-fake-news-about-coronavirus-and-a-plan-to-stop-it
Germ Warfare, https://www.salon.com/2020/02/17/without-evidence-tom-cotton-suggests-that-the-coronavirus-is-chinese-biological-warfare_partner/
Asians & Virus, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/28/coronavirus-asian-american-lawmakers-denounce-xenophobia-rumors/4901288002/
VP Pence Appointment, https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/485065-pence-bolsters-coronavirus-team-following-criticism


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Interview conducted at University of Nevada, Nevada State Public Health Laboratory, Friday, February 14, 2020 by James L'Angelle for Journalism 107, Reynolds School of Journalism, Reno campus.

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