Dr. Devra Davis has decades of experience as an epidemiologist and a toxicologist. During President Clinton’s administration, she served on the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
Davis, who specializes in patterns of health in humans, animals and the environment, recently shared her thoughts on the coronavirus and steps that can be taken moving forward.
When was the first time you heard about COVID-19?
My husband and I are visiting professors at Sichuan University, so we have a number of close colleagues and friends there. At the very end of the year, there were reports of this pneumonia virus, and one of the doctors who warned about it was forced by the Chinese government to confess that he was mistaken in his concerns.
Ironically, he went on to die from the virus himself. He was a public health hero because he tried to warn people that this looked like something different from what we had seen before. This is transmitted through the droplets deposited on surfaces, and that, unfortunately, can be a very difficult thing to deal with because we know that these droplets on surfaces can remain viable for several days.
Click continue to read more from Davis about the United States’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a promising treatment option.
