Laurel Bristow

Yeah, I mean, I would like there to be more regular updates.

We're getting to that point now where the CDC is starting to put out more regular updates about what is happening.

I think that the people who are actually working on it are some wonderful, well-qualified people.

The Epidemic Intelligence Service is a wonderful program that is very good at disease tracking outbreaks.

I think...

It's unfortunate it took us this long to be involved because we have left the WHO.

That has really limited our ability to get information quickly and to be involved as quickly as we should have been or as, you know, had the level of involvement that we should have been having, which is really unfortunate.

And I just want to be very clear.

My concern about this hantavirus outbreak becoming pandemic level or even spreading really to anyone outside of the cruise line is incredibly low.

But I am worried about our capacity to respond to an illness or a pathogen that transmits more readily if one should present itself in the future.

Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, science communication requires a lot of nuance.

So if people are communicating things without any nuance, that is a pretty good sign that that is not someone that you should be investing a lot in because there are so many unknowns in this situation.

You know, there are things that we know for certain.

There are things that we don't know.

There are things we were waiting on.

And I think for someone to present something as black and white is

is a really good sign that they are not being cautious about where the information is at this point.

Also, anyone who appeals to emotion, who tries to get you to panic, is probably not a trustworthy source because anyone who works in infectious disease outbreak, anyone who works in research, knows that there is no point to panicking.

It's not going to change a situation.

What you need is to arm yourself with information to make the best choices for yourself and for your family and to feel comfortable.