Knowledge Trail #9 (KT9): Coronavirus
The two most important questions in science are “What can I know?” and “How can I know it?” — John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
Purpose. To provide assignment rules/instructions for students at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) Health and Human Performance (HHP) 340 & 630 (Spring 2020).
Note: Both classes will use the same set of rules. You must watch the How-To Video or you will miss important information.
Key Concepts for this KT:
-Virus and Disease Control, Coronavirus, Task Force, Normal Distribution
SMEAC (pronounced “SME-AK”)
Reference: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html
Situation: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is responding to an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first detected in China and which has now been detected in more than 100 locations internationally, including in the United States. The virus has been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).
On January 30, 2020, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern. On January 31, 2020, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency (PHE) for the United States to aid the nation’s healthcare community in responding to COVID-19. On March 11, 2020 WHO publicly characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic.
Mission: You are the Director of Health Promotion for the Kansas Health Department (fictitious role) and you put together a task force in order to develop and test for the pathogen and equip the state and local public hospitals with testing and treatment capacity. Your goal is to slow the spread of the virus. In addition, your task force will put together information for the public on the coronavirus in the form of Why, What, and How in order to increase knowledge on the virus.
The concept “Task Force” is required for HHP630 students. You can find more information on it in your textbook on page 77.
Program task forces are groups of people from different professional departments to address a program-related task. By definition, a task force is a temporary structure and it disbands once its task is completed. Its strength is an integrating mechanism that brings together people from different areas so that they can work together.
Coronavirus: WHO holds news briefing on outbreak — watch live (start 41 minutes in… you do not have to watch the entire video)
Execution: Run the following simulation and then use your task force to develop potential courses of action for slowing the spread of the virus using considerations found here: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/patient-management
Set the following variables in the simulation:
After running the simulation, use real-time data to assist you in developing your courses of action.
Administration: You will need access to Plectica, NetLogo, and the resources provided here to complete this assignment.
Control/Communication: You are tasked with the completion of this assignment using the following Rules:
Rule #1: Watch the How-To video and read this presentation. In addition, complete the following reading requirements:
- HHP340: Online Statbook — C, D, E
- HHP630: Read Chapter 6 of your textbook and Chapter 5 of the Systems Thinking WHO pdf
Rule #2: Create a Plectica Map with your Why, What, How diagram for the coronavirus.
Rule #3: In the same Plectica map, complete the task force scenario outlined in the SMEAC.
Rule #4: Post your Plectica Map in the class WordPress site. Don’t forget to respond to at least two other student posts.
Rule #5: Take the Feedback Survey via SurveyMonkey and state if you completed it or not in your map or post.
Read and Watch
Coronavirus- an evolving guide
What is the Coronavirus-Reuters
Interim Clinical Guidance for Management of Patients with Confirmed Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
**Key Video’s to watch:
Key discussion points from Influenza (Flu) video:
- Inside the virus is the genetic material (purple) containing the information to make more copies of the same virus. A protein shell (blue) provides a hard protective enclosure for the genetic material. An outer envelope (yellow) allows the virus to infect cells by merging with the cell’s outer membrane.
- H spikes and N spikes. The flu virus uses its “H spikes” (light blue) like a key to get inside your cells. The “N spikes” (red) allow copies of the virus to break away from your infected cells to infect more cells. There are 17 known types of “H spikes” and nine types of “N spikes” that scientists use to name different flu viruses such as virus H5N1 and H1N1.
- Key in a Lock. Once inside your nose, throat, or lungs, the “H spikes” on the virus insert into a receptor molecule on your healthy cell membrane like a key in a lock. This action allows the virus to get inside your cell.
- Function / Copy Machine. The viral genetic material enters the nucleus and hijacks the energy and materials in your cell’s nucleus to make thousands of copies of itself. Think of this as a function.
- Think of the Nucleus as the Function (the Camera and +1+3). The Input is the viral genetic material. The Output is the copies of viral genetic material.
- Think y=f(x) (pronounced y equals eff of x). If the Function (f) is +1+3 — And the Input (x) is 1 — Then the Output (y)is: 1 + 1 = 2 +3 = 5
- If the Function (f) is +1+3 — And the Input (x) is 3 — Then the Output (y) is: 3 + 1 = 4 +3 = 7
- Flu Shot and Antibodies
Misunderstood Word
Think about the last time you read a book and couldn’t remember what you had just read. This was likely due to a misunderstood word. The key to understanding what you read is to clearly define words you do not understand. Let’s look at an example using the Genus — Species logical taxonomy of the coronavirus.
Genus: Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.
Key Definitions
For a good (and quick) discussion on Genus — Species in education, read The Genus & Species Tool.
David Kelley defines Genus and Species in The Art of Reasoning: An Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking as:
- Genus — a class of things regarded as having various subcategories (its species).
- Species — a class of things regarded as a subcategory of a wider class (a genus).
infectious agent: In biology, a pathogen (aka infectious agent) in the oldest and broadest sense, is anything that can produce disease.
replicate: Make an exact copy of; reproduce.
organism: In biology, an organism is any individual entity that embodies the properties of life. It is a synonym for “life form”.
microorganism: Any organism too small to be viewed by the unaided eye, like bacteria, protozoa, and some fungi and algae.
bacteria: Are a type of biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometers in length, bacteria have a number of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals.
archaea: Constitute a domain of single-celled organisms. These microorganisms lack cell nuclei and are therefore prokaryotes. Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria (in the Archaebacteria kingdom), but this classification is outmoded. They have been renamed to clarify that archaea are not only not bacteria, but are more closely related to eukaryotes (life whose cells can have a nucleus, including humans) than to real bacteria.
Species: Coronavirus
Coronaviruses constitutes the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae, in the family Coronaviridae, order Nidovirales, and realm Riboviria.
Key Definitions
subfamily: In biology, a taxonomic category that ranks below family and above tribe or genus, usually ending in -inae (in zoology) or -oidea in botany.
family: In biology, a taxonomic rank, or a taxon at that rank. Each family contains one or more genera.
order: In biology, a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized by the nomenclature codes.
realm: A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth’s land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into ecoregions, which are classified based on their biomes or habitat types.
Riboviria: Is a realm of viruses, the only one defined as of March 2019. It contains RNA viruses and viroids, but not retroviruses. It takes the first part of its name, ribo- from ribonucleic acid, or RNA
Who’s There? — What Are They Capable Of? — What Are They Actually Doing?
“If you list all the species in a particular microbiome, you can tell who’s there. If you list all the genes in those microbes you can tell what they are capable of. But if you list all the chemicals the microbes produce, their metabolites, you can tell what those species are actually doing.” — Ed Young, I Contain Multitudes
Who’s There? Species of Coronavirus
What Are They Capable Of?
Key Definitions (for Capabilities):
pleomorphic:
diameter:
nanometer:
viral envelope:
lipid layer:
membrane: Is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles.
What Are They Actually Doing?
Replication. Infection begins when the virus enters the host organism and the spike protein attaches to its complementary host cell receptor. After attachment, a protease of the host cell cleaves and activates the receptor-attached spike protein. Depending on the host cell protease available, cleavage and activation allow cell entry through endocytosis or direct fusion of the viral envelop with the host membrane.
Metalearning: Why, What, How
Why, What, How: Coronavirus
Use What, So What, Now What for Course of Action (COA) Development
Read What? So What? Now What? Model for a good (and quick) read on the What? So What? Now What? model.
Example: KT9 completed assignment
As you complete this assignment, recall the quote at the beginning of this discussion by John M. Barry. Ask yourself “What can I know?” and “How can I know it?”
I encourage you to follow his advice officered in his book — The Great Influenza — and focus on learning how to learn and stay: “constantly alert to technique, to anything offering another window into the new world” as this will allow you to see more clearly and deeply.
Finally, I encourage you to adopt the kind of curiosity Barry writes regarding Julius Cohnheim:
“Cohnheim’s interest centers on the explanation of the fact. It is not enough for him to know that congestion of kidney follows heart disease…. He is constantly inquiring why does it occur under these circumstances.”
And don’t forget to take the Survey!
