Shannon Dohr

Hi all, my name is Shannon (she/her) and I'm a senior biology major and data science minor with interests in microbiology, virology and infectious disease. I got through this crazy quarantine semester with the help of my partner, my house's Friday night pod parties, rapid-rise yeast, and my guinea pig Ciabatta.

Excerpts from pandemic journal, November 24th 2020

"A negative test is a single snapshot in time (that, in the end, may not be all that accurate). It does not equal a free pass to ignore other precautionary measures that decrease the risk of COVID-19 exposure and spread. Generally speaking, COVID tests have high false negative rates. This varies by test type, of course, but none of them are perfect. The timing of the test is also crucial, because it will only detect an infection if the patient’s viral load surpasses a certain threshold. One can be fairly confident in a positive result, but not really in a negative one. If you can't be certain that you're negative, you'd better just mask up and social distance."

"At the same time, safety must be balanced with mental and emotional wellbeing. In reference to risk and Thanksgiving, Anthony Fauci is quoted as saying, 'Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The risk that you have, if everyone is tested before you get together to sit down for dinner, dramatically decreases. It might not ever be zero but, you know, we don’t live in a completely risk-free society.' Risk is a gradient, not a binary, and within reason, the best you as an individual can do is okay. There is a trade-off with each choice made during a long-term global pandemic, and balancing precautionary measures with calculated risks to care for your mental health is necessary to stay sane and healthy."