MAGIC VALLEY — A chart made by the Texas Medical Association, which depicts the risk levels of daily activities during the pandemic, is making its way around the internet. Still, some people are questioning the accuracy of the chart. One St. Luke's doctor says the chart fails to mention some factors.
"So anything that is being done to inform the public is probably directionally correct, but the exact details may or may not be correct," Joshua Kern, Vice President of Medical Affairs for St. Luke's hospital, said.
Kern says that since we are still learning new things about the virus, information like this chart can be incorrect, or leave out relevant information.
"For anything with COVID, you just have to remember that, despite it feeling like this has been going on forever, we are still in the early days of understanding the virus," Kern said.
And with the chart, he says it may not be 100% wrong, but it fails to address other details when it comes to doing these activities, like wearing a mask or social distancing.
"To me, it's missing the overall point that what we want to avoid is prolonged direct contact with people who may or may not be sick with the virus and may be able to spread the virus to you before they even know you're sick," Kern said.
Kern recommends not taking the chart too seriously.
"I would say they should be taking the virus seriously and what I've seen from my social media feed and people that I am acquainted with in pictures of the large-scale events occurring in southern Idaho despite having a surge in COVID numbers. Should you take charts seriously? I don't know, but you should take the virus seriously," Kern said.
He says the most important thing throughout all of this is to continue wearing a mask and social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.
