Typhoid Mary

And The COVID Parallel

You’ve most likely heard the Typhoid Mary story, or at least parts of it. And guess what? It perfectly illustrates our current public health predicament.

However we feel about this one particular case, the conundrum remains: Is it a “right” for a contagious person to infect others?

Does the “freedom” of a potential superspreader always trump the safety of everyone else?

Why?

The following question could be considered a bit extreme, but bear with me:

Where exactly do we draw the line between aware superspreaders of a deadly disease and serial killers?

A superspreader is someone who is more likely to infect other humans when compared to a typically infected person.

Asymptomatic superspreaders

They’re everywhere. We can’t tell who they are. They are not even necessarily aware themselves.

I question the logic of allowing uninformed, fundamentally selfish people to set their own rules.