Featured COVID + ~ The INVISIBLE ENEMIES

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AUSTIN, Texas — Two weeks ago, amid the coronavirus pandemic, about 70 students from the University of Texas at Austin partied in Mexico on spring break. The students, all in their 20s, flew on a chartered plane to Cabo San Lucas, and some returned on separate commercial flights to Texas.

Now, 28 of them have tested positive for the virus and are self-isolating. Dozens more are under quarantine and are being monitored and tested, university officials said on Wednesday.

The Austin outbreak is the latest to result from a group of college students who ignored social-distancing guidelines, went on traditional spring break trips and have now tested positive for the coronavirus. Many of them appeared to be under the mistaken impression that young people are not as likely to get the coronavirus as older people are. Students at the University of Tampa, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other colleges have tested positive after returning from spring break trips to Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and elsewhere.

The defiant attitude, at a time when millions of Americans were hunkered down at home and staying away from school, work and relatives, was embodied by Brady Sluder, a young man on spring break in Miami who declared from a packed beach: “If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.” Mr. Sluder, whose television interview was shared widely, later apologized on Instagram.

“The virus often hides in the healthy and is given to those who are at grave risk of being hospitalized or dying,” Dr. Mark E. Escott, the interim medical director and health authority for the city of Austin and Travis County, said in a statement. “While younger people have less risk for complications, they are not immune from severe illness and death from Covid-19,” the disease caused by the coronavirus.

In Austin, health officials with the city government and the university have contacted every young person who was on the chartered plane, using flight manifests shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the authorities said. City health officials used the case to urge residents of all ages to stay home and to avoid nonessential travel. Four of the 28 students who tested positive had not shown any symptoms of the coronavirus.

The state’s flagship university has been hit hard by the virus. Its president, Gregory L. Fenves, announced last month that his wife had tested positive, and that his family was self-isolating. Mr. Fenves’s wife, Carmel, began exhibiting flulike symptoms after the couple traveled to New York City for events with alumni and students. Mr. Fenves’s tests later came back negative.

Mr. Bird said that as of Tuesday, 38 students and seven faculty members had either tested positive, were presumed positive or had self-reported having the virus. That figure includes the 28 students who went to Cabo San Lucas.

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When it comes to limiting the spread of COVID-19, it’s certainly top of mind these days. As coronavirus spreads at an alarming rate in the United States, we’re all doing our best to stay healthy — and relying on our immune system to help make that happen.

At the same time, most of us are spending our days and weeks at home now, which can mean frequent visits to the cupboards for cookies and the freezer for ice cream. We’re looking for all the comfort we can get these days, so what’s the harm in a little sugar?

Potentially a lot, as it turns out. The studied harmful effects of sugar run the gamut from increased anxiety to early death. Oh, and a suppressed immune system.

Yes, there’s some research to back up the idea that sugar wreaks havoc on the immune system. But just how seriously should we take it? Let’s take a closer look.

Your Body On Sugar

While sugar found in fruit or other natural sources can give the body a little boost (mostly because it’s paired with great-for-your body things like fiber and vitamins), processed sugar tends to have some unpleasant effects on the body as a whole.

“Consuming too much sugar can affect the cells in your immune system that target bacteria. ... Sugar affects the way your white blood cells attack bacteria.” explained board-certified internist and gastroenterologist Niket Sonpal. “Nutrient deficiencies can increase your risk level when warding off infection, and food items with high levels of refined sugar are usually nutritionally obsolete. Sugar triggers low-grade inflammation in the body and also increases the mass. This can contribute to diseases that are chronic in nature, things as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”

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