“…a virus is not the cause of an illness. It’s a necessary cause […] but it is not the cause.”
FULL CLAIM: "Exposure to a virus is not the same as infection […] That means that a virus is not the cause of an illness. You can’t get a common cold without the virus. [...] On 6 April 2021, comedian Russel Brand posted a video on his Facebook page of him interviewing neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett, a professor at Northeastern University. In the video, Barrett argued that "a virus is not the cause of an illness". She explained that though the viruses are a necessary cause because "you can’t get the common cold without the virus," they are not the cause [Barrett’s emphasis]. The video received more than 390,000 views and more than 16,000 interactions on Facebook, including likes and comments. [...] Although people varied in their susceptibility to developing the disease, the rhinovirus was still the cause of participants’ cold symptoms in the study. Without receiving the nasal drop containing the rhinovirus, none of the patients would have developed a cold. When discussing the causes and outcomes of a disease, distinguishing between a "necessary cause" and "cause," and describing chronic stress as a cause rather than a contributing factor, as Barrett did, is imprecise and potentially misleading.