You may have already seen hundreds of posts on coronavirus, COVID-19, and various other hashtag worthy phrases in the past few weeks. You may be wondering why I would write a post on this topic and if I have anything new to add to it. The truth is I don’t know if I have something new to add but I am hoping that as people continue to see their doctor and other medical professional friends worried and posting about this, that it will sink in that is not a hoax or a joke.
To start, I want to encourage everyone to only believe reliable sources such as the CDC website (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/share-facts.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fabout%2Fshare-facts.html), WHO (https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019), or posts of people you personally know and trust. There have already been multiple posts, including one pretending to be from a prestigious West Coast university with a lot of false information.
So what do we know? This is a new virus in humans, so unfortunately not as much as we would like. Most people will get a mild respiratory illness (fever, cough, shortness of breath) but the disease spreads easily and quickly through respiratory droplets, which can also settle on surfaces or clothes. There is also fecal-oral transmission. Those individuals over the age of 60, and especially those with other medical conditions, such as respiratory and heart disease as well as diabetes, are at high risk of severe illness. Pregnant women and children do not seem to be in the high risk population.
We don’t know how long this virus stays on surfaces but it may be many hours to days. There is no way to prevent spread other than hand washing and not being around people that carry the virus. It is unclear how much spread is done by asymptomatic patients. We don’t know if it will have a season like the flu. The information we have is also very fluid and every day we learn new things as this is a rapidly evolving situation as you may have noticed from the news every day.
What can you do? You have seen it all over media but I’ll say it again.
- Wash your hands (soap is best but can do alcohol based hand sanitizer)
- Stay home if you are sick
- Practice social distancing (this includes avoiding restaurants, parks, gyms, etc)
- 6 feet from other individuals when able
- Cancel all non-urgent medical appointments if telemedicine is not available
- Call your doctor if you think you have COVID-19 or been exposed to it for further instructions (don’t go to the ED, your doctor’s office or urgent care)
- Order online from restaurants (hot food) or buy gift cards if you can afford it
- Buy gift cards from nail salons, hair salons, spas, and other locations that should be avoided at this time if you can afford it
- Help those who are high risk stay away from large crowds (pick up groceries, medicines, encourage them to stay away from sick grandchildren, avoid travel)
- Share food with those less fortunate, especially those who rely on school to provide food for their children
- Don’t hoard anything
- Don’t wait until your last dose of essential medications to obtain refills
There are many resources online with information regarding activities to do with children at home, schedules for children with cancelled schools, museums offering virtual tours, and outdoor locations to practice social distancing in. Please leave comments below if you would like me to make a blog post putting these resources together.
Don’t panic! That is an important thing to remember. Most people that will get this illness, will have mild or no symptoms. The ideas mentioned above are to stop everyone from getting ill at the same time and overwhelm the medical system.
We don’t know how long this pandemic will last. It is easy to focus on the things we don’t know but I find that if I focus on the things I know and can control, it helps me feel less anxious about it. The next few weeks will be hard on a lot of people but we must learn from China, Italy, South Korea, and Iran. We have control over where we go, how often we wash our hands, and how we talk to one another about this topic.
On a final note, I will admit I am scared. I graduated medical school ten years ago and have never seen the medical community come together in this way. I am scared that what is happening in Italy and Iran could happen here. I am scared for my friends and colleagues in the frontlines, who don’t have the proper protection and ways to practice medicine in the safest way possible. I am scared for those at risk if we don’t stop the spread and that we don’t know how long this will last. I am scared that every time I go to work, I could be exposed and then in turn, expose other patients and the people I love.
Please help the medical community slow the spread of this disease by doing your part!
