What We Can Do To Stop The Spread Of Corona Virus

Source: WebMD

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

People who are 60 years old and above are the most prone to contracting the Coronavirus and the average age of people who have died of the virus is 80 years old. However, there are ways that we can do in order to stop the virus from spreading in our communities. US Surgeon Dr. Jerome Adams, MD, in an interview with Dr. John Whyte, sites some tips on how to prevent the spread of the disease. This is a brief summary of his recommendations to the public. 

Young people, even though they are not high risk are the one's who are spreading the disease when they go to bars and restaurants or beaches. They can bring the virus home to their grandmother or grandfather or nursing homes. Therefore, young people should minimize their time in public in any way to prevent the spreading of the disease at home. 

Avoid going to stores if you are immunocompromised. This means that you should not go shopping, to restaurants or bars if you have heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer or HIV.  These people have a tendency to become infected with the virus once exposed to someone who has it.

If your a grandparent and have any of the diseases mentioned, it is best to stay indoors and avoid travelling at all costs. At least for a couple of weeks.

He also mentioned the two best resources about this disease include coronavirus.gov. This site has information and guidance for specific audiences, businesses, schools, faith-based communities, and families. The State Department of Health website has some information about this as well. 

Surgical masks and other kinds of masks are used to prevent you from spreading the disease to other people. N95 masks or the coned shaped ones are for health care workers.

Don't touch your face to prevent the introduction of the virus, or other diseases like flu, to your body.

Avoid social gatherings of about 10 people or above. Don't have these gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus.

Work from home, if possible, to prevent exposing yourself to the virus. And avoid any unessential travel. 

Prevent the virus from spreading through good hygiene. This can be done by not touching your face often. Frequent hand washing and cleaning surfaces to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Social distancing. Stay about 6 feet or two arms-length apart from other people.

Minimize the people who are coming in and out of our household because anyone who comes in maybe a  potential case. Checking their temperature may be a good idea. Check also for symptoms like fever, cough or shortness of breath because these are signs of the virus. You may also ask if they have had some of these symptoms recently. If they did, it is best to not let them come over. Every person who comes in and out of your house is the person who could be bringing coronavirus in. 

Avoid playdates. At least for the time being.

For older people, we need to be very careful about hygiene. If a young person has to see their grandparents, they should wash their hands. No playdates in the house where the grandparents are and avoid people from coming back and forth the home. We do not need to isolate them from the rest of the world but we must make sure that we understand and control their circumstances so that they can stay safe.

"We should do everything we can to avoid putting older people with risk factors around younger people who are going back and forth the home", Dr. Adam's said. "But at the end of the day, you've got to do what you've got to do. And if that is the only option, then you should be leaning into hygiene in that environment and making sure you are wiping down surfaces and making sure that everyone's frequently washing their hands", he further added.

Dr. Adams also said, "What we DON'T want is for someone to get a negative test, and then think, OK, it's time to go party". This is because the virus has an incubation period of 14 days.

Dr. Adams's take on blood supply and blood banks, "We're worried about unintended consequences. And that's why, from the start,  I told people to prepare but not to panic. I really do worry that there is a potential for more people to be impacted by our reaction to coronavirus.  There's discrimination going on. There are people hoarding. There are people pulling knives on each other in grocery stores over hand sanitisers. There are people losing jobs. And, it's really important for us to think through, how we can still stay socially engaged while we're practising social distancing. And the blood donation system is one of those. The majority of blood ---all of the blood, quite frankly, that is donated for surgeries, for people who have traumatic injures, for people who have sickle cell anemia, for people who have cancer and need blood transfusions comes from volunteers. And we've seen that over the last week, over half of the blood drives have been pulled down. There's not a shortage yet, but there could be a shortage if people do not go out and donate blood." He further added, "One blood donation can save three lives. And you're home from work. You're home from college maybe. It's a great way to go out and do something good for your community. You'll feel better about it."

Dr. Adams also said that "Social distancing does not mean social disengagement." He further added that "just as you are going to the grocery store still, you should still be thinking about going to donate blood."

Have a good Sunday.