Last
evening dining out with friends, one of their uncles, who's graduated with a
master's degree and who worked in Shenzhen Hospital (Guangdong Province, China)
sent him the following notes on Coronavirus for guidance:
1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold
2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose.
3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees. It hates the Sun.
4. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne.
5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours - so if you come into contact with any metal surface - wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap.
6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it.
7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice.
8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but - a lot can happen during that time - you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on.
9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice.
10. Can't emphasize enough - drink plenty of water!
THE SYMPTOMS
1. It will first infect the throat, so you'll have a sore throat lasting 3/4 days
2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further.
3. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing.
4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you're drowning. It's imperative you then seek immediate attention.
1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold
2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose.
3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees. It hates the Sun.
4. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne.
5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours - so if you come into contact with any metal surface - wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap.
6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it.
7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice.
8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but - a lot can happen during that time - you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on.
9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice.
10. Can't emphasize enough - drink plenty of water!
THE SYMPTOMS
1. It will first infect the throat, so you'll have a sore throat lasting 3/4 days
2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further.
3. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing.
4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you're drowning. It's imperative you then seek immediate attention.
As
some of you may recall, when I was a professor of pathology at the University
of California San Diego, I was one of the first molecular virologists in the
world to work on coronaviruses (the 1970s). I was the first to demonstrate the
number of genes the virus contained. Since then, I have kept up with the
coronavirus field and its multiple clinical transfers into the human population
(e.g., SARS, MERS), from different animal sources.
The current projections for its expansion in the US are only probable, due to continued insufficient worldwide data, but it is most likely to be widespread in the US by mid to late March and April.
Here is what I have done and the precautions that I take and will take. These are the same precautions I currently use during our influenza seasons, except for the mask and gloves.:
1) NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc.
2) Use ONLY your knuckle to touch light switches. elevator buttons, etc.. Lift the gasoline dispenser with a paper towel or use a disposable glove.
3) Open doors with your closed fist or hip - do not grasp the handle with your hand, unless there is no other way to open the door. Especially important on bathroom and post office/commercial doors.
4) Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available, including wiping the handle and child seat in grocery carts.
5) Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and/or use a greater than 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you return home from ANY activity that involves locations where other people have been.
6) Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at each of your home's entrances. AND in your car for use after getting gas or touching other contaminated objects when you can't immediately wash your hands.
7) If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard. Use your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on your elbow will contain infectious virus that can be passed on for up to a week or more!
What I have stocked in preparation for the pandemic spread to the US:
1) Latex or nitrile latex disposable gloves for use when going shopping, using the gasoline pump, and all other outside activity when you come in contact with contaminated areas.
Note: This virus is spread in large droplets by coughing and sneezing. This means that the air will not infect you! BUT all the surfaces where these droplets land are infectious for about a week on average - everything that is associated with infected people will be contaminated and potentially infectious. The virus is on surfaces and you will not be infected unless your unprotected face is directly coughed or sneezed upon.
This virus only has cell receptors for lung cells (it only infects your lungs) The only way for the virus to infect you is through your nose or mouth via your hands or an infected cough or sneeze onto or into your nose or mouth.
2) Stock up now with disposable surgical masks and use them to prevent you from touching your nose and/or mouth (We touch our nose/mouth 90X/day without knowing it!). This is the only way this virus can infect you - it is lung-specific. The mask will not prevent the virus in a direct sneeze from getting into your nose or mouth - it is only to keep you from touching your nose or mouth.
3) Stock up now with hand sanitizers and latex/nitrile gloves (get the appropriate sizes for your family). The hand sanitizers must be alcohol-based and greater than 60% alcohol to be effective.
4) Stock up now with zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven to be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other viruses) from multiplying in your throat and nasopharynx. Use as directed several times each day when you begin to feel ANY "cold-like" symptoms beginning. It is best to lie down and let the lozenge dissolve in the back of your throat and nasopharynx. Cold-Eeze lozenges is one brand available, but there are other brands available.
I, as many others do, hope that this pandemic will be reasonably contained, BUT I personally do not think it will be. Humans have never seen this snake-associated virus before and have no internal defense against it.
Tremendous worldwide efforts are being made to understand the molecular and clinical virology of this virus. Unbelievable molecular knowledge about the genomics, structure, and virulence of this virus has already been achieved. BUT, there will be NO drugs or vaccines available this year to protect us or limit the infection within us. Only symptomatic support is available.
I hope these personal thoughts will be helpful during this potentially catastrophic pandemic. You are welcome to share
Good luck to all of us! James Robb, MD FCAP
The current projections for its expansion in the US are only probable, due to continued insufficient worldwide data, but it is most likely to be widespread in the US by mid to late March and April.
Here is what I have done and the precautions that I take and will take. These are the same precautions I currently use during our influenza seasons, except for the mask and gloves.:
1) NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc.
2) Use ONLY your knuckle to touch light switches. elevator buttons, etc.. Lift the gasoline dispenser with a paper towel or use a disposable glove.
3) Open doors with your closed fist or hip - do not grasp the handle with your hand, unless there is no other way to open the door. Especially important on bathroom and post office/commercial doors.
4) Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available, including wiping the handle and child seat in grocery carts.
5) Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and/or use a greater than 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you return home from ANY activity that involves locations where other people have been.
6) Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at each of your home's entrances. AND in your car for use after getting gas or touching other contaminated objects when you can't immediately wash your hands.
7) If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard. Use your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on your elbow will contain infectious virus that can be passed on for up to a week or more!
What I have stocked in preparation for the pandemic spread to the US:
1) Latex or nitrile latex disposable gloves for use when going shopping, using the gasoline pump, and all other outside activity when you come in contact with contaminated areas.
Note: This virus is spread in large droplets by coughing and sneezing. This means that the air will not infect you! BUT all the surfaces where these droplets land are infectious for about a week on average - everything that is associated with infected people will be contaminated and potentially infectious. The virus is on surfaces and you will not be infected unless your unprotected face is directly coughed or sneezed upon.
This virus only has cell receptors for lung cells (it only infects your lungs) The only way for the virus to infect you is through your nose or mouth via your hands or an infected cough or sneeze onto or into your nose or mouth.
2) Stock up now with disposable surgical masks and use them to prevent you from touching your nose and/or mouth (We touch our nose/mouth 90X/day without knowing it!). This is the only way this virus can infect you - it is lung-specific. The mask will not prevent the virus in a direct sneeze from getting into your nose or mouth - it is only to keep you from touching your nose or mouth.
3) Stock up now with hand sanitizers and latex/nitrile gloves (get the appropriate sizes for your family). The hand sanitizers must be alcohol-based and greater than 60% alcohol to be effective.
4) Stock up now with zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven to be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other viruses) from multiplying in your throat and nasopharynx. Use as directed several times each day when you begin to feel ANY "cold-like" symptoms beginning. It is best to lie down and let the lozenge dissolve in the back of your throat and nasopharynx. Cold-Eeze lozenges is one brand available, but there are other brands available.
I, as many others do, hope that this pandemic will be reasonably contained, BUT I personally do not think it will be. Humans have never seen this snake-associated virus before and have no internal defense against it.
Tremendous worldwide efforts are being made to understand the molecular and clinical virology of this virus. Unbelievable molecular knowledge about the genomics, structure, and virulence of this virus has already been achieved. BUT, there will be NO drugs or vaccines available this year to protect us or limit the infection within us. Only symptomatic support is available.
I hope these personal thoughts will be helpful during this potentially catastrophic pandemic. You are welcome to share
Good luck to all of us! James Robb, MD FCAP
Thanks for sharing the information, Margaret.
ReplyDeleteI am reading that they are testing some drugs already in existence; remdesivir and chloroquine, which show promise for treatment. Remdesivir was used against Ebola and Marburg viruses, and chloroquine is an antimalarial.
This part blows my mind: "Humans have never seen this snake-associated virus before and have no internal defense against it." (However some researchers are saying it was pangolins.) But is a really good argument, if one were needed, for staying away from snakes. And leaving endangered species like pangolins alone.
ReplyDeleteHow do y'all feel about air travel these days? My employer is now making it so difficult for its employees that it amounts to an effective travel moratorium.
ReplyDeleteFrom a health point of view, any advantage to a driving vacation vs. a flying vacation? Is a staycation safer than a travel vacation this year?
Well you for sure get exposed to less "stranger germs" with a car journey. If your family or friends you are with are healthy, you have a greater chance of staying healthy. Of course you still have to think about restrooms and eating places.
DeleteI have some relatives who are "travelholics". Their preschool children all have passports. With stamps on them. I'm hoping they will reconsider their globe-trotting until this crisis blows over.
Staycation. That sounds good. "Right here" isn't a bad destination.
We're all different. I am not going anywhere I have to be less than six feet from anyone other than Raber. If you can have a vacation around that proscription, count me in!
DeleteOur vacation plan: count fireflies.
DeleteJim, companies are canceling international travel for employees, as well as canceling conferences.
DeleteKatherine, the only one of my six grandchildren who does not have a passport is the one born yesterday. I imagine she will have hers by six months. Her brother is the eldest of the six grands and he is only five years old. He’s on his second passport, has been to 15 countries on five continents. The 3 year old and his seven month old brother both made international trips before they had passports - at 4 and 5 weeks, they were issued “ travel papers” because there wasn’t enough time to process passports after they were born before they jetted off. They now have two passports each, as they have dual citizenship.
Their next international trips are scheduled for early May and I sure hope it will be safer for them to fly by then. These are the Australian grandsons and we really do want to see them in May!
Some families just gotta travel!
Anne, congratulations on your new grandchild!
DeleteYes, plane travel does make it easier for scattered-out families to stay connected. I hope your family from "down under" will get to visit in May.
Thank you, Katherine. We have three sons, and until 3/3, we had 4 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. Now we have 2 granddaughters, and she is only 15 months younger than her girl cousin, and 8 months younger than one of her boy cousins (but he lives in Australia). Six who are five and under - the family gatherings get more and more chaotic. The next one is in May. Assuming everyone can make it!
DeleteThanks Margaret,
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine who worked for thirty years in the hospital system has been scouring the internet for information. This covered the information that she had found piecemeal along with answering some additional questions.
We are sharing this with the pastoral staff of one of our local parishes. She is in the choir and knows the music director well. I know a pastoral staff member well because that is where our Commonweal local community meets. I shared the article with both. It will be interesting to see what they do with it.
My friend and I who are both vulnerable are in the process of isolating ourselves from everyone else. I have a 90 day supply of animal protein in the freezer. She is a vegetarian; since I enjoy her cooking we are hoping within a week to make our last trip to the grocery store for the next three months if necessary.
We appreciated the estimate of mid March for this to be widespread in the US. We had come to that same conclusion from our own sources, and so we are ceasing church going this coming Sunday until this is gone.
There are wonderful internet resources for worship, e.g. Notre Dame each Sunday at 10am, choral evening song from Saint Thomas in NY, and recently from the National Cathedral.
I don't plan on dropping out of society unless it gets widespread in our area. I didn't spend a lot of time outdoors when West Nile was going around, but we only ended up with a few cased here. Couple of years back we were worried about Ebola. Parents of young infants have to worry about RSV. There's always something.
ReplyDeleteI think the CDC is a more reliable place to get info. There are still unknowns about how the virus works.
ReplyDeleteThe bit about zinc cough drops makes me suspicious. Zinc MAY work on cold viruses, but covid-19 is a different animal. I can find nothing that indicates this is helpful against corona.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/expert-answers/zinc-for-colds/faq-20057769
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAlso #3. Is this centigrade or fahrenheit? If the virus is not heat resistant, why is it appearing in Australia, which is having a terribly hot summer right now?
DeleteOK, I guess I am thinking about this too much. Time to read a book!
27°C = 80.6°F. I guess it is in Centigrade.
DeleteThe CDC never adopted the WHO test for the virus; they made mistakes on their testing kits, had to recall them. Then they limited testing to people who had traveled abroad or who had contact with someone who had traveled.
ReplyDeleteThey now say they will be able to test any one who is referred by their doctor at many different locations soon. I suspect we will find out it has spread widely throughout this country. Questions of school, church, and workplace closing will likely become front and center as they have elsewhere.
Financial resources will hamper many people's ability to go on lockdown, especially for three months.
ReplyDeletePeople who have no sick leave will have to continue to work. They may not have room to store that much food or be able to afford it if they live paycheck to paycheck. Ditto purchasing enough meds to last three months. Most people can't go three months without a trip to the laundromat if they don't have a washer and dryer.
Those rich enough to "stock up" create shortages for others. The poor, the homeless, and elderly in nursing homes will have it rough.
Add to this the chance that people with mild symptoms won’t go to doctors if they don’t have health insurance and so won’t even know they are exposing others because they don’t know for sure that they have it. There are millions of uninsured in this country, the richest in the world and the only rich country that doesn’t have universal medical coverage. So, Jack May be right that a lot more people have it than is known right now.
DeleteCouple of insights from the men yesterday:
ReplyDelete+ As regards panic buying, this is just like the 5-day cone for a hurricane, except for the plywood. The unprepared mask makers are getting the plywood makers' business.
+ When people get sick, the first place the go is church, it seems. How often do you turn to someone at the kiss of peace and get an upraised hand with a finger on the other hand pointing to his nose?
I guess it is a blessing in disguise that my dad has been staying home from church lately because of mobility issues and wanting to avoid ice. He feels bad about it, but his priest told him it is okay, that someone in their 90s isn't obliged. My sister got commissioned as an EMHC so she could bring him Communiom. But it is sad because homebound people are cut off from their larger community.
DeleteAs Jean and Anne mentioned above it isn't practical for a lot of people (maybe most people) to sequester themselves for an extended period.
I am one of the guilty ones who has gone to church with a cold and sat in the back pew. Though I won't be doing that now.
Last evening there was a substitute priest for Mass. Ordinarily the deacons don't assist at the altar for a daily Mass, but the pastor had asked my husband to help out Father W. since he was a guest. He couldn't get through a sentence without coughing, and one of the servers had to bring him a glass of water. Though the archdiocese put the kibosh on Communion from the shared chalice the the priests still share with the deacons at the altar. I don't think the priest has corona, but I wish DH had asked him to purify his own chalice. I suppose that would be bad manners.
The corona virus is going to suck all the air out of the room as far as medical resources. Just because there is scare on doesn't mean that other illnesses won't keep on happening.
I think people are going to have their freak-out for awhile, and then kind of sink into a new normal.
Tom, I work with a guy in Florida, and he made exactly the same comparison a couple of days ago to hurricane panic-buying. He lives on the Atlantic coast. He rode out whatever was supposed to be the big hurricane last season (or maybe there was more than one) - said his house is on high ground (which apparently means it's something like 3 feet higher than the neighbors'), and he's been through too many false alarms to want to miss work and otherwise upset his routine. Hope he knows whereof he speaks.
DeleteWill this german word for panic buying for hoarding make it to English? I hope so. "Hamsterkauf" is just too cute.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-scare-when-will-hamsterkauf-become-an-english-word/a-52635400
Stanley, I love it! If schadenfreude made it into English, hamsterkauf totally should.
DeleteYes, hamsterkauf definitely has a lexical future in English!!
DeleteHas some of the appeal of gesundheit!
DeleteI used it once already. We buy toilet tissue in bulk, and we were getting low when I heard Tuesday on NPR that TP was one of the items hamsterkauf Germans were putting in their pouches. Since I was going to the store anyway, I told a friend I thought I might as well hamsterkauf some TP. He had to ask.
DeleteBtw, I think it's an adjective or maybe a noun, not a verb. So, like any good appropriator, I misused it.
I think it's a good and practical misuse, Tom. Use it as adjective, noun, verb. The germans use the word "hamstern" as the verb but that's a little tough for English speakers. Then there's declension. "Du hamsterst"?
DeleteJim: you could rent a cabin that is within a no-bathroom stop drive of home, and bring all your own groceries to do all the cooking at home. Don't know who the family cook is, but if you go this route, it's a chore that needs to be shared.
ReplyDeleteIf you decide to go farther away and need to fly, then here is the airplane-sanitization routine guidance
https://millionmilesecrets.com/guides/1-in-5-passengers-get-sick-on-every-plane-flight-here-are-10-tips-to-stay-healthy-on-your-next-flight/
If you do want to go somewhere farther away, at least 3 airlines have announced that they will waive future change/cancellation fees for trips booked during March, good through the end of the year - Jet Blue, Alaska, United. There may be more, but these are the airlines who send me regular email as a member of their frequent flyer programs. Southwest always gives full credit for cancellation if it is done before the flights take off. But, it's credit for future flights, not a refund.
I had read the first part of this article before - an email that I received from a family member who forwards all kinds of nonsense most of the time (right-wing conspiracy, pro-Trump nonsense). I usually fact-check viral emails that don't provide a source. So, this is what I found.
The doc is for real
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/zinc-lozenges-coronavirus/
The first part is mostly accurate, but not totally. As Jean noted, the heat required to kill the germs is much higher than that given in the first part of the post.
https://www.thatsnonsense.com/the-friends-uncle-list-of-coronavirus-facts-fact-check/
Anne, many thanks for those suggestions. Just speaking for myself, going to a place that requires housekeeping and cooking for ourselves is too much like real life. Especially considering that I'll have my smartphone and laptop with me - somehow, I need to get away more than that.
DeleteSomeone told me yesterday that airplanes have medical-grade air filters. Hmmm.
Jim, the airlines are all beefing up their sanitation and health measures. They have been slammed and are cutting their flight schedules. Lufthansa has cut 50% of their flights! Figure out where you want to go, and when. Boris is telling the Brits that they expect the peak to be May or June there. If you plan to travel during the summer, maybe make reservations while the airlines are offering no change fees. But you need to check with every airline you might use as they are updating their policies every day now.
DeleteMy husband and I spent 5 days in a lovely hotel in Hawaii last December, eating all meals in the resort’s restaurants. I loved it. We haven’t done that since before we had kids - more than 42 years ago - almost always renting a house or condo and doing most of our own cooking - correction - I did most of the cooking. The December vacation was so very nice! We stayed in one place, the resort, except for one sightseeing excursion for lunch at a small, historic town about 15 minutes away. We mostly stay in hotels when in Europe, and do eat in inexpensive restaurants, cafes and bistros, often making a picnic lunch. But the sightseeing trips are not relaxing. Interesting, educational, fun - but not relaxing.
A friend told me this morning that you could get NY-Miami round-trip plane tickets for $51.
DeleteAmazing price. It’s usually peak pricing to Florida during March until a week after Easter because of spring breaks.
DeleteHamsterkauf - what a wonderful word!
ReplyDeleteOn a cruise from Miami to Barcelona w/5 days in B thereafter. Mid-April to very early May.
ReplyDeleteHave plans for Vietnam and Cambodia in October ….. MAYBE!
Fwiw, out here in Hicksville, plenty of Gatorade, toilet paper, and soap. Kroger had its store brand sanitizer on sale for a dollar each, though supply was low. I bought a couple to keep in the car. I will try to buy one or two each time I go to the store to donate to the school and food bank.
ReplyDeletePlenty of cheap vodka!
No plans to cancel tomorrow's fish fry or the St. Patrick's Day dinner, but will be interesting to hear if participation is down as Lent progresses.
Raber seems to feel no compunction to curtail activities. He is in the parish kitchen in close quarters with a dozen helpers and cooks, and if the virus can live on fabric for six hours, it's just gonna take one sneeze from Typhoid Mary at church for the virus to walk in the door. Seems futile for me to take special precautions. I have told him not to bring home dessert items that are out in the open on the buffet.
I popped into the grocery store a couple of evenings back to pick up a couple of items that couldn't wait till the Saturday weekly shopping trip. The hand sanitizer at the entranceway was completely out. I grabbed one of those hand-carried baskets with handles, wondering who else had handled it, and regretting that I had no way of wiping it down. I paid with cash, and the coin changemaker machine spit out some coins down the chute and into the little landing cup. I wondered who else had handled the nickels and dimes. On the way back home, I stopped at a gas station. As I pushed the buttons on the credit card payment subsystem, I wondered what other fingers had been pushing those buttons.
ReplyDeleteI can't really live this way, fearing cooties at every touch. I predict that the sale of those food-safety plastic disposable gloves is going to go through the roof because people will be wearing them whenever they go out in public.
Cooties! That brings back fond memories of grade school. As a very literal-minded child, I insisted that Tim Smith, our best class artist in Grade 3, draw me a picture of a cootie because I did not believe they existed without proof. Though how his drawing was proof I can no longer explain, though his picture would have made a believer of anyone.
DeleteYes, I went through a few days of Corona Fear that I have now found hard to sustain. Kroger provides wipes for the grocery carts and baskets, and the blood lab provides sanitizer. I spritz, wipe, wash when I am presented with the opportunity.
But the end for me was the WaPo report yesterday that the virus seems to have been passed from owner to dog. People I'm happy to avoid. But not giving up playing with Otis the neighbor dog when he visits or letting the cats park on me while I read.
What I am reading is that dogs and cats can test positive for the virus but they can't pass it to humans. Hopefully that is true.
DeleteI am still more worried about West Nile than Covid 19. Because we have cases in the state every year, and it has a 13-15% fatality rate. Thus far we have no Covid 19 in the state except for patients being treated in the University Med Center biocontainment unit. And all of them originated somewhere else. Of course West Nile is not passed human to human, it is passed through mosquitos. Which had a bumper year ladt year from all the standing water.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete