Another reminder: I am not a medical doctor. I know a few, and they are all awesome! But I am not one. Nor am I a healthcare professional of any kind. These updates are my way of helping everyone sift through the riff-raff. My goal with these posts is to pass along relevant information from the medical community – direct from the source – with some translation into regular English.
A couple of notes before we begin
Total cases: 1,215
— Travel-related: 125
— Close contact: 102
— Under investigation: 988
Total deaths: 36
States reporting cases: 43 (42 states and the District of Columbia)
That is a 300+ case jump in 24 hours. and 600+ up from 48 hours ago.
A few quick hitters:
– Coronavirus can be deadly, but isn’t always. That means it isn’t – necessarily – dire if a case is found in your town/county/state
– Kids are not “immune” to Coronavirus, there are a handful of cases where children have contracted the virus
– Symptoms for adults with a good immune system may not be catastrophic, but the virus can still be passed along to others if said person is carrying the virus – even if the carrying adult doesn’t show symptoms
– The death rate for older adults – people 60 and older – is higher than any other age group (with all other factors being held equal)
Government actions simplified
In the coming days, it wouldn’t surprise me to see more states issue “state of emergency” declarations. If your state or county issues a “State of Emergency” that doesn’t mean the situation is any more dire. It simply means the state or county governments are attempting to free up funding to address the problem.
If someone is told to quarantine, it doesn’t automatically mean that person is infected. There are have been multiple people who have self-quarantined out of “an abundance of caution” recently, a few have ended up not showing symptoms.
Your Questions answered
Before we get to your questions, here is a great podcast to listen to with information about the Coronavirus from Johns Hopkins:
Questions from you on my facebook page:
A Milam Davis: How do they know the exact number of people to stay away from? It is 250. How did they get that number and can the virus spread through paper money being exchanged?
I’m not sure where that number comes from. In all of my digging I couldn’t find an answer to “how many people to avoid.” But, the World Health Organization did mention that Coronavirus could be spread by handling dollar bills. A lot like touching a door handle or railing, the virus can get stuck to dollar bills, too. It is not certain how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on surfaces, according to the WHO. B, thy did note that it behaves like other coronaviruses, so the length could be anywhere from a few hours to several days.
Heather Marisa Morris: Will it affect pregnant women worse than the average adult? Any signs of transmission to the baby?
The Mayo Clinic did a Q&A with a pediatric specialist.
“We are still trying to figure out how this virus behaves in pregnant women,” Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse a pediatric infectious diseases specialist said. “But we do know pregnancy is a time of immune suppression.”
Rajapakse says that women who are pregnant should treat themselves as if they are apart of the “compromised immune system” population until the researchers learn more about the virus. Those same researchers are also trying to figure out if the virus can spread to the fetus.
Angela Jolley: Can it be passed other than coughing or sneezing?
The WHO says this:
People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales. These droplets land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. People can also catch COVID-19 if they breathe in droplets from a person with COVID-19 who coughs out or exhales droplets. This is why it is important to stay more than 1 meter (3 feet) away from a person who is sick.
Tenesha Simpson: How long does the virus stay in the air? Can we catch the virus by just walking/standing by someone that’s infected.
According to Johns Hopkins the virus may spread through airborne transmission, when tiny droplets remain in the air even after the person with the virus leaves the area. This is why it is important to avoid people who are coughing. Even if you are walking 10ft behind them, you may still be at risk for inhaling one of the microscopic airborne droplets.
Those droplets are usually – according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information – under 5 micrometers in size. The Coronavirus is about 120 nanometers in size.
So for easy math, let’s say someone sneezes and leves airborne droplets that at 4 micrometers in size. Those tiny droplets float around – and there could be hundreds – carrying with them about 30 viruses each. And those viruses can start to multiple the second they hit a surface.
Tina Emler Neal: Why are people self quarantined now with no symptoms?
The incubation period, according to a Johns Hopkins study, is usually between five days and two weeks. So, because this virus is so contagious, when people come into contact with someone who is infected, they may choose (or be told) to self-quarantine in order to stop the possible transmission to others.
It turns out, there is some new research (forgive me for not being able to recall by who, but it is in a previous update I’ve posted) that suggests people can pass the virus along before symptoms occur.
So, as people have been saying, “out of an abundance of caution” they choose to isolate themselves.
Paula Steen Nixon: Nick, can you catch the coronavirus more than once or do the CDC know ..?
The coronavirus family (not just this one specifically, but these viruses in general) can re-infect people, according to Johns Hopkins research. Researchers found that “most people have anti-coronavirus antibodies, reflecting universal exposure, but reinfection appears common, suggestive that there are many circulating serotypes of the virus in the human population.”
It is too early for specific numbers, and the research for COVID-19 is still in the works, but it looks like it is possible. What this also means is that if you hear from someone that they know “the reinfection rate is XX percent” they may not have all of the facts. Make sure to follow up with them on where they got that information.
Courtney Galjour: What do we really need to do to prevent a pandemic spread like Italy? Hand washing is not realistic because, let’s face it, not everyone will be compliant. When you have one infected, you can bet that there are more infections brewing. Not all will show obvious symptoms, but can be carriers…especially young children.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know. However, based on what some mathematicians – not doctors – are suggesting, it is inevitable. This is why math people may be better at this point than doctors and medical researchers – this is now a math problem, not a medical problem.
The virus is here, it spread in communities for a few weeks (perhaps even months) with very little testing. We are starting to move down a path of near-exponential growth because this is such an easily-transmitted virus. Mathematicians say that because our government did not act fast enough nor take the correct steps to stop this before it gets too that level, that we can simply look at Italy as a reasonable view at our future.
But personally, I don’t know that I can offer a direct answer.
Janet Hawley Smith: Are you only contagious while you have fever?
New research suggests perhaps not. There is a chance that you can be contagious before showing symptoms. That said, once a person no longer has a fever, the CDC says that person isn’t likely to be contagious anymore.
Kasey Pittman: How about looking up something that proves this is worse than the flu or even comparable to it?
Johns Hopkins has an entire site dedicated to this. You can find it here: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-flu
The short version is that the flu can be treated, this cannot. So what you get, is what you get. Some people will have mild symptoms, others will have severe. But there isn’t a treatment available to ‘make it easier’ to handle. The other big thing is that the Coronavirus is about 10 to 20 times more deadly – across all age groups – and is much more transmissible.
Heather Nicole: I’ve been hearing that if you think you have it you should CALL your doctor’s office and let them get your symptoms from you and tell you what to do, don’t just go to the doctor or ER without being told to. Do you know if this is what they are suggesting for people to do, or is that rumor?
The CDC urges you to call before coming in if you believe you have symptoms. From the CDC website: “If you have a medical appointment, call the healthcare provider and tell them that you have or may have COVID-19. This will help the healthcare provider’s office take steps to keep other people from getting infected or exposed.”
Charisa Hudson: 2 weeks quarantine…this mean that this is a 2 week virus or just for safe measures?
Two weeks for safety. The incubation period lasts up to two weeks, so they want you to be in isolation to make sure you either have it or you don’t. Some research says once you have it, you may be sick up to 6 weeks. Or as little as 14 days. It just depends. And because this is such a new virus, they can’t offer much more information than that.
Jessica LeAnne Phillips: I have asthma and my daughter has reactive airway disease. How does this virus affect people like us?
One study of 140 cases didn’t suggest that if you have asthma you are more susceptible, however, much like other respiratory illnesses, if you suffer from asthma, you need to be extra careful . According to the WHO and the CDC, the highest risk groups include those with asthma. And they suggest that people with asthma take precautions when any type of respiratory illness is spreading in their community.
A good researouce to keep checking would be https://www.asthma.org.uk/coronavirus
Cathy Kay Robinson Boleware: They are closing universities so why not schools?
I would guess – and I’m not a school administrator – that they will begin to close schools in the next few days. And if not, the school schedules will look a bit different.
Sara Robin: What signs should we watch for in an elderly (over 70) parent. especially one with COPD. I know early intervention for that would be important.
There is no research out yet about “warning signs” but shortness of breath is a symptom of COVID-19, so any extra shortness of breath that someone wiht COPD is feeling may be an early detector.
But for now, that is only speculation, as this is still a very new disease.
