10 Main Questions Re: Corona Virus and other important sources of Information on this timely topic effecting all of us.

First, this is an evolving situation and the timing of arrival of the virus will differ depending on where you are, so please monitor for information in your area. I would look at your health department website, your local newspaper, and the CDC website.

Question 1: What is the big deal? I am under 60 years old, so I am not at risk. I have things I need to do and places I need to travel. I am healthy, and I don’t care if I have some flu symptoms.

I get the confusion. On the one hand, we hear adults under 60, and children, will have a mild cold with fever, cough, and fatigue– if that. So, what is the concern? The reason to self-quarantine if you are sick is so you do not infect other people. Coronaviruses are very contagious. Authorities are still deciding if this one is air born. The recommendation is to not be within 6 feet of someone sick for more than 10 minutes (for now since testing is not readily available, that implies anyone who is ill or if you are ill). The reason we do not want to infect other people is that most of us have contact with people who are vulnerable to the virus and likely to get pneumonia, such as people over 60 or who have a compromised immune system.

Question 2: This does not sound any different than the flu, again why should I stay home if sick, wash my hands all the time, wipe down my office between clients it seems like a hassle, and I still don’t think it is worth it for me?

The reason to follow what health authorities recommend is, we are trying to prevent too many people who are at risk of infection, all needing intense medical care for severe pneumonia all at the same time. Since this virus is new to humans, all of us could be infected and get sick all at the same time and overwhelm our local medical systems. How this can hurt a healthy person is not that they might get a severe case of pneumonia, but if a healthy person has a medical event (appendicitis, motor vehicle accident or heart attack). The local hospital could be overwhelmed by people presenting with severe flu symptoms and needing respirators. Then anyone seeking medical care may not get optimal care. Additionally, when the health care system is overwhelmed, more people can die.

Question 3: How do I not get sick? 
There is currently no vaccine to prevent COVID-19. The best way to prevent illness is to be as healthy as possible, avoid being exposed to this virus, and avoid spreading the coronavirus or other seasonal flus.  Here is the list from the CDC to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases, including:
•    Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
•    Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
•    Stay home when you are sick.
•    Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
•    Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
•    Follow CDC’s recommendations for using a facemask.
o    CDC does not recommend that people who are well to wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including COVID-19.
o    Facemasks should be used by people who show symptoms of COVID-19 to help prevent the spread of the disease to others. The use of facemasks is also crucial for health workers and people who are taking care of someone in close settings (at home or in a health care facility).
•    Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
•    If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
•    As the virus spreads to your community, your local health care authorities will be making recommendations about participating in face to face meetings, groups, and communities. In the Seattle area at first, the message was wash your hands and stay home if sick. Then, companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and offices downtown said to stay home to work, and all business travel is canceled. Then, it was recommended not to have groups of more than ten people. This is why it is important to find a local source of health updates to learn more about what is being recommended based on the prevalence of the virus in your area. I have found our newspaper, department of health, governor office, and state congresspeople good sources of local information.

The way an epidemic is controlled is that we all participate as a community in limiting the spread of the virus.

Question 4: When do you wash your hands? 

Wash your hands as a punctuation ritual for meeting people and going outside of my home.
a.    Before you leave the house-when, you return home
b.    Before you meet face to face with people-after, you meet face to face with people
c.    Before you eat, particularly at a restaurant – after you eat at a restaurant.
d.    And let’s not forget, after going to the bathroom, coughing, blowing your nose…even if it is for spring allergies.

Question 5: Is there anything else I should do to prevent getting the virus? 

1.    Prioritized sleep. As much as possible offer your body at least 8 hours of rest in bed with the lights off and no screens. Even if you don’t sleep, it is helpful to your immune system to rest. As much as possible, go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time.
2.    Walk  10 minutes outside. Spring is arriving go outside for at least 10 minutes and look for one color—red, yellow, purple, blue… Studies show that being outside supports your immune system, and doing a fun mindful practice of looking for colors will tell you brain that you can step away from any anxiety of the moment.
3.    Don’t increase your use of sugar, alcohol, smoking of any product. These will suppress your immune system.
4.    Stay connected to your community through phone and facetime calls. It would be nice to reach out to the older folks to help them stay connected.

Question 6: Do you recommend any supplements for prevention? 

Generally, on my website, I focus on helping the body do take care of itself. For this situation, I do think three supplements are helpful.

1.    Vitamin D3 – for adults 4000IU per day and for children over 6 years old 600 IU/day
2.    Vitamin C – 500 to 1000 mg per day or until you get loose stools.
3.    Zinc- 15 to 30 mg per day.

Question 7: I am worried that I am going to get the virus?

Let’s make a plan for if you get sick. The Chinese Medicine that I study suggests that if you are anxious about something making a plan for dealing with what is making you anxious will reduce your anxiety since you know what your first few steps are.

COVID-19 is a respiratory virus that attacks your lungs; the symptoms are very much like the flu: elevated temperature, cough, shortness of breath, tight or sore chest,  muscle aches, and fatigue. Currently, the public health message is, “If you are sick, stay at home unless you are really sick. Then call your doctor, hospital, or urgent care. Don’t just go into the medical facility.”

So, I would suggest that you minimally gather the following:
•    A thermometer
•    Tissue for nose blowing
•    Go to your pharmacy and request an extra month of your medications
•    Food that you like to eat when sick. If possible, it would be good to have enough food for two weeks. Soups are great to overstock in the house.
•    The phone number of the medical provider or facility that you will call if you think you have pneumonia or need medical care. If you have health insurance, they usually have a nurse’s phone on the back of the card or a telehealth site. Just be familiar with what number you will use and be sure you know how to use it.
•    Have a support person who you will contact if you are sick, particularly if you live alone. Ask if you can be in regular contact with them in general and if you are sick.
•    Make a list of 10 things that you can do from home to rest and combat boredom (Netflix, read a book, call a friend, start that hobby that you never have time for, go onto YouTube and learn to draw, sing, fold origami to name a few)

If you consider yourself at risk for getting pneumonia, there are two other tools that might be helpful at this moment.

1.    Pulse Oximeter- This is a monitor that you put on your finger, which will show the oxygen content of your blood. If you wear nail polish, it will need to be removed to ensure accuracy. It is common to have between 95 to 100% saturation for most people. If you have a lung condition such as COPD, severe asthma, lung cancer, it might be lower. What a pulse oximeter will help with is when you are sick, if you have shortness of breath, you can know that your lungs are still absorbing. oxygen easily, and if the number drops, you can report that to who you talk call. This is about $14 to $24 on Amazon.
2.    A stethoscope – since it is viral pneumonia that we are concerned with. A $6 stethoscope off of Amazon will help you hear if you have pneumonia. You can describe to the medical personnel on the phone how the sounds of your lungs have changed since becoming sick. I always have my patients listen to their lung sounds when they have pneumonia, and they all say, “Oh, that sounds bad. No wonder I feel bad.”

Question 8: What should I do if I know that I am getting sick? 

•    Stay at home until you are better plus a day
•    Rest
•    Take your temperature
•    Stay hydrated with water and hot tea
•    Take lots of hot baths. This makes it harder for the virus to replicate. See our handout on our website.
•    Stay warm
•    Eat foods that are warm and cooked.
•    As much as possible, keep a distance from family members who need to be out in the community.

Question 9: What is really sick? When do I call for support or seek medical care? 

1.    First, it is always ok to call your provider if you think you need medical care for any reason. If you call first, rather than just showing up when you have flu symptoms, they can be prepared to help you.  Remember, other health events will come up, and if you think that you have a serious medical event like heart attack, please call 911.
2.    Call if you have a temperature over 101 degrees
3.    Call if you have shortness of breath and feel like you are having problems breathing
4.    Call if you are so fatigued that you are struggling to do basic care activities like preparing food, drinking water, changing clothes.
5.    Call if you have a pulse oximeter, and your oxygen saturation is dropping below 95%
6. Call if your lung sounds have changed since getting sick.

Question 10: I have a high deductible or no health insurance, and I am worried about the cost if I need care. 

Check with your state, in WA there is an order from the WA insurance commissioner that there is no deductible for testing and there is money for care for those without health insurance. You can ask what the policy is when you call.

Seven things you should know about the coronavirus, written by a registered nurse 👋 :

1. Coronavirus itself isn’t new. Just like influenza, coronavirus is a family of respiratory viruses, and there are multiple strains, which have the ability to change over time. Coronavirus is already common in the United States, and has been for years. I have personally cared for patients with this diagnosis.
2. Novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, is the strain we’re hearing about in the news. It emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019.
3. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Just like the flu and common cold, it is spread person to person via respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
4. According to the World Health Organization, as of February 26, there have been 2,918 confirmed cases of COVID-19 outside of China. 53 of these are in the United States. There have been 44 deaths, none in the United States. Compare this to influenza, which the CDC estimates will infect between 29,000,000 and 41,000,000 people in the United States alone during the 2019-20 season, resulting in 16,000 to 41,000 deaths.
5. “But there’s no cure!” You’re right. There’s no magic pill that cures the flu either. But there is a flu vaccine (that doesn’t cause autism) that can protect you from our most common respiratory viruses. Maybe go get one.
6. So, why are we panicking? Frankly, because the media tells us to. Manufacturing a pandemic is a great way to boost ratings, but everything science knows so far about COVID-19 has revealed it to be no more than yet another respiratory virus (and there are thousands).
7. The scariest part of COVID-19 isn’t the virus itself, it’s the resulting baseless mass paranoia. Hospitals are hoarding supplies, creating shortages of PPE necessary to protect healthcare workers and patients. Cities are refusing to house and treat sick people who have nowhere else to go. People are using the virus as an excuse for their own social prejudices.

So, what can you do? Turn off the TV and arm yourself with the facts. Stop the spread of false information.

And for Pete’s sake, wash your hands.

(Information & statistics obtained directly from the CDC & WHO)

Want to know more? Learn from the experts:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus

“Other countries have already shown that a strong response can bend the epidemic curve.” NY Times Article 3/15.20:

How Much Worse the Coronavirus Could Get, in Charts
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/13/opinion/coronavirus-trump-response.html?referringSource=articleShare

Go to healthalerts.standord,edu for more complete information.

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How can one know if he/she is infected? By the time they have fever and/or cough and go to the hospital, the lung is usually 50% Fibrosis and it’s too late.
Taiwan experts provide a simple self-check that we can do every morning. Take a deep breath and hold your breath for more than 10 seconds. If you complete it successfully without coughing, without discomfort, stiffness or tightness, etc., it proves there is no Fibrosis in the lungs, basically indicates no infection.
In critical time, please self-check every morning in an environment with clean air.
Serious excellent advice by Japanese doctors treating COVID-19 cases: Everyone should ensure your mouth & throat are moist, never dry. Take a few sips of water every 15 minutes at least.
Why? Even if the virus gets into your mouth, drinking water or other liquids will wash them down through your throat and into the stomach. Once there, your stomach acid will kill all the virus.
If you don’t drink enough water more regularly, the virus can enter your windpipe and into the lungs. That’s very dangerous.
Please send and share this with family and friends. Take care everyone and may the world recover from this Coronavirus soon.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT – CORONAVIRUS
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 emphasis 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 go to emergency 911.