W.H.O. is determining whether to designate the outbreak of 2019-nCoV as an international public health emergency. Sadly, W.H.O. has put this determination off for at least 10 days, the same sort of cowardly “watch and see” that allowed other diseases to fester and spread. W.H.O. never seems to learn. We know that there is airborne human to human transmission, and that there is a true risk of a pandemic, so let’s look at what you can do to protect yourself, as there’s no doubt that the first American patient won’t be the last.
On the upside, this coronavirus is less virulent than SARS or MERS, meaning that there is a lower probability of death. However, it is still mutating, so we don’t know how it will end up.
As I wrote back when SARS, MERS, Zika, Swine Flu, Bird Flu and other viruses started spreading: fingers, nails, fingers, fingers, fingers. Which means wash your hands. And not just your palms – but your fingers, your nails and then your fingers over and over. You should wash your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds. You should do this every chance you get, it will decrease your probability of all sorts of illnesses. In fact, per an internal paper from the CDC, if every American washed his/her hands properly a minimum of 10 times a day, the incidence of non-venereal communicable disease would decrease by 90% over 30 days nationwide. Believe it or not, washing your hands is even more important than wearing one of those paper masks.
Here is a good video of how to wash your hands from the British National Health Service. Of note, for all of you environmentalists…use a single use paper towel. If you have any viruses or other contagions on your hands, they will live and reproduce on a regular towel. In public restrooms, if given a choice, always choose paper over the air dryers, as they actually spread viruses and bacteria throughout the room, which settle on all the surfaces. In public, use your paper towel to open the door when leaving, because many people do not wash their hands, but do use the door.
Now, an airborne illness can be acquired from an infected person breathing, coughing or sneezing near you. Not much you can do about that unless you commit to never leaving your house, and that’s unrealistic. People talk about masks, and you can certainly see photos of people in masks but those masks are not tight to the skin, and therefore viruses can “get in” through gaps. In addition, the material is not tightly woven enough to prevent small droplets, only larger ones. Further, most people reach under their masks to scratch and adjust, and well, back to hand washing. The 2019-nCoV is not virulent enough to warrant respirators for average citizens, which do work, and which are normally worn by first line personnel if they will be coming in contact with potentially infected people. In addition, studies have shown benefits of people infected with illness in wearing the paper masks to decrease the amount of virus they pass into the air.
What you can do is try to be as healthy as possible so if this thing does go pandemic, your body will be in the best possible state to fight it off. These sorts of viruses tend to be most dangerous to people with underlying health conditions, so try and stay healthy: eat right, get enough sleep and exercise, if you have a chronic condition, keep up with your meds and other treatments. Statistically, the better your health, the higher the probability that the coronavirus will be milder.
This is NOT an Ebola-like virus, and there is no reason to panic. Only to take proper precautions, especially if you’ll be flying anywhere.
