Week 3 coronavirus update

Studies have shown that the virus can be found in any body fluid except urine. This just underscores the necessity to continue good hand washing, protective social distancing, and hand sterilization after touching objects or surfaces handled by others.

Vaccine trials and treatment trials are underway but no conclusions yet. Several HIV drugs have proven not to be useful.

The term social-distancing is morphing into physical-distancing.

The CDC found that the coronavirus persisted up to 17 days after people left the Princess cruise ship that was quarantined for 4 weeks. This extends the period of contagion on surfaces well beyond the original 9 days previously thought and supports the continued admonition for diligent hand washing and sterilization long after new viral cases begin diminish.

The epidemiologist Neil Ferguson who originally predicted 2.2 millions of deaths in the US has downgraded his original doomsday predictions by a very significant amount based on the most up-to-date information from the US and UK. His initial report was used by many to justify their opinions, predictions, and policies. It just shows how influential one person’s opinion can be. In this epidemic thankfully he is not likely to be correct.

The Denver Post reported Thursday, March 26, that no Denver area hospitals were getting overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients yet. Hopefully that is a sign that what we are doing is beginning to have an effect.

The latest coronavirus scams:

1. Cleaning services to clean the air and air ducts in your home.
2. Free home test kits
3. Calls from local health departments stating that you may be infected and call this number
4. “vaccine kit for the coronavirus”
5. Special masks. Again the data about masks is that they protect others from getting sick from someone who is ill and wearing a mask. So if you are ill. Wear a mask when out in public IF you really have to get out in public.

Advice from the FBI and FCC:

1. Be wary of any business, charity, or individual requesting payments in cash, by wire transfer, gift card or through the mail.
2. Never share your personal or financial information over email, text message or over the phone.
3. Know that government agencies will never call you to ask for money.

The latest myths about the coronavirus:

1. spraying yourself with chlorine or alcohol will protect you. Unfortunately this will give you very dry skin and possibly an allergic or chemical reaction to the chlorine. Chlorine sprayed in the eye can result in blindness.
2. It is not spread by mosquitoes.
3. A hot bath does not prevent the infection.

“Too much salt weakens your immune system.” This statement comes from a study of mice given excessive doses of salt. It’s hard to translate this finding to humans. Salt intake has been extensively studied in humans and clearly is associated with hypertension, stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure, but no increased risk for common infections. So take this statement with a grain of salt…

When you read about the death rates in different countries from the coronavirus, remember that this percentage comes from the total number of deaths divided by the number of KNOWN cases. Some have predicted that 10-15x more people get the illness than have been tested in the United States. In other countries with more rapid deployment of testing that number is probably only 2-3x the number of known cases.

You may have seen the overall risk of death at 3.4%. The reality is lower. Those at higher risk for developing the severe complications are those over the age of 60 with underlying heart or lung conditions or hypertension. Very high risk are those over age 85.

The evolving evidence is that this virus is less virulent (eg. deadly) than originally suspected. That does not mean we can relax our guard at this time. The great difficulty is knowing who will develop the severe and likely fatal consequences of this infection. We know a good deal about what happens to place people on ventilators but not why it happens to some and not others.

Please remember these dangerous words when reading an article: could, may, might, think. These words define an article filled with opinion. Even though the ideas may make reasonable sense, the ideas expressed are opinions only. The comments about Neil Ferguson’s report mentioned earlier come to mind.

Here’s an interesting article from the New York Times about how South Korea avoided the cultural trauma the rest of the word has experienced. (Hopefully the article is available publicly without subscription.)

Dr. Gipson