The Coronavirus
is here in the USA and has already proven deadly in Washington state! Do you think you know all about it? Read these 7 debunked myths and find out for
yourself.
Surgical masks will protect me from the virus: Surgical face masks are not designed to block out virus particles nor do they lay flat on the face. They can prevent or decrease the chances of spreading the virus if you already have it because Corona spreads from “respiratory droplets”. It happened to a cabbie in Thailand who contracted it from a passengers’ sneeze on his face and neck.
Coronavirus is less likely to get than The Flu: Not necessarily. To see how much a disease will spread scientists use a formula called Ro (R-naught). The Ro for the flu is 1.3 meaning the average person will infect 1.3 people and the Ro for the Coronavirus is 2.2 plus there’s no vaccine yet.
Getting the CoronaVirus aka Covid-19 is a death sentence: Not true, as 81% of reported cases are mild, 13.8% report severe cases, 4.7% are critical (meaning multi-organ failure) and thus far about 2.3% have resulted in death.
Pets can spread this new virus: Not necessarily as scientists reported one dog in Hong Kong tested “weak positive”, meaning it could have either contracted the disease or picked it up from a contaminated surface with its face or nose. Thus far there are no known animal cases (cats or dogs) to date although it’s possible that bats were first infected then passed it to humans like SARS-CoV-2.
If I have the CV I will know it: No, you won’t! CoVid-19 has a variety of symptoms like a fever, cough and runny nose that can feel just like a cold. Early on, infected people may show no symptoms at all.
It’s unsafe to receive a package from China: It’s safe to receive letters or packages from China. For the virus to survive there needs to be a combination of certain conditions like temperature, lack of UV exposure and humidity. According to the CDC “there’s likely a low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped for a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures”. A past study said it could survive on surfaces like metal, plastic or glass for 9 days but the surfaces on the packaging are not ideal for the virus to survive. (Source is the Feb. 6th Journal of Hospital infection report).
The vaccine is coming soon in 2020: Not in this country folks. If the vaccine were ready today, we would be lucky if it came out this year. There are numerous regulations, testing and hoops to go through before a new vaccine could be approved nationwide by the FDA.
