Following the news since the beginning of the year, my anxiety level keep rising. An exponential number of people were infected over the past months. The new coronavirus (SARSCoV-2), originated from Wuhan in China, is rapidly spreading. The virus has now traveled across the globe. It has been detected in Italy, in Iran and many other countries. Important measures of social distancing and quarantine have been initiated. In Italy, about 16 millions people are in lockdown. France and Spain just followed the same emergency restrictions. A preventive measure like Social distancing aka quarantine seems drastic but it is necessary to “flatten the curve”, meaning to control the pandemic by maintaining a number a infected cases under the limit of healthcare system capacity.
COViD-19 Symptoms
People infected by SARSCoV2 are developing a disease called COViD-19. The symptoms are :
Fever
Dry cough
Shortness of breath
If you experience theses symptoms, call your doctor. He/she will tell you the next steps to follow. This measure will help to prevent cluttering the ER for no reasons.
While severe symptoms are eventually signs of virus infection, no or mild symptoms doesn’t mean no virus infection. According to recent study, it takes from 2 to 14 days for the first symptoms to appear after SARSCov2 infection. The period of incubation is sufficient for the virus to spread.
Most patients will recover but, unfortunately, some of them will suffer from complications like pneumonia and respiratory failure and potentially died. Recent data\suggest that the mortality rate increase for people over 50s. Seniors and immunodeficient individuals are the most in danger. However, kids and young adults also showed signs of infection but don’t develop severe symptoms. Several lethal cases of young adults have been reported; however, it is unclear if the infection was concomitant to ongoing medical conditions.
Seven Tips to Stop Virus Spread
In order to limit contamination and spread of SARSCoV-2, this applies for most airborne viruses, several good habits have to be taken. Deep down, we all certainly heard of what they are. Just as a reminder and for the sake of public health, I will describe good habits that everyone should follow to prevent airborne virus contamination and spread:
1. Social distancing
refers to the idea of limiting social interactions. Staying at home is the best way to stop viral spread.
Currently, health authorities recommend a 14 days self isolation period. The idea behind it is to avoid healthcare system overloads. The number of beds or the number of respiratory systems are limited even in a country like USA. You all certainly heard about “flattening the curve”. Preventive measures such as social distancing aka quarantine, washing your hand with water and soap are helping on the long term. It help distributing the number of new cases over a longer period of time. A lower number of infected cases on a long duration is more manageable than overwhelmed healthcare system.
Even, if you are not in one of those categories, you are still a risk for yourself – indeed you never know whether you are going through a period of stress that weaken your immune system – but also you are a risk for others in your surrounding – you can be a carrier of 2019-nCoV. This applies for most viruses, not only the current one.
2. Wash your hands with soap
Wash your hands several times a day. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizerregularly as well. Avoid touching your face (eyes, nose and mouth.) Click on the link bellow to get more detailed DIY info.
Don’t sneeze or cough in your hands. It will prevent to spread the virus on whatever you’ll touch next.
4. Clean your home and car
Clean every surfaces you can think of. Viruses may survive several days on those surfaces. Keyboards, touchscreens, door knobs, light switches regularly— even more often during epidemics. While at home and cleaning , open windows to get fresh air in your home. Only 15 minutes every mornings is enough to renew your air. Even if cold air from outside is entering, as my mom would say: “wear extra layers and you’ll be just fine!”.
5. Change regularly air conditioning filters.
The picture below shows an AC filter before use (on the left) and after use (on the right). Note the amount of impurity floating in the air.
New AC Filter on the left versus used AC filter on the right
6. Keep the humidity level in your home between 40% and 50%.
Cold air from outside and running heaters tend to dehumidify indoor air which consequently will dry your nose, mouth, lips and throat. This is a great opportunity for a virus to penetrate and harm your body. Plants are great natural air humidifiers. In addition to detoxify your breathable air from harmful chemicals such as benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and other molecules emanating from wallpaper glues and paints, plants help keeping humidity level up to an healthy level. The more indoor plants the better. You may also use an air humidifier. As a side note, too much humidity is not good either. Living inside in a tropical atmosphere will bring mold into your home.
7. Facial masks if you have symptoms.
Facemasks are not really efficient to prevent from catching viruses. It is more efficient in the prevention to spread the virus when infected and coughing or sneezing. We are living in a society with a growing amount of self centered individual — for the best or for the worst, I’m not here to debate on the topic. However, what I can tell is that an egocentric behavior could favorite airborne virus propagation as one tend to not think about the impact an individual could have on its surrounding. Most often cut into the moment of instant emotional reward, one tend to forget the potential danger one can become by being a virus carrier. Culture greetings behaviors like hugging, hand shaking or kissing are unconsciously dangerous. Don’t make me wrong, I’m not telling you to completely abandon any social encounters, but just to be mindful about it. If you are aware that you have been or are infected with an airborne virus, staying home and saying hi from far away are the best way to minimize the spread.
Take Away Message
Of course, a perfect system to prevent virus contamination in social context does not exist. Quarantine and mass vaccination are the best solutions to prevent epidemics. However, the simple fact to develop good habits is definitely helping minimizing virus spread, especially if everyone contributes to it.
If you still manage to get infected after following healthy habits, well, look at the bright side, an healthy lifestyle, filled of healthy habits, is always good to embrace in any circumstances.
Healthy Lifestyle 