Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. In this article I will translate part of the lecture of the American doctor.
One of the American doctors who treats patients with COVID-19 answered questions online a few days ago. This was not some kind of official statement, but the person was simply sharing their experience. I saw only a part of this communication and I will tell you something here.
So the doctor said that this coronavirus was a surprise for our body. We had never met him before.
The disease begins with a fever, cough, and sore throat. By the fifth day it gets easier. This means that nothing happened.
If shortness of breath appears by the fifth day, then this is bad. The case will end in a hospital.
Shortness of breath is not a sentence. People are taken to the hospital and sometimes even connected to a ventilator, but then after a few days they feel better.
People get sick for about two weeks and all this time they carry the virus. They also spread the virus for about a couple of days before they feel sick. It would be nice if they remembered who they had contact with during these last two days, and for those contacts it would be good to isolate themselves for a few days.
Sometimes patients remain infectious for more than 14 days.
And here is the most important thing. The doctor has emphasized many times that the main transmission route is dirty hands with which we grab our faces.
The virus is rarely airborne. That is, you can get infected only if you have been in contact for at least 15-30 minutes in a closed indoors and without a mask with a specifically sick person who has already coughed up a cloud of drops around him with virus.
The doctor says that he would have died in his hospital if he had not followed the magic rule - not to touch your face with dirty hands.
Everyone should understand - the virus already exists or will soon be all around us. This is not to scare, but to start following the rules.
Clean hands
The doctor himself was saved only by the fact that for a whole month he did not let go of the alcohol sanitizer. He literally walked with him in an embrace and disinfected either his hands, or what he was going to touch.
That is, we entered the elevator - press the button with your elbow. If pressed with your finger, then immediately wipe it with a sanitizer. Come from the street - wash your hands with soap and water and according to all the rules.
Don't touch your face
The second important thing is to start monitoring the interaction of your hands with your face. People constantly put their hands in their faces. We do all this hundreds of times a day. If at some point you forgot to treat your hands, then once is enough to shove the virus into your eye, nose or mouth.
Masks
And here the doctor invites everyone to wear masks. Any simple and probably homemade masks. I disagree with him, but I will convey this idea. He says that the mask will still not protect against small drops, but she (read carefully!) won't let you get in your face with dirty hands.
The American doctor believes it to be so. I disagree with him. Our people straighten their homespun masks a million times, but they don’t work their hands. So in our realities, this advice, in my opinion, is more likely to harm.
But the American believes that regular hand sanitizing and wearing a mask to almost zero will reduce the likelihood of getting in the face with dirty hands.
Then the doctor says (and I completely agree with him), then you do not need medical masks. Not only respirators, but even conventional medical masks are NOT needed. Ordinary people have very little chance of getting the virus through the air.
Distance
The next rule is to stay away from other people. This is not only not shaking hands or kissing relatives, but, for example, not standing in line in a store close to other people. Move back a meter. Now, even in stores, there are stickers on the floor that urge you to keep a meter apart.
If you follow these rules, then the probability of infection will be very low.
I also liked the idea that if he coughed, then instantly remember all his contacts for the last two days and call people so that they self-isolate.
Check out my articles on related topics:
Coronavirus and ventilation
Coronavirus: disinfection at a sick home
Coronavirus and the disease it causes
Masks and coronavirus: how to wear and where to wear
