Some Sensible Advice
One of my friends sent me this email which may help us all get a better grip on how to manage this pandemic without turning it into a panic. I have modified it slightly in a few places.
Finally something practical and honest from the Head of the Infectious Disease Clinic, University of Maryland, USA: re.Covid19.
1. We may have to live with C19 for months or years. Let’s not deny it or panic. Let’s not make our lives useless. Let’s learn to live with this fact.
2. You can’t destroy C19 viruses that have penetrated cell walls, by drinking gallons of hot water – you’ll just go to the bathroom more often.
3. Washing hands and maintaining a two-metre physical distance is the best method for your protection.
4. If you don’t have a C19 patient at home, there’s no need to disinfect the surfaces at your house.
5. Packaged cargo, gas pumps, shopping carts and ATMs do not cause infection. When you bring home items from a store that other people may have touched, use a sanitizer wipe to clean them before putting them away.
If you Wash your hands, live your life as usual.
6. C19 is not a food infection. It is associated with drops of infection like the ‘flu. There is no demonstrated risk that C19 is transmitted by food.
7. You can lose your sense of smell with a lot of allergies and viral infections. This is only a non-specific symptom of C19.
8. Once at home, you don’t need to change your clothes urgently and go shower unless you’re a frontline health care worker.
Purity is a virtue, paranoia is not!
9. The C19 virus doesn’t hang in the air for long. This is a respiratory droplet infection that requires close contact.
10. The air is clean, you can walk through gardens and parks (just keeping your physical protection distance), Getting some exercise while enjoying the beauty of nature can be very beneficial.
11. It is sufficient to use normal soap against C19, not antibacterial soap. This is a virus, not a bacteria.
12. You don’t have to worry about your food orders. But you can heat it all up in the microwave, if you wish.
13. The chances of bringing C19 home with your shoes is like being struck by lightning twice in a day. I’ve been working against viruses for 20 years – droplet infections don’t spread like that!
14. You can’t be protected from the virus by taking vinegar, sugarcane juice and ginger! These are for immunity not a cure.
15. Wearing a mask for long periods can interfere with your breathing and oxygen levels. Wear it as indicated by Public Health rules (e.g. inside all public indoor spaces at this point – buildings, TTC, etc.).
16. Wearing gloves is also a bad idea; the virus can accumulate on the gloves and be easily transmitted if you touch your face. Better just to wash your hands regularly. Also, masks & gloves must be disposed of in the garbage, not dropped on the ground where they become hazardous waste.
17. Immunity is greatly weakened by always staying in a totally sanitized environment. Even if you eat immunity boosting foods, please go out of your house regularly to any park/beach. but maintain social distancing.
18.Immunity is increased by EXPOSURE TO PATHOGENS, not by sitting at home and consuming fried/spicy/sugary food and aerated drinks.
19. Live life sensibly and to the fullest. Be smart and stay informed!
Thanks to the author (with a few modifications) for his/her good advice on how to live with what may be an ongoing problem for quite some time.
Yes, we have to make some changes to our usual way of living and this is a scary thought for many people. But if we have a better understanding about how these changes will help and what is not necessary, we can look forward to the “new normal” and get back to participating in the life that is important to us. In our fears of the virus, we tend to underestimate how badly social isolation can affect us emotionally and spritually. Life always involves a degree of risk. The important thing is to learn how to manage the risk to keep ourselves healthy holistically – in body, mind & spirit. God made us as whole people, not just bodies, and we need to nurture all of ourselves to live as He intends us to do.
Margaret Black, Parish Nurse