THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS TO AVOID CORONAVIRUS
The rising impact of the coronavirus is surging
throughout the world. The World Health Organization, WHO, governments,
corporate bodies, religious organizations, social groups, concerned
individuals, and medical personnel are rising up to the challenge of fighting
this unwelcome enemy.
Much as the discovery of a vaccine that can cure
COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be in sight right now, and may take up to eighteen
months to manufacture it, according to experts, yet there is what we can do to
most protect ourselves from contracting it. But first, let’s gain some greater
understanding of what COVID-19 really means.
What
is Coronavirus? The virus that causes the disease called COVID-19
is a new virus called severe acute
respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, in short, SARS-CoV-2. It was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December
2019. There are earlier versions of the virus which are known to have set off
outbreaks of deadly diseases in the world. They include SARS, the first
pandemic of the 21st century in 2002-2003, and Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome, MERS, in 2012.
1n the case of SARS, a total of 8,098 people were
infected and it had a death toll of 774 people in about 26 countries. Up to
January 2020, MERS which has spread to about 27 countries, had a total of 2,519
confirmed cases, and a global death toll of about 866 persons, according to World Health Organization.
How
is it transmitted? Principally, it’s transmitted by direct contact
with an infected person or indirectly with material contaminated by droplets
from the cough or sneezing of an infected person. It is characterized
especially by fever, cough, and shortness of breath and may progress to
pneumonia and respiratory failure.
How
do people contract it? The droplets carrying SARS-CoV-2 can
enter the body through wet parts of the face – the eyes, nose, and mouth –
which provide direct way to a person’s throat and lungs. So if an individual is
close to an infected person, when he or she coughs or sneezes, the droplets from
the infected person might fall directly into the eyes, nose or mouth, of the
person standing by and thus enter his body. Otherwise, if the droplets fall on
a surface, when an individual puts his or her hands there, he or she might contact
it through the hands, and from there to the face. It’s important to note that
SAR-coV-2 can live on hard surfaces for up to 72 hours.
The virus is responsible for damaging the respiratory
tree of the body and causes inflammation. It’s the inflammation that makes it
difficult for the oxygen to the reach the bloodstream and for the carbon
dioxide to be removed. That is why some COVID-19 patients need ventilators to be able to breathe in
oxygen.
Why
does the coronavirus spread so fast in the world? We’ve
already seen that the major ways COVID-19 spreads are: person to person through
respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes; and with
contact with contaminated surfaces.
In determining the deadliness of a virus, the speed of
transmission is very important. Influenza, another respiratory infection, for
instance, has a shorter incubation period
- the time between infection and appearance of symptoms - of about three days, so
it can be diagnosed and treated very quickly. COVID-19 has a longer incubation
period, around five days, although it can take up to 14 days for symptoms to
appear. This implies that people with infected COVID-19 could transmit the
virus before any serious symptoms develop in them. This increases the spread of
the disease.
Much as SARS and MERS have significantly higher case
fatality rates than COVID-19, yet the latter is more infectious. Also, in spite
of the lower fatality rate, the overall number of deaths from COVID-19 far outweighs
that from SARS or MERS. COVID-19 is deadlier than SARS and MERS because it has
affected more people over a certain time period than the other two outbreaks.
It has also caused thrice the number of deaths caused by both SARS and MERS
combined. In 2002-2003, it took up to six months before SARS could exceed 5,000
in mainland China, but COVID-19 did it in one month.
It is also thought that an infected person with COVID-19
passes it to an average of 2-3 other persons in the early stages. In no time this
can multiply into several thousands of persons who are infected. The explanation is
that if
the infected person continues to socialize and mix up with people, it is likely
that he will pass the virus on to other 2-3 friends who could also passes it on
to further 2-3 people. Within one month, one case of infection can lead to 244 other cases, and in two months this
can increase to 59,604 cases.
How
Can You Most Protect Yourself From Catching It?
(i) Through
serious social distancing. Social
distancing is a way of creating a physical distance between two or more
people so that transmission of virus can be prevented or stopped. In the 1918
Flu Pandemic (Spanish Flu) in which about 50 million people lost their lives in
a space of two years, it was discovered that cities in the US for instance,
that banned public gatherings, shut theatres, closed schools and churches, had
far lower peak death rates than those that didn’t. So avoidance of crowds and
social distancing is one of the very best ways of avoiding COVID-19. This makes
the lockdown, in which families avoid
mixing with people in public, a very important measure of protecting yourself
against the coronavirus.
(ii) Aggressive
hand hygiene: A 2015 study shows that people touch their faces an average of 23 times an hour. If a person
touches a surface contaminated by the droplets of an infected person, the
viruses on the surface will be transferred to his hands. If he does not wash
his hands frequently with soap and running water, he may touch his face and
transfer the viruses into his body.
(iii) Let’s wear
the face mask: This is very important, particularly in Africa. The social
distancing of two metres practiced in Europe, America, and Asia for instance,
may not be very practicable in African countries. If you visit a typical market
you see how closely people cluster to buy or sell. That’s why we really need to
use the face mask.
(iv) Stop shaking
hands and hugging people: Courtesies and pleasantries are a part and parcel
of the culture of many people and nations. Victory over COVID-19 demands that
we avoid shaking hands and hugging people now.
WHO is doing everything to flatten the curve by limiting
spread of the coronavirus, and reducing the strain on the healthcare system. Therefore,
let’s strictly adhere to basic protective measures against the new coronavirus
as outlined by WHO. Stay safe.
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