COVID-19 June 2020 Update: Time, Space, People, Place
By now you are probably sick of seeing news about COVID 19 and are really tired of all of the “social distancing”, stay at home orders, and restrictions placed on your daily lives. Routines have been altered, anxieties are increased, and quite frankly, we are all hoping for this to end soon. Unfortunately, it will not.
As of June 10, there have been almost 2000 articles published in the medical and scientific literature, 161 vaccine candidates and over 280 potential treatment options for the SARS CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes which is COVID 19. In addition, there have been 228 deaths reported in Dallas County alone and over 400,000 worldwide. It should be clear now the this is not “just the flu”.
So, what are we to do? As restrictions are lifted on our everyday movement, we are bombarded with sometimes conflicting information on how to maneuver today in this environment. Below are caveats and suggestions based on the current literature and recommendations from our infectious disease experts.
It has become apparent that four things are crucial in the spread of this disease. These four are space, time, place and people. For instance, larger spaces are better than small places. One is safer in a large well-ventilated hall than closed poorly ventilated rooms. How long we spend in these rooms also relates to infectivity, so staying in a closed room for 1-2 hours is much more likely to get one infected than a brief 5-10-minute stay. Where a person is plays a role obviously, as staying in a crowed restaurant or bar with close contact is much more likely to cause transmission than a more open area such as a super market (as long as it is not wall to wall people.) And of course, the number of people in a room really make a huge difference in terms of transmission. This all makes sense, but our science has confirmed this in recent weeks. And it goes with out saying to wear a mask when out in public.
My advice is simple, to go out only when you need to, spend as little time there as you can, spend time outdoors and not in closed rooms, and with as few people as possible. Wear a mask when you are going to be close to others (closer than 6 feet) and wash your hands. Please try to avoid touching you face, nose mouth and eyes. If you become ill and you think you have COVID call your doctor before going in, as you may contaminate his whole office and office staff and any unsuspecting vulnerable patients.
We are all waiting patiently for a vaccine, and there will be more than one. Do not believe the charlatans and scam artists trying to get you to use essential oils or vitamin supplements and the like. For now, we must use the above common-sense suggestions. I wish you well.
