Coronavirus Disease Information - Covid-19

The World Health Organization has said "Test..test..test..every suspected case, and find their contacts and isolate, quarantine..."

The USA medicare (the health insurance for older citizens) has said the following:

Here's what to know about the Coronavirus

You've likely heard about the Coronavirus (officially called "2019-Novel Coronavirus" or "COVID-19") in the news. While there isn't a vaccine yet and the immediate health risk remains low, Medicare is still here to help.

Your Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) covers a test to see if you have Coronavirus. This test is covered when your doctor or a health care provider orders it, if you get the test on or after February 4, 2020. You usually pay nothing for Medicare-covered clinical diagnostic laboratory tests.

To prevent the spread of this illness or other illnesses, including the flu:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water,
• Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze,
• Stay home when you're sick, and
• Call/See your doctor if you think you're ill.

Visit The Centers for Disease Control website for information on the Coronavirus.

Sincerely,

The Medicare Team

Note: Your provider will need to wait until after April 1, 2020 to submit a claim to Medicare for this test.​

 

Many advisories (western country centric, most of them are...) tell people to wash their hands in soap and running water. People I know in India (mostly in Andhra, and some in the Tamil Nation ) don't have a lot of water, or running water. The hand washing business is a tricky thing in such situations. However, if they understand the principle behind the handwashing with SOAP, they would know that it is the soap that does the work to kill the bacteria, and one does not need to have a lot of water. It is OK to use "questionable quality" water so long as your have soap, and soap your hands thoroughly with the water you have.

Many people would have noticed that doctors wash their hands in a basin on a tripod that is curiously smelling of "dettol" and there'd be a soap on the side for the doctor to use. She would dunk her hands in the water, take the soap to soap her hands, and then redunk her hands in the same water, swirl a little to get rid of the soap, and then wipe her hands off with the towel that is hanging in the metal ring under the basin. That's it. The soap is the one that kills the pathogen that she may have picked up from the patient she had examined before you. [You should worry more about the stethoscope she had used on the previous patient, and why it's surface had not been alcohol wiped.... but that is another anxiety, and totally different]

The following is from a NewYork Times article, describing the action of soaps/detergents, and how they destroy the lipid covering of pathogens and disrupt their survival. Ignore the hyperbole about crowbars towards the end of the excerpt below...

People typically think of soap as gentle and soothing, but from the perspective of microorganisms, it is often extremely destructive. A drop of ordinary soap diluted in water is sufficient to rupture and kill many types of bacteria and viruses, including the new coronavirus that is currently circling the globe. The secret to soap’s impressive might is its hybrid structure.

Soap is made of pin-shaped molecules, each of which has a hydrophilic head — it readily bonds with water — and a hydrophobic tail, which shuns water and prefers to link up with oils and fats. These molecules, when suspended in water, alternately float about as solitary units, interact with other molecules in the solution and assemble themselves into little bubbles called micelles, with heads pointing outward and tails tucked inside.

Some bacteria and viruses have lipid membranes that resemble double-layered micelles with two bands of hydrophobic tails sandwiched between two rings of hydrophilic heads. These membranes are studded with important proteins that allow viruses to infect cells and perform vital tasks that keep bacteria alive. Pathogens wrapped in lipid membranes include coronaviruses, H.I.V., the viruses that cause hepatitis B and C, herpes, Ebola, Zika, dengue, and numerous bacteria that attack the intestines and respiratory tract.

When you wash your hands with soap and water, you surround any microorganisms on your skin with soap molecules. The hydrophobic tails of the free-floating soap molecules attempt to evade water; in the process, they wedge themselves into the lipid envelopes of certain microbes and viruses, prying them apart.

“They act like crowbars and destabilize the whole system,” said Prof. Pall Thordarson, acting head of chemistry at the University of New South Wales. Essential proteins spill from the ruptured membranes into the surrounding water, killing the bacteria and rendering the viruses useless.​

 

Immunity, and how to keep it at its best.....
Dr. Campbell says
1. Sleep well
2. Try to be stress free.
3. Eat nutritious food
4. Get more exercise
5. Get out and get some fresh air
etc...

He predicts that there would be a baby boom in Dec-2020, or thereabouts..... because many couples are staying home now, and running out of things to do to keep themselves "otherwise" occupied.

 

Fever.... and antipyretics...

 

How do viruses do the mean things they do ?
Here is a nice lesson for a layperson.

 

High Bloodpressure, Diabetes, and heart disease are conditions that had exacerbated the 'flu from the Covid-19 in Italy.

Taking a daily aspirin (to control BP), keeping Blood Glucose in the normal range, and making sure to eat heart-healthy foods are some of the things older people can do to help themselves through this crisis.

99% of Those Who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says

 

Fever-Part-II from Dr. John Campbell.

Campbell has been very useful for doctors (practising or retired ), healthcare workers, and other curious folks who are risking getting unnecessary paranoia with all his youtube lessons on the various topics.

Here is his part-2 on fevers, for Adults.

 

Discovering Friends in Times of Crisis​

MS Braemar, a UK cruise ship in the Caribbean was refused docking in any port (including USA), for over a week of drifting in the ocean, because they had Covid-19 cases on board. Cuba allowed them to dock, so that all may disembark, and the UK citizens (and a few others) may go home by charter flights. <source>

UK's foreign minister thanks the Cuban government for the humanity they had shown to their citizens.

And now China is sending experienced medical teams to Italy to deal with the horrid situation there. And the Chinese are arriving with tons of equipment as well. Again, a gesture of humanity from China.