It is the age of Corona Virus, but you seriously need to stop panicking

If you haven’t heard of Corona Virus, then you have probably been living under a rock. Its the rave everywhere, and has officially been declared a pandemic by WHO.

 

Since 1900, there has only been 8 other times when an outbreak was considered a pandemic. The latest was in the year 2009 with the swine flu.

 

With the news media, social media and everywhere information can be passed constantly bombarding us with information, its about time we sift through all that information and know what is actually true.

So what do we know about Corona Virus (COVID-19)?

Aside being the reason why all of a sudden hand sanitize-rs are now gold, and why people have been proven to literally be full of shit, so they keep panic buying up the stacks of toilet paper from the grocery stores, (Still don’t understand the correlation between Corona Virus and buying tissue paper) and the most exciting of all (at least for us who don’t have partners that they hate) we have to stay home for the next few weeks.

 

Corona viruses are a group of respiratory viruses originating from animals and have been transmitted to humans. They can cause illness ranging from common cold to MERS (occurred in 2012) and SARS (2002-2003).

 

 

The COVID-19 is a new strain of the virus that has not been previously identified in humans.

 

Why then is it called COVID-19?

COVID-19 is the term for this current pandemic. Formerly called 2019-nCOV, meaning 2019 novel Corona Virus, it was modified to COVID-19, meaning CO- Corona, VI- Virus, D- Disease.

 

CORONA in Latin means crown, because its genome sequence structure looks like a crown (You don’t need to worry yourself much about this except you are a geek like me). Also identified in the year 2019 hence the 19, quite simple.

 

COVID-19 was first reported as pneumonia with an unknown cause in China on December 31st 2019, Although reports say it may have started as early as November.

 

The first reported case of 2019-nCOV outside China was in Thailand. It has since spread to more than a 100 countries. Europe is the epicenter for the pandemic presently, with more deaths than the rest of the world combined, besides its place of origin, China

 

Who does it affect?

Globally, over 679,000 people have been affected with COVID-19, which is about 0.0016% of the world’s population with approximately 32,000 deaths.

 

 

Everyone can be infected, but the at-risk demographic are the elderly, i.e those over the age of 60, and those with an already compromised immune system, as a result of having an underlying health condition.

 

The percentage of people who actually die after contracting the disease, also know as the mortality rate is 3.4%, among people between the age of 10-49.

 

So what this generally means in layman terms, is that the likelihood of a healthy individual dying from the virus is very slim, so stop panicking.

 

Also, if you have not been in an area where the virus is spreading, and have not been in contact with someone infected, your risk of infection is low.

 

China the country in which the first strain of the virus was first reported is on its way to recovery, with its number of new reported cases dropping from about 15,000 to 18.

 

Signs and symptoms

If you are experiencing any of the following, its best to first self-isolate and then get yourself checked out. Self-isolate, so you don’t spread it to others

• Fever
• Dry Cough
• Shortness of Breath
• Possible loss of sense of taste

Severe case symptoms include:

• Pneumonia
• Severe acute respiratory syndrome
• Kidney failure
• Death

NOTE: The virus has an incubation period of 14 days.

 

Other facts to note

• Garlic does not cure Corona Virus.

 

• Contrary to some beliefs, it survives in all kinds of weather, cold and hot.

 

• There is no evidence that supports the virus being spread through food, But wash your hands before preparing food.

 

• Misinformation is bad, so be mindful of what you share.

 

• Taking a hot bad will not prevent you from corona Virus, as your body temperature remains the same irrespective.

 

• Dogs do not get infected.

 

• Its not the end of the world yet…

 

 

Best way to stay Safe

It is as simple as washing your hands regularly with soap and water- (we can all say thank you to Ignaz Sammelweis)

 

Avoid shaking hands with people – (Now its time to practice your royal wave and bow)

 

Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth – (Why are you even doing that?)

 

Practice social distancing i.e Stay a safe distance from people in public – (We introverts have been on this game for so long, shouting Personal space, personal space, personal space, thanks for catching up!)

 

If you don’t need to be anywhere important, stay home – (No one wants to see you)

 

Take this preventive measures very seriously, not only for yourself but to protect others who have higher risk of dying from this disease.

 

Is there a cure yet?

A lot of people have come up with one cure or the other for COVID-19, the truth is, none of those things on their own is a cure for the virus, just that with a healthy immune system, you are better able to fight germs.

 

So one way to always protect yourself always against any form of disease, is to eat healthy and build up your immune system. Practice good hygiene.

 

 

I think I have been infected…

If you think you have had contact with anyone who has the virus, you should self isolate for 14 days.

 

Its not all gloomy…

Aside the fact that most people recover after contacting the virus, there has also been some good news in terms of a vaccine being formulated by scientists. One of such is from the INOVIO laboratory, where scientists are set to start clinical trials on human volunteers in April, and expect the vaccine to be available by the end of the year for emergency use or further trials.

 

Till then, stay safe, and leave some pasta, rice and tissue paper for others.