Coronavirus Basic Information

So today I want to talk about the Coronavirus which is obviously causing mass hysteria and worry. As people with compromised immune systems we obviously do have a right to worry but is most of the information shared on social media just hype and bad case scenarios rather than being fully informative? I have spent a few days reading different articles and after some posts on Facebook I have seen that just seemed like pure scaremongering I felt that this post needed to be done. I want to highlight that although I work within the healthcare sector I am not a nurse or a doctor so I will cite sources as required. I would also like to state that any views on Coronavirus or the specific COVID-19 strain are my own and not necessarily that of the Comfizz staff.

Firstly I wanted to share with you something I was told about the whole toilet paper shenanigans; my friend works as a charity organiser within an Asda store and they had been told that videos were shared on social media of Australian’s fighting over toilet paper and panic buying. Their supplies of toilet paper come from China and China for awhile now had limited and I believe now have stopped supplies leaving the country to try and counteract the spread of the virus. So Australia have a wee bit more reason to panic buy than we do who again I was told get our supply from Scotland. Now even if that is made up which I genuinely don’t see why her store would be told that; it makes sense that areas where supply chains have been cut demand would rise.

• washing your hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds (see below for an amusing meme for this) or singing “Happy Birthday” twice through, my 6 year old daughters school is instilling this
• use hand gel in between washes as it ISN’T as effective as washing
• cough or sneeze into your elbow or a tissue – if a tissue dispose of it straight away
• try not to touch your face – I’m not going to lie I touch my face an obscene amount of times so this is difficult for me
• if you have a temperature or a cough self isolate and ring 111 for advice if it gets worse- especially if you have difficulty breathing
• don’t shake hands – there has been plenty of funny videos of people knocking elbows or tapping feet
• if possible keep at least a metre away from people who are coughing/sneezing

Fact checked against The World Health Organisation (WHO)

Of course I had to include this because it relates to my favourite film of all time “The Labyrinth”

So we have talked about what preventative measures you can start doing if you aren’t already doing them but what are the symptoms? You have to remember that the COVID-19 strain of the coronavirus IS just another variant of a virus that is passed between animals and humans. For instance swine flu, MERS and SARS. For most people they WILL get better and sadly there will be those that aren’t as fortunate but hopefully herd immunity will start to happen and we can proactively protect those that are more vulnerable. But onto the common symptoms first:

• fever
• cough
• muscle pain
• shortness of breath and breathing difficulties

The rarer symptoms are:

• infection can cause pneumonia
• severe acute respiratory syndrome
• kidney failure
• death

Obviously death is the kicker for hysteria and I want to talk a bit about the statistics that at the time of posting are correct but worldwide (I’ve chosen worldwide because the UK is still only early days so it looks scarier than it is)

Total COVID-19 cases – 138,432

Total deaths – 5,082

Total recovered – 70,719

I know death sounds terrifying but just look at those recovery stats! That is what we should be focusing on! I particularly liked that on This Morning Phillip Schofield mentioned that nowhere was highlighting just how many people were getting over the virus and he was right. On This Morning ahem this morning they had a doctor talking about if you are on chemotherapy and get a temperature to ring your cancer unit straight away because of your depleted white blood cells you are at more risk of a form of sepsis. Sadly I couldn’t find any information further on this on the ITV website however if this affects you I am pretty damn sure you will have been given the correct information to your situation.

Yes as vulnerable/high risk adults it certainly isn’t fun hearing people announcing that they will be okay as the coronavirus is mainly affecting the group of people you are in. I know because I also am at risk but I am also not panicking but I am being wary of the situation at hand. How are you feeling with a bit more positive information regarding the coronavirus?