Current State of Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)

What I do as a doctor to protect myself and my family

As I write this on March 13th, 2020, there have been 1,264 cases in the United States, 7,979 cases in South Korea, and 80,981 cases in China according to World Health Organization (WHO) website. The total cases worldwide are getting close to 137,000. There have been more than 5000 deaths globally. These numbers are increasing everyday and I felt compelled to share the information I have gathered regarding coronavirus within the past months for public awareness. Today, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to combat the spread of coronavirus.

Before I get into the current understanding of the virus, I would like to discuss how we can protect ourselves and our family. The spread of coronavirus is thought to occur mainly via respiratory droplets like influenza. However, I have noticed that in some countries and in the setting of certain high-risk procedures, airborne precautions have been recommended. As this article is for general public, I will primarily discuss what we should do in a community setting.

These are the basic protective measures against the virus:

1. Wash your hands frequently

2. Maintain social distancing (at least 3 feet)

3. Avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth

4. Practice respiratory hygiene (ie. Cover your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze)

What do I do when I first come home from work? I wash my hands thoroughly and take a shower before I hug my family. When I am outside, I try to be aware of people who are coughing. It is also important to note that every hard surfaces you touch can possibly contain the virus. The virus can survive on surfaces a few hours or up to several days. If you have to take the subway or bus to go to work, I would personally wear gloves. When I go to a grocery store, I am very careful about the handle of the cart. I currently avoid going to restaurants. In general, going out and interacting with other people increase the risk of getting the infection.

The first signs of coronavirus are high fever, dry cough, and fatigue according to a large Chinese case study. Runny nose can occur approximately 4 percent of the time. If you have any of these symptoms, be honest with the people around you and be tested. Not everyone can afford to stay home. If you have to go to work and have these symptoms, I feel that you are ethically obligated to share with other people so that others can be more careful around you. However, I highly recommend you stay home or seek medical help if you are not feeling well.

In China and South Korea, anyone with the above mentioned symptoms were tested for COVID-19. In the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that decision to test for the virus should be based on clinical judgement.

The onset of fever and respiratory symptoms occur approximately 3-6 days after presumptive exposure. In a report from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 81 percent were mild (no symptoms to mild pneumonia which didn’t require hospitalization), 14 percent were severe (shortness of breath and low oxygen saturation), and 5 percent were critical (respiratory failure and multi organ dysfunction). According to the WHO, recovery time appears to be around two weeks for mild infections and three to six weeks for severe infections.

Having said all these, I still stay optimistic about controlling the pandemic. Many brilliant and talented people are working together to resolve the pandemic at an unprecedented speed. In 2002 during SARS outbreak, it took about 5 months to fully sequence the genome of the virus. In contrast, it only took 2 weeks to sequence the genome of COVID-19 with help of artificial intelligence. This is critical prior to developing testing kits. According to CDC, one vaccine candidate will enter clinical trials within 3 months. To my knowledge, there are at least 35 vaccines being developed. One of the pharmaceutical companies is already in phase 3 clinical trial for treatment of COVID-19 with the primary goal of reducing fever and getting people out of the hospital sooner.

Although our current testing capacity is not optimal, we are improving things at a rapid pace. On March 13, 2020, the FDA gave emergency clearance to a coronavirus test developed by the Swiss diagnostics company Roche. This will enable the test patients 10 times faster than existing tests using automated machines and it can produce results in 3.5 hours.

If you have additional questions, you can follow Likering through facebook or instagram and post your questions in the comment section. I will try my best to answer your questions in a reasonable timely fashion. As a disclaimer, I do not get paid for writing this article and I have no financial relationship with Likering.com. This article was written solely for public awareness and my hope is that more people will work together to slow the progression of the pandemic and eventually end it. Thanks for reading the article!

Dr. A