Reis Thebault, Alex
Horton February 28, 2020
There are the exam
gloves, the surgical masks, the dubious supplements and the deceptive
disinfectants. If unchecked Internet information is any guide, there’s an
inexhaustible list of products you should buy to prepare for the spread of coronavirus in
the United States — which, according to U.S. health officials, now appears inevitable.
But here’s the thing: The virus may be novel,
but you really don’t need to buy anything new or special to brace for it. The
Washington Post spoke to epidemiology experts, and they said the most important
aspect of preparedness costs nothing at all — calm.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 59
people had the virus in the United States, all but 17 of them evacuees from the
Diamond Princess cruise ship. But officials with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said they expect to see the number of cases increase as
the disease spreads, while also stressing that the immediate risk remains low.
So here’s what doctors, researchers and the
CDC say you can do now — and in the event of a future outbreak — to prepare and
protect yourself.
‘Don’t
panic’
Timothy Brewer is a professor of epidemiology
and medicine at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health and its David Geffen
School of Medicine, yet his central piece of advice is not exactly medical.
“Don’t panic,” he said. “There’s no value in
panicking or telling people to be afraid. Don’t let fear and emotion drive the
response to this virus. That can be extremely difficult because it is new, and
we’re still learning about it, but don’t allow fear of what we don’t know about
the virus to overwhelm what we do know.”
Brewer said it’s important to remember that
covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, is a respiratory
disease, as is influenza, and while there’s not a vaccine for it, there are
tried-and-true ways to deal with this type of illness — which we will cover
here.
Saskia V. Popescu is a senior
infection-prevention epidemiologist for a Phoenix-based hospital system. “The
most important thing right now is to remain calm,” she said. “Remember, we
don’t have that many cases in the U.S., and prevention strategies for this
coronavirus are not new. We’ve been doing them for years.”
The
basics
A few minutes into a phone call with this
reporter, Brewer paused, coughed and then explained himself. “I’m currently
recovering from a non-covid respiratory virus,” he said.
But the precautions he took when fighting his
influenza-like illness are no different from what people should be doing every
day to stave off coronavirus and other respiratory diseases, Brewer said.
You’ve seen the guidance before: Wash your
hands regularly. Cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze. And when you’re
sick, stay home from work or school and drink lots of fluids.
The CDC recommends washing
with soap and water for at least 20 seconds after using the bathroom, before
eating and after blowing your nose or sneezing. It also advises not to touch
your eyes, nose and mouth and to clean objects and surfaces you touch often.
“These are all things you can do to prevent
the spread of pretty much any respiratory virus,” Brewer said.
And for the record, he added, he stayed home
sick last week.
“I practiced what I preached,” Brewer said.
Keep
the shopping cart light
You probably don’t need to buy anything new,
but if you’re already on your way to CVS, Brewer has some advice.
“Don’t go crazy,” he said. “You don’t need to
go out and stock up on lots of things.”
And those surgical masks? If you’re not sick,
you don’t need to wear them — and you certainly don’t need to buy every box
your local pharmacy has in stock.
“The main point of the mask is to keep someone
who is infected with the virus from spreading it to others,” Brewer said.
The CDC agrees, writing on its website: “CDC does not
recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory
diseases.”
Common surgical masks block the droplets
coming out of a sick person from getting into the air, but they are not tight
enough to prevent what’s already in the air from getting in.
There are specialized masks — known as N95
masks because they filter out 95 percent of airborne particles — that are more
effective, and some online retailers are sold out of them. But there’s a
problem: The masks are difficult to use without training. They must be fitted
and tested to work properly.
“If you just buy them at CVS, you’re not going
to do all that,” Brewer said. “You’re not going to get it fit-tested, and
you’re not going to be wearing it properly, so all you’ve done is spend a lot
of money on a very fancy face mask.”
The same goes for exam gloves, Brewer said,
which can get contaminated just like our hands. There’s no need for them if
you’re washing your hands properly and often, he said.
If you’re itching to buy something, you can
stick to the typical respiratory-virus medicine: decongestants,
anti-inflammatory drugs and acetaminophen for fevers.
'Practice
makes permanent’
Popescu has had a bag packed since she was in
graduate school — if she didn’t have one, she said, she would feel like a bad
public-health-emergency advocate. She explained one of the best things you can
do to prepare for any emergency, including a coronavirus outbreak, is put
together an emergency kit.
Hers contains a first-aid kit, flashlights, a
space blanket, an external battery for her cellphone, a change of clothes and
extra food for her dog. The CDC has a useful checklist for
families.
It’s also important to have plans in place in
case the outbreak disrupts your daily routines, Popescu said. You should be
asking yourself: What if schools close for a week or two? What if there are
issues with public transportation? What if I have to work from home or stay at
work late?
You should have a plan for child care, for
getting to work and for feeding pets, she said.
“A lot of preparedness is planning ahead of
time,” Popescu said. “Practice makes permanent. If I have a plan, that means I
don’t have to panic.”
And it’s good advice in general, she added,
not just in the age of coronavirus.
“This is a good reminder to go through your
resources and your plans so that, should it get more serious, you are not taken
off guard,” she said. “People think they need to go out and buy stuff, but so
much of it is just having a plan.”
Be
mindful of where you are
Health officials have stressed keeping your distance from people who are
sick, especially when it comes to respiratory viruses.
And because there is no medical solution for
coronavirus, preventive steps and awareness are really the best tools at your
disposal, said Stanley Perlman, an infectious-disease expert at the University
of Iowa.
It is worth considering limiting exposure to
large groups, especially during flu season. “Any congregation of people is a
setup for spreading an infectious agent,” he said.
Most of us like to look at our smartphones and
wear headphones, but in confined spaces, such as mass transit, it’s important
to look around and see what’s going on, see where everyone’s hands are going
and make a mental note to wash up later.
“We remember hand-washing at home but not when
we get off a subway or leave the grocery store,” Popescu said. She also
recommends avoiding the middle of a packed train car and doing your best to
turn away if someone is coughing nearby.
But awareness cuts both ways. While the United
States is likely to have more coronavirus cases, she said, it is important not
to panic. “Just because someone has the sniffles or has a cough, it doesn’t
mean they have the coronavirus,” she said. “There are a lot of respiratory
viruses.”
Watch
what you read
While coronavirus is spreading rapidly, so
is misinformation about it.
Popescu and other experts call this an “infodemic,” and it can be as harmful as
any disease.
Hoaxes, lies and junk science about
coronavirus have swirled online since the earliest cases were reported, mostly
through social media.
“People are more click-susceptible during
these events because there’s more info and people aren’t sure who to trust,” University
of Washington researcher Jevin West told The Post this
month.
Look to trustworthy sources, such as the CDC,
the World Health Organization and local health departments, to stay informed,
Popescu said — not the anonymous user doling out advice in
Twitter mentions.
“It can be really easy to go online, buy
supplies and freak out and then just stay on Facebook,” she said. “But stay up
to date.”
Be
kind
On college campuses,
at a music conservatory,
in Chinese restaurants,
among the ranks of a famous dance troupe and
on streets every day, Asians have reported a rise in aggressions micro and
macro.
As coronavirus has spread, so, too, has anti-Asian prejudice.
The WHO has urged government agencies to do what they
can to prevent discrimination against specific populations, since
stigmatization can fuel the spread of the outbreak by driving marginalized
individuals to hide infection and avoid seeking treatment.
“Remember to not let fear override your common
humanity about how you treat other people,” Brewer said. “Just remember we’re
all in this together. This is a virus. It does not think. It is not planning.
We shouldn’t be blaming our neighbors or our fellow colleagues or people in the
community because a virus happens to exist and is spreading.”
Kim Bellware contributed to this report.
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