Coronavirus UPDATE #4 made simple (as your friendly neighborhood ER Doc)! Since my last post, a few people have contacted me with a few more questions. I am happy to try to answer a few of them. What has changed so now they are talking about the PUBLIC wearing mask? How is the ‘SURGE’ still coming if we have been isolated? Can I get COVID-19 if I had Influenza?
1. Can I get COVID-19 if I had the Flu…or the Flu Vaccine? Yes. I have admitted 2 patients that were positive for Influenza B AND later tested positive for COVID-19.
2. How is the ‘Surge’ still coming if we have been isolated for so long? This is a complex answer that is not concrete and involves math! If 2 trains leave the stations at the same time…NO, JUST KIDDING! People typically start to show symptoms 2-14 days after they get the virus (the average being 5 days). We are finding that people start to have their breathing problems that put them in the hospital 8-10 days AFTER they started to show their symptoms. That means that if someone took 14 days to start showing symptoms and then 10 days after that, they first started having breathing problems…that is 24 days after they got the virus! AND…keep in mind that those time frames are not set in stone. So even with isolating for 2 weeks, we are still not at the surge yet. Not to mention, 10 states still are not even isolating at home yet!
3. What has changed so now they are talking about the PUBLIC wearing masks? Well, nothing major. I discussed in my first post that this virus is passed on in tiny droplets from infected people. We thought those droplets were spread by coughing. A recent study from the NIH (National Institute of Health) showed that we can spread those tiny droplets just by talking and breathing! BUT, those tiny droplets that spread by breathing and talking only travel around 2 feet…again, the 6 foot social distancing rule still works! SO WHAT HAS CHANGED? To understand that, we have to change the way we think about masks. Most of us think of masks as something to protect US (the wearer) from infection by others. NOW, we have to flip that idea around. They might recommend masks for the public in an attempt to protect the masses of uninfected FROM AN INFECTED PERSON! It has been shown that people can spread the virus before they show symptoms. This new recommendation might slow the spread by containing those tiny droplets from an infected person INSIDE the mask and preventing it from settling on surfaces and infecting others! That is why they are NOT recommending N95 or surgical masks for this.
A lot of people are scared and desperate for good news. I have to be honest and tell you that this virus is the real deal! It is more deadly than Influenza and there is no cure. BUT…you can take a breath and know that MOST of the people who get this virus will be OK. MOST of the people that get this will survive. We just don’t know who is going to survive and who will not. I put a person in their 20s on a ventilator last week! That is why we need to do all of these unusual and drastic things. If you are still scared, let me offer this. I am still going to work tomorrow! As an Emergency Medicine physician, I will be there. WE, the whole ER team, will be there! If you need help, there are thousands of US across this nation that are going to be waiting at the door to make sure that we do everything that we can to help you. We may look funny under all of the garb, but there are normal people under those masks that care and are going to try everything that we know how to do for you! Firemen run into burning buildings, Police run toward the sound of gunfire…well, WE (the nerds and geeks you knew in high school) knowingly walk in those virus filled rooms so that you will know that you are not alone!
I know these are long, but I hope that they help. Wash your hands, clean your phones and stay 6 feet from each other! BE WELL!
Gavin H. Inglis, MD FACEP is an Emergency Medicine Physician. As a partner in St. Vincent Emergency Physicians, INC, he has been practicing in Indianapolis, IN at a Level 1 Trauma Center for more than 20 years.