{"id":99539,"date":"2020-03-02T15:38:22","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T22:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=99539"},"modified":"2020-03-02T15:38:22","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T22:38:22","slug":"what-i-am-doing-for-the-upcoming-covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/03\/02\/what-i-am-doing-for-the-upcoming-covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"What I am doing for the upcoming COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Robb, MD UC San Diego<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDear Colleagues, as\nsome of you may recall, when I was a professor of
\npathology at the University of California San Diego, I was one of the
\nfirst molecular virologists in the world to work on coronaviruses
\n(the 1970s). I was the first to demonstrate the number of genes the
\nvirus contained. Since then, I have kept up with the coronavirus
\nfield and its multiple clinical transfers into the human population
\n(e.g., SARS, MERS), from different animal sources.

\nThe current projections for its expansion in The US are only
\nprobable, due to continued insufficient worldwide data, but it is
\nmost likely to be widespread in the US by mid to late March and April.

\nHere is what I have done and the precautions that I take and will
\ntake. These are the same precautions I currently use during our
\ninfluenza seasons, except for the mask and gloves.:

\n1) NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc.

\n2) Use ONLY your knuckle to touch light switches. elevator buttons,
\netc.. Lift the gasoline dispenser with a paper towel or use a
\ndisposable glove.

\n3) Open doors with your closed fist or hip – do not grasp the handle
\nwith your hand, unless there is no other way to open the door.
\nEspecially important on bathroom and post office\/commercial doors.

\n4) Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available,
\nincluding wiping the handle and child seat in grocery carts.

\n5) Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and\/or use a greater
\nthan 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you return home from
\nANY activity that involves locations where other people have been.

\n6) Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at each of your home’s
\nentrances. AND in your car for use after getting gas or touching
\nother contaminated objects when you can’t immediately wash your hands.

\n7) If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard.
\nUse your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on your elbow will
\ncontain infectious virus that can be passed on for up to a week or more!

\nWhat I have stocked in preparation for the pandemic spread to the US:

\n1) Latex or nitrile latex disposable gloves for use when going
\nshopping, using the gasoline pump, and all other outside activity
\nwhen you come in contact with contaminated areas.

\nNote: This virus is spread in large droplets by coughing and
\nsneezing. This means that the air will not infect you! BUT all the
\nsurfaces where these droplets land are infectious for about a week on
\naverage – everything that is associated with infected people will be
\ncontaminated and potentially infectious. The virus is on surfaces and
\nyou will not be infected unless your unprotected face is directly
\ncoughed or sneezed upon. This virus only has cell receptors for lung
\ncells (it only infects your lungs) The only way for the virus to
\ninfect you is through your nose or mouth via your hands or an
\ninfected cough or sneeze onto or into your nose or mouth.

\n2) Stock up now with disposable surgical masks and use them to
\nprevent you from touching your nose and\/or mouth (We touch our
\nnose\/mouth 90X\/day without knowing it!). This is the only way this
\nvirus can infect you – it is lung-specific. The mask will not prevent
\nthe virus in a direct sneeze from getting into your nose or mouth –
\nit is only to keep you from touching your nose or mouth.

\n3) Stock up now with hand sanitizers and latex\/nitrile gloves (get
\nthe appropriate sizes for your family). The hand sanitizers must be
\nalcohol-based and greater than 60% alcohol to be effective.

\n4) Stock up now with zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven
\nto be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other viruses) from
\nmultiplying in your throat and nasopharynx. Use as directed several
\ntimes each day when you begin to feel ANY “cold-like” symptoms
\nbeginning. It is best to lie down and let the lozenge dissolve in the
\nback of your throat and nasopharynx. Cold-Eeze lozenges is one brand
\navailable, but there are other brands available.

\nI, as many others do, hope that this pandemic will be reasonably
\ncontained, BUT I personally do not think it will be. Humans have
\nnever seen this snake-associated virus before and have no internal
\ndefense against it. Tremendous worldwide efforts are being made to
\nunderstand the molecular and clinical virology of this virus.
\nUnbelievable molecular knowledge about the genomics, structure, and
\nvirulence of this virus has already been achieved. BUT, there will be
\nNO drugs or vaccines available this year to protect us or limit the
\ninfection within us. Only symptomatic support is available.

\nI hope these personal thoughts will be helpful during this
\npotentially catastrophic pandemic. You are Welcome to share this
\nemail. Good luck to all of us! Jim

\nJames Robb, MD FCAP

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Robb, MD UC San Diego Dear Colleagues, as some of you may recall, when I was a professor of pathology at the University of California San Diego, I was one of the first molecular virologists in the world to work on coronaviruses (the 1970s). I was the first to demonstrate the number of genes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}