- Coronaviruses are nothing new. They have been around for some time. COVID 19, however, is a new strain of the virus, never seen before it began appearing on mainland China several months ago.
- This virus is highly contagious, and able to survive on many surfaces for an extended period of time. The rate of spread at this time is that every person with the virus will likely infect 2-3 others. That rate for the flu is 1.3.
- People who have the virus are contagious some 4 days before they begin to show any signs of infection (and thus can spread it without knowing it). Individuals remain contagious for a period of 14 days.
- There is no cure for COVID19, only the ability to treat and mitigate symptoms while the virus runs its course.
- COVID19 poses little to no threat to the vast majority of the population, who, if infected, will likely experience only mild to moderate symptoms. However, for the remaining minority, this virus is deadly.
- Because of the highly contagious nature of COVID19, and its devastating impact on limited segments of society, there is a high likelihood, if actions are not taken to mitigate its spread, COVID19 can overwhelm our medical infrastructure, with more patients needing specialized care at the same time than our hospitals can accommodate. Namely, because COVID19 causes respiratory distress, leading to pneumonia for many in the high risk categories, there can potentially be more people who need ventilators than there are ventilators to put them on.
- The current measures being taken around us are for the protection of those for whom this virus is deadly, and to avoid a scenario where there are too many of the very sick for our hospitals to treat (referred to in many reports as "flattening the curve" - i.e., avoiding an overwhelming spike in the number of those needing ventilators or other specialized care at the same time).
- It is likely many measures being employed for this "flatten the curve" strategy will be in place for some 6-8 weeks
- If you are sick or think you may be, please stay home.
- If you are identified among those "at risk" for serious complications of COVID19, please stay home.
- Wash your hands thoroughly by singing the alphabet song. this is about how long you should spend washing. Or if you are so inclined, say The Lord's Prayer or something similar.
- Don't panic!
From: Mark Maloney & Holger Knaack
Date: Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 4:44 PM
Subject: Rotary’s Role in Battling Coronavirus
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