As people isolate and wear face masks to the grocery, they wonder when the coronavirus will peak. The peak is when the most cases of Covid 19 disease comes and then begin to go down.
“I’m not sure exactly when,” Orange County Medical Authority Dr. Calvin Parker said. “The peak feels like it is coming, but nobody can know.”
The best prevention is to wash hands often and keep from touching the face, he emphasized. He tells people the virus can enter the body through only the eyes, the nose, and the mouth.
“I don’t fear coronavirus, but I respect it,” he said.
He explained the virus is new and scientists are learning more about it every day. The virus affects the human respiratory system and can only take hold within that system. The virus can cause fatal lung damage.
Dr. Parker spoke Wednesday to Gary Stelly on KOGT’s Morning Show. It was his second appearance on the show since the virus disaster began. The virus is spread through droplets expelled through the nose or mouth. The biggest threat of a spread is an exchange of saliva. After that, a cough or sneeze into the air spreads the most number. Simple breathing can leave an aerosole with the virus.
The virus can survive for different amounts of time in the air and on surfaces. That’s why washing hands is so important. Washing will kill the virus and then the hands won’t be contaminated if you touch your face.
Parker said bringing hand sanitizer to the grocery store and using it several times is better than wearing gloves. Gloves can pick up and carry a virus like bare hands.
In addition, casually passing someone in a hallway should not be a risk.
Once a person has given a swab sample for testing, they are told to quarantine themselves until the results. Parker said if someone is positive, someone from the health department will call them to ask questions about places they have been and people they have been near in the past two weeks. The health department will notify someone who may have been exposed.
The doctor said take-out food should be safe and no evidence shows the virus is spread by food. The containers should be disposed. He suggested moving the food from the takeout container to a plate. The person handling the bags and containers needs to wash their hands.
Parker said he has not seen any studies showing the virus will die in warm weather, but he said outbreaks like the flu usually go down in the summer. He said he doesn’t know if its warm temperatures or the fact that people are spread out more in summer than in winter.
After this wave comes and goes, Covid 19 will return at some time, he said. He predicts it will be something people will be dealing with in the future. He hopes a vaccine or cures can be found before a return.
The country is almost four weeks into the national disaster called by President Trump. Some areas like the states of Louisiana, New York, and Washington, have seen hundreds of cases and deaths.
Orange County on Tuesday had 31 people testing positive for the virus and no reported deaths from the disease. One person has recovered. The county had 93 other tests out results.
Dr. Parker said so far, the numbers have not been as high as some estimates. That, he said, is good, because what everyone has been doing is working.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
Full interview with Dr. Calvin Parker on KOGT
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