Insights learned so far to help prevent second wave of the virus here
THE nation is about to emerge from the swaddle of weeks of mostly stayat-home living and many new insights have been learned about the coronavirus in that time. Knowledge is power against this lethal virus and the more we know the better equipped we are to take those first steps to exit lockdown.
Silent carriers
When we entered lockdown in March the extent of the threat from asymptomatic carriers – people with the virus but little or no symptoms – was still unclear.
The main emphasis was on sick people coughing and sneezing spreading the infection. That is still a route for transmission but it is now reckoned between 30pc to 50pc may be asymptomatic.
If you are talking to someone at close quarters for more than 15 minutes there could be droplets in the air which you could inhale.
Physical distancing works
In the absence of a vaccine the two-metre physical distancing rule, combined with other measures like hand washing, has suppressed the virus here.
Lockdown takes physical distancing to intense levels and the test now will be to see how it can be applied in much trickier settings as measures are loosened in the coming months. But the basic message about staying apart gives grounds for optimism that it will be possible to reopen society if this defence is followed.
Face coverings
Guidance is due from the National
Public Health Emergency Team on the wearing of face masks, or more likely face coverings for the general population.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has confirmed the face coverings will not be mandatory.
The UK was as ambivalent as our public health officials about the merits of face covering, but this week it suggested wearing them on public transport or in shops where physical distancing may be difficult.
Age and illness
The death toll from the virus has been the most tragic part of the crisis to bear. But Irish hospitals now have a bank of knowledge not available weeks ago.
Statistics show the numbers of deaths from the virus increases with age from around 70 years upwards. It is highest among people in their 80s.
Doctors have found people with heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma and cancer were most likely to end up in intensive care.
Extra care is needed for those most at risk.
Living in close quarters
We have learned that congregated settings like residential centres, nursing homes or direct provision housing can be breeding grounds for the virus.
When it comes to nursing home residents, they can be infected but without classic symptoms of sudden cough and fever.
Staff may feel fine but be asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic.
This increases the risk of transmission. Now that the virus is being contained the responsibility to prevent a second wave rests with nursing home owners and HSE managers to ensure relentless surveillance.
Immunity and how long its lasts
Once people are infected with the virus and recover they can develop antibodies which could provide protection from reinfection. There is still some debate about this but there is something of a consensus emerging that there could be protection for some months or even one or two years.
Stay away from work or shops
We know now that the virus if highly transmissable. Anyone who has potential symptoms should selfisolate and not risk passing it on.
The criteria for testing now means anyone in the population, who has even one symptom such as
sudden cough, fever or breathing difficulties, can contact their GP and be assessed for a test. The advice is not to delay in contacting the GP because it could mean the difference of accidentally passing the infection on or not.
Sunny weather
The warmer temperatures are unlikely to have any impact on the virus. It is continuing to hit sunny hotspots like Florida in the United States. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in the US looked at different research studies and found no evidence to offer a basis to believe summer weather will interfere with the spread of the coronavirus.
Wild infection
The term wild infection applies to cases where a person contracts the virus but has no idea where they picked it up.
This kind of transmission accounts for over 60pc of cases. People have not contracted it from another person who is positive or from travel.
The message as we move out of lockdown is to never let the guard down and continue physical distancing and hand washing.
All counties have cases of the virus
The highest number of cases is recorded in Dublin but no county has escaped the infection.
There is more research to be done to give a better picture of how it is affecting different counties and urban versus rural areas.
Treatment
Doctors across the world are doing trials to find a treatment for patients who are sickest.
There are early results showing some existing drugs can shorten the recovery time for some patients but there are no drugs that have been able to kill it off.
Coronavirus can fall and rise
The first steps out of lockdown next week will be modest but there are already sobering reports from countries like Germany, which was ahead of us in relaxing restrictions.
Some local authorities there are bringing back lockdown measures after coronavirus infections spiked.
The fact the increase has been detected so soon means there is good surveillance in place through testing.
Vitamin D
Dr Rose Anne Kenny of Trinity College yesterday said there is currently strong circumstantial evidence associating enough vitamin D with reducing the severity of illness and even death rates.