‘When should I self-quarantine?’ and more
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is taking questions from readers and getting answers from various local doctors.
Why don’t people wear vinyl gloves instead of constantly washing their hands?
“Wearing gloves and changing them multiple times a day may not be feasible for most people and is not recommended at this time other than for health care personnel treating a suspected or confirmed case. Appropriate hand hygiene should be adequate.”
— Dr. Minhaj Husain, infectious disease doctor with Aurora Health Care
Can a person transmit the disease while remaining asymptomatic?
“There have been reports of individuals with COVID-19 transmitting the virus without showing symptoms, but it is unclear how often this occurs. Currently, it is believed that most people start showing symptoms within 5 days after being exposed. People are thought to be most contagious when they are symptomatic.”
— Dr. Mary Beth Graham, Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Control Froedtert Hospital & Associate Chief, Division of Infectious Disease, Medical College of Wisconsin.
What places should I avoid if I am at risk (gym, concert, church, etc.)?
“If a person is at ‘risk,’ meaning they are elderly (above 65), have chronic conditions such as heart disease, kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, transplant, etc., then the CDC is recommending avoiding crowds as much as possible. Any gathering of more than 20 people especially where many are unknown to the individual and may have respiratory symptoms is discouraged. People can go to the gym, church, or work as long as they take precautions such as avoiding contact with sick individuals, covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze, wash or sanitize hands frequently, avoid touching surfaces and then touching your face, avoid handshakes, etc. Concerts are not advisable at this time.”
— Dr. Minhaj Husain, infectious disease doctor with Aurora Health Care
Is there only one strain of the new coronavirus, or are there multiple strains, each with a different impact on the affected individual?
“There is only one strain of the new/novel coronavirus – it’s official name is SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes if called COVID-19. It is important to understand that this new coronavirus strain is different from the 4 common strains of human coronaviruses that are associated with the common cold. This new virus is different from the coronaviruses that were associated with
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. The test kits to assess for COVID-19 is specific for the virus SARS-CoV-2 and will not cross react with the normally circulating strains of coronavirus, SARS, or MERS.”
— Dr. Mary Beth Graham, Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Control at Froedtert Hospital, and Associate Chief, Division of Infectious Disease, Medical College of Wisconsin
When should I self-quarantine?
“It should be noted that ‘quarantine’ and ‘isolation’ are used differently. Quarantine, as defined by the Center for Disease Control And Prevention (CDC), is separation or restriction of movement of well persons who might have been exposed to a communicable disease, while doctors are determining if they become ill. Isolation is separation or restriction of activities of an ill person with a contagious disease from those who are well.
“Talk to a health care professional if you are considering self-quarantine. This would include discussion of any symptoms you are experiencing or recent travel that may have put you at a higher risk for COVID-19. In the current environment, we recommend self-quarantine if you have had exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19 and/or you have been to a high risk area where there is sustained community transmission of COVID-19. The areas determined to be high risk are changing by the day, so it is best to check with a healthcare provider to determine if quarantine is appropriate.
More information can be found at: www. cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html.”
— Dr. Joyce Sanchez, MD, FACP, Infectious Disease Specialist and director of the Froedtert & MCW Travel Health Clinic; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin
If a person contracts the coronavirus and recovers, is he or she immune from getting it a second time?
“We do not fully understand the immune response to SARS CoV2 yet. Other similar viruses such as MERS did seem to induce temporary immunity once the patient recovers. It is possible that once a patient recovers from COVID-19 they will be immune for some time and even if reinfected the infection may not be as severe as the initial insult. However this is not yet confirmed. More will be known as we discover the serological pattern (antibody response) of this virus in the coming months and hopefully this will lay the groundwork for the development of a vaccine at some point in the future.”
— Dr. Minhaj Husain, infectious disease doctor with Aurora Health Care
How does coronavirus spread? What about through an open wound?
“No it is not transmitted through an open wound unless the wound has been coughed or sneezed upon recently and even then low likelihood. The virus does not survive long on surfaces, including wounds. We should avoid touching the wound and then touching our face. Wound handling should be ideally done with gloves anyway.
“SARS CoV2 (aka coronavirus) spreads via respiratory droplets (cough, sneeze, even just breathing). It can survive for a short period on surfaces or hands. So if someone sneezes into their hands and then touches someone they can possibly spread it. Good habits including sneezing into a tissue or into your elbow and regular hand washing with soap and water or alcohol-based sanitizer (minimum 60% alcohol) will help limit the spread.”
— Dr. Minhaj Husain, infectious disease doctor with Aurora Health Care
Why not just contain the small segment of the population that has a higher morbidity rate if infected with COVID-19? Why must an entire college of young people shut down?
“The time from exposure to symptoms can be up to 14 days. Unfortunately, during this 14-day incubation time, the infected person can spread the virus to other people. While young people do not have severe symptoms, they can easily spread COVID-19 to other people who can get very sick. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the risk to exposure and hopefully reduce further spread of the infection.
— Dr. Hammad Haider-Shah, chief medical officer, Aurora West Allis Medical Center
I care for my grandkids before and after school. At what point should I stop caring for them so I don’t get the virus? If they are symptom-free, how do I know?
“The best way to prevent illness is to avoid exposure. So deciding if it’s a good idea to watch your grandkids means understanding your personal health risks. The CDC says that older adults or people with severe underlying health conditions like heart disease and diabetes, for example, seem to be at higher risk of developing serious COVID-19 illness. Talk to your health provider about what’s right for you and practice healthy face and hand hygiene by washing hands often; practicing social distancing (avoid touching.)
— Dr. Mary Beth Graham, Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Control Froedtert Hospital & Associate Chief, Division of Infectious Disease, Medical College of Wisconsin
A majority of the infected people are in the northern hemisphere. What impact does weather have on the virus spreading?
“It’s too early to know if weather, temperature or humidity will impact the spread of COVID-19. Some other viruses, like the common cold and flu, spread more during cold weather months in lower humidity but that does not mean it is impossible to become sick with these viruses during other months.”
— Dr. Mary Beth Graham, Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Control Froedtert Hospital & Associate Chief, Division of Infectious Disease, Medical College of Wisconsin
If researchers have been able to map the virus (genetically), why would it take almost a year before a vaccine is available?
“The key in developing a vaccine for COVID-19 or any infectious organism requires two essential factors: effectiveness and safety. For all vaccines, the first step is demonstrating that the vaccine will cause people to develop immunity. These studies take a significant amount of time to conduct. First, laboratory studies need to be done to confirm that human cells will respond to the vaccine.Then human/animal studies need to be conducted in three stages that have a required minimum amount of subjects and time period of testing in between. When a vaccine candidate is demonstrated to be effective, safety also needs to be confirmed, and these studies also take significant amounts of time to conduct before a vaccine can be approved by the FDA and launched to the public. The average time frame for a vaccine development is 18-24 months and if the COVID-19 vaccine can be developed in less than 1 year that is really accelerated.”
— Nathan Ledeboer professor and vice chairman of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin