‘Clarifying with truth’
Local health experts to answer questions about COVID-19 Wed.
As COVID-19 case counts continue to peak in Yuma County, more and more social circles are affected, either directly or indirectly, by the novel virus. To address individuals’ concerns about exposure, spread and what to do in the event that they or someone they know tests positive, the Yuma Sun and Yuma Regional Medical Center are hosting “Help! Someone I Know Tested Positive,” the fourth episode of Yuma On Call LIVE.
Streaming via Facebook Live at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, YRMC Chief Nursing Officer Deb Aders and Doctor of Family Medicine Kristina Diaz will answer questions like “What is my risk for getting COVID-19?,” “What do I do if I’ve had contact with someone who’s tested positive?,” “When should I or my family get tested?” and “What precautions can I take to keep my family safe?”
According to the experts, unless you’ve come into close contact with a sick person, your risk of infection is very low. Close contact includes living in the same household and/ or caring for someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, being within six feet of an infected individual for more than 15 minutes and being in direct contact with droplets of an infected individual (i.e. being coughed on, kissing, sharing utensils).
“Close contact is not ‘I walked by, said hi, shook your hand and I was gone in less than five minutes,’” said Aders. “I think people are fearing those people they just walked by or had a brief exposure to, but that’s not close contact. So that might release a lot of people’s fears.”
Along those lines, the hospital’s overall hope in hosting this particular episode is to “clarify with truth” some of the common misunderstandings about COVID-19.
“There’s so much misinformation between social media, the news (and) ‘I heard this, I read this,’” said Aders. “So this is making it really easy for you, in other words — if you’ve had this exposure, here’s what you do.”
According to Aders, the best chance of safeguarding oneself and others against exposure remains donning masks or facial coverings when out and about, and practicing good hand hygiene.
“If you have a mask and someone else has a mask, you have an 85 percent reduction of transmission,” said Aders. “That’s one of the biggest things, because your risk is only 15 percent if you both have on masks. That’s the key. You don’t need to wear gloves, because all you’re doing is cross-contaminating everything and every space. It’s better if you just wash your hands and not touch your face.”
And contrary to a common idea, it does not appear that individuals can contract the virus twice.
“I don’t think I’ve yet seen anyone have it, get better and have it again — we haven’t seen that here,” Aders said.
Wednesday’s event can be viewed at facebook.com/ YumaSunNews or facebook.com/yumaregional.
During the event, viewers can pose “live” questions in the video’s comment section, which will continue to be monitored afterward so that no COVID-related question goes unanswered.
“It can be concerning and cause a lot of anxiety, so if we can help people understand the risk a little bit more and how to protect their families, then that’s what we want to do,” said YRMC Director of Marketing Shay Andres.