Take steps to protect against coronavirus

PALMDALE — Wash your hands. Cover your cough. Stay home if you are sick. And get a flu shot if you haven’t already.

All these are steps to take to avoid contracting or spreading a previously unseen in humans strain of virus known as the novel coronavirus. This disease has made news as it has spread through China and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the world in recent months.

But perhaps more importantly, these are steps to take to avoid the much more common — and deadly — influenza virus.

“We don’t want to tell people not to worry, but we also don’t want people to panic, either,” said Dr. Jonathan Truong, chairman of infectious control at Ante

lope Valley Hospital and Palmdale Regional Medical Center, and assistant medical director with the Department of Infectious Disease at Kaiser Permanente Antelope Valley Medical Offices.

As of Friday, there were 31,481 confirmed cases worldwide, with 31,211 of those in China, according to the World Health Organization.

A dozen confirmed cases have been reported in the United States. Of those, 10 had a history of travel to China, according to the WHO. Six of the cases are in California, with one reported in Los Angeles County.

In China, 637 people have died due to the virus, and one death has been reported in the Philippines.

In comparison, influenza infects some 41 million people annually, killing about 61,000 people in the U.S. each year, Truong said.

“The numbers are very different,” he said. “It’s not as scary as it sounds, but we don’t want to dismiss it, either.”

Those considered at greatest risk of contracting the novel coronavirus are people who have recently been in China.

If you have been in China in the past 14 days and develop symptoms of a fever, cough, sore throat and shortness of breath, Truong advises people to first call their doctor or healthcare provider before visiting. That way, if healthcare professionals agree there could be a risk of coronavirus, they can be prepared to meet the patient with the proper safety protocols — gowns, masks, gloves — to prevent spreading the infection to others in the waiting area.

“We don’t want you to just walk into a medical clinic, urgent care or emergency room and infect everyone,” he said.

The cautions apply to those who have been with someone who has a confirmed case of coronavirus and took care of them without protections, he said.

Those are really the only two groups of people at risk, Truong said.

The federal government has evacuated personnel from Wuhan, China, the area at the center of the outbreak. These evacuees are being quarantined for the 14day incubation period at military bases, including March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County.

Travelers arriving from China through Los Angeles International Airport are also being screened and quarantined when necessary, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

While the symptoms of coronavirus are relatively easy to determine, the testing kits to confirm a diagnosis are not yet widely available, although the Centers for Disease Control is working to make them more accessible at the state levels.

Suspected cases are reported to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Truong said. If the department agrees it is likely a case of coronavirus, a swab is sent to test and confirm and decisions are made as to quarantine or other steps.

As a respiratory illness, the virus can spread through coughs and sneezes to others up to six feet away, Truong said, and it can live two to three hours on surfaces.

The best defenses are washing hands with soap and water, using hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, cleaning with products such as Lysol to kill the virus on surfaces and avoiding touching your face.

“And above all, recommend getting your flu shot,” Truong said, as the symptoms overlap and it’s just as infectious.

As flu season lasts through March or April, it is not too late if you haven’t had one already, he said.

The flu vaccine varies each year as it is designed to treat predicted strains of the virus, and therefore its effectiveness also varies. This year’s vaccine is about 60% to 65% effective, Truong said.