clearest statement regarding Coronavirus from a doctor
Marc
Serota (one of our former allergy fellows at Children's Mercy) posted
this on Facebook. I think it is the clearest statement regarding
Coronavirus I have seen per one of our Current Asthma/allergy Doctors:
From an MD immunologist:
I
don't post a lot on Facebook but I would like to give my perspective
and context on the coronavirus outbreak. I hope I can be a more
reputable source of perspective as a physician who specializes and is
board certified in immunology (as well as pediatrics, allergy and
dermatology).
1. Coronaviruses are a family of
viruses. "coronavirus" is not unique to this particular strain. Everyone
reading this has likely had another different coronavirus infection.
This particular strain has been named COVID-19.
2.
Every upper respiratory virus has the potential to be lethal. Patients
unfortunately die from many upper respiratory viral infections every
year - most prominently the influenza virus. 30,000 people died from the
influenza virus in 2019. The media didn't report each one. They have
reported all 11 coronavirus deaths. Not telling us about the people lost
but rather keeping a death "toll".
Let me repeat that:
-Coronavirus: 11 deaths (US in 2020), 3300 deaths (China in 2020).
-Influenza: 30,000 deaths (US in 2019).
*Influenza
pandemic of 1918: 675,000! (US), 20-50 MILLION!! (worldwide)
<---these annual="" been="" favor="" flu="" font="" have="" i="" in="" of="" people="" receiving="" their="" think="" vaccine.="" would="">
This is not meant to minimize any of these deaths but rather to give context and put some facts to the hysteria.
3.
If you're healthy, there is no need to walk around wearing a mask. In
addition to looking silly and most of the time wearing/taking them off
wrong - which would actually make you more prone to acquiring an
infection, they don't prevent you from getting sick. If you're actually
sick stay away from people and then, sure, wear a mask so you aren't
spreading respiratory droplets every time you cough/sneeze. In medicine
we don't wear the masks you're buying and we wear other protective
equipment - not just a silly looking mask you found on Amazon. When you
see doctor's walking around the world wearing a mask then you should
too. Until then, stop.
4. The symptoms are that
of the flu. As doctors we don't test or know about most people with
mild or moderate flu symptoms. That means most people will probably get
it and just think they had the flu. That means you're only going to hear
about the cases that get serious - not all the minor ones which will be
the vast majority of cases.
5. When it is said
that people who are older or have other medical conditions are most
likely to die - that is equally true for EVERY upper respiratory virus.
There is nothing unique about that to this particular virus. It does
mean that the only cases we tend to know about are the severe ones. Once
a case is severe it then makes sense to test the patient to find out
what virus in particular they have. That means you can easily
overestimate how severe or lethal the virus is because the only cases
you end up knowing about are the serious ones.
In summary 30,000 people died from the flu last year. Another 30,000 died in car accidents.
I remember: H1N1 (2009), MERS (2012), Ebola (2014), Coronavirus (2020).
Take
it from me: The poor resident who stood at the door of the ER to triage
people in 2009's swine flu (H1N1) hysteria. The over reaction is
exponentially worse than the actual problem and in 2020 the over
reactions I'm seeing are remarkable. In cold and flu season you'll
probably get sick once or twice for about a week each. You might even
get this particular coronavirus and most of you won't even know it. I've
seen people raiding supermarkets, major meetings and sporting events
getting cancelled and fear/racism towards Asian people. These reactions
are totally unnecessary and panic based. Just do what you've always done
during cold/flu season. Stay away from other people when you're sick,
wash your hands and keep them away from your face, and only go to the ER
if you feel your symptoms are more severe than a bad cold/flu
(shortness of breath, high fever, etc.). And also realize you can't live
on earth and not get viral illnesses from time to time. It's a part of
nature.
Please don't ask for antibiotics (those
treat bacteria - not viruses). That's like asking for a fire
extinguisher when you're drowning. It can be a life saving device - but
the wrong one for the problem at hand. Some doctor's don't want to fight
about it when patients insist on antibiotics so they just prescribe
them - but it doesn't mean its actually helping you and in some cases
they can be harmful (resistance, infections, allergic reactions just to
name a few). If you're one who asks for antibiotics every time you're
sick, again, take it from me: ask for a flu shot each year and a
doctor's note to stay home from work when you're sick instead. You will
be much better off.
The government is very
proud that testing will be available to every American. Remember, we
don't test for any respiratory virus other than the influenza virus
routinely. The reason is thats the only virus that has a treatment
(pill) you can take to shorten the duration of severity of the illness. I
suspect if we start testing everyone with cold symptoms for coronavirus
we're going to find lots of it. It's not going to change the
recommendations to stay home and rest. And its not going to predict the
small percentage of people who may develop more severe symptoms.
Essentially whether someone has coronavirus 19 or some other cold/flu
virus isn't going to matter to your doctor. What it will do is slam
urgent cares, ER's and hospitals with every patient who has a cold so
they can be tested. It is much more sensible to reserve testing for
patients requiring hospitalization or more advanced treatments. Even
that wouldn't change their management but would be more to confirm the
diagnosis and to not waste time looking for other causes of the patients
symptoms.
In conclusion, yes there is a novel
virus that our immune systems haven't seen yet so to get immune to it
you will have to get infected - at least until a vaccine is developed to
bypass the getting sick part and just jumping straight to immune. Most
people's immune systems will do that effectively and be fine. A small
percentage of unfortunate patients (primarily elderly, immune
compromised etc.) will not be able to do that effectively and will need
more advanced care. This is true of the cold/flu viruses we deal with
every year. Follow normal cold/flu precautions and seek medical care if
you feel your symptoms are severe. No need to get hysterical.
These
outbreaks can be instructive for overall knowledge of public health. In
particular showing your immune system the uniform of a potential
invader (virus) so that if it ever sees a soldier wearing that uniform
it will immediately attack and neutralize it without you ever getting
sick. That is a wonderful thing and probably the single biggest
achievement in medicine throughout human history. That is what vaccines
are. The benefit to risk ratio of them are off the charts in favor of
vaccines. If viruses like coronavirus scare you, then stay up to date on
your vaccines and your immune system will be running the latest
software.
If you still think you should be
scared consider this: Doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff are
going to hospitals every day. Crowded buildings with tons of sick
people. They aren't walking around the halls of the hospitals wearing
masks and they haven't stopped going to work. And they are all rolling
their eyes at everyone else right now.
Marc Serota, MD