Worried about the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic, here's what you need to know:
WHAT IS COVID-19?
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses found mostly in animals. In humans, they can cause diseases ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV). The new coronavirus has been named COVID-19. While many of the characteristics of COVID-19 are still unknown, mild to severe illness has been reported for confirmed cases.
Coronavirus is spread from an infected person through:
• Droplets spread when a person coughs or sneezes
• Close personal contact such as touching or shaking hands
• Touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose or eyes before washing your hands.
COVID-19 SYMPTOMS
Common symptoms for COVID-19 are:
• Fever
• Cough
• Difficulty breathing
At this time, the available information suggests the incubation period is up to 14 days. The incubation period is the time from when a person is first exposed until symptoms appear.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
The most important thing you can do to prevent infection is to wash your hands regularly and avoid touching your face. To help reduce your risk of infection:
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Using soap and water is the single most effective way of reducing the spread of infection.
• If a sink is not available, alcohol based hand rubs (ABHR) can be used to clean your hands as long as they are not visibly soiled. If they are visibly soiled, use a wipe and then ABHR to effectively clean them.
• Do not touch your face, eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a disposable tissue or the crease of your elbow when you sneeze or cough.
• Regularly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.
• Do not share food, drinks, utensils, etc.
• Masks should be used by sick people to prevent transmission to other people. A mask will help keep a person's droplets in. It may be less effective to wear a mask in the community when a person is not sick themselves. Masks may give a person a false sense of security and are likely to increase the number of times a person will touch their own face (e.g., to adjust the mask).
• The B.C. Centre for Disease Control now recommends that those returning from countries with travel notices stay home or self-isolate for 14 days after they left. If you are returning from affected areas or have been in close contact with someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19, stay home and limit contact with others for a total of 14 days from your return.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE COVID-19
If you have symptoms such as fever, cough or difficulty breathing and have travelled outside Canada or have been exposed to someone who has COVID-19, avoid contact with others. See a health care provider as soon as possible.
If you are going to visit your health care provider, call them ahead of time so they can arrange for you to be assessed safely. Wear a mask in order to protect others. If you are unsure about what to do or have concerns or questions, contact HealthLinkBC (8-1-1) at any time or speak with your health care provider. At this time we are asking patients to avoid going to the emergency department for novel coronavirus testing. If you feel that you might have COVID-19, you can be tested at your primary care provider (family doctor or nurse practitioner's) office. Please call ahead to your primary care provider's office before you go to their clinic for assessment and testing. Calling ahead to the clinic before you go ensures that the clinic is prepared to test you and keeps the clinic’s staff and other visitors safe.
When seeing a health care provider, please tell them:
• Where you have been travelling or living
• If you had direct contact with animals (for example, if you visited a live animal market)
• If you had close contact with a sick person, especially if they had a fever, cough or difficulty breathing.
— Source: The B.C. Centre for Disease Control