Unless you’ve had your head in the sand you’ve heard about coronavirus. Should we be worried?  Well…maybe. Coronavirus is very similar to influenza and many of my peers have asked,”What’s the hype?  Am I missing something here?” The rate of death from influenza is about 0.5% and the rate of death with coronavirus is about 3%.  This is still fairly low, but there are concerning differences between coronavirus and influenza.

There are no available immunizations. Immunizations provide herd immunity. This means if I am sick and you are susceptible and we have mutual friends you avoid exposure if the mutual friends are immunized. This can slow or stop the spread of influenza but not coronavirus.

The virus spreads like influenza.  It can transfer from an infected person up to 10 days before they display symptoms.  And, it stays alive on surfaces for up to 9 days!  This means that someone who didn’t look sick can transfer the virus to a surface and infect second person who can infect a third person before anyone shows signs of illness. When you combine these two factors, coronavirus becomes much more of a problem.  Essentially every person on the planet is susceptible so it will be impossible to prevent the spread of this virus. Basically, it’s very likely to spread to the Emerald Coast.

Next, even though the death rate is 3%, children and healthy adults rarely have complications. This means older individuals with medical conditions are at much higher risk of serious complications. The good part for us is the virus does not do well in warm weather so as we approach summer the chances of getting infected will diminish.

What can we do?

There is one thing I want everyone to change today. Stop coughing into your hands! This spreads disease!  Unless you immediately wash your hands, whatever you touch is now contaminated with a virus that could kill the person next to you.  Starting right now cough into your elbow!  It is easy and very effective. Teach your children right now to do the same.  I still see kids every day that cough into their hands and then wipe it on whatever is close or worse just cough directly on other people!  These acts only serve to spread the virus. Unfortunately, and more than once, I have seen grandchildren infect their own grandparents with infections that were only lethal to the older of the two. Wash your hands regularly with soap and water.  Although I’m not a fan, using hand sanitizer can also help. Clean surfaces with alcohol or bleach. I have discussed peptides in the past and two fantastic peptides to boost immune function are Thymosin Alpha and Thymosin Beta. We have both available.  There are others but these are my favorites. These are natural peptides which help us fight viral and bacterial infections. Unfortunately, they are lost as we age. The nice part is we can now put them back in the body. Call Dr Richard Chern, MD at 850-837-1271 to find out how.

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