Show me the Scientific facts behind COVID-19

Headline Diplomat eJournal: Issue 1, Series 2
The perilous lenses of COVID-19: The sociopolitical impact

Writes Dr. V.E.Kalodimou, Director of Flow Cytometry-Research & Regenerative Medicine Department at IASO Maternity Hospital, LinkedIn

COVID-19 is a new virus that has quickly spread around the world. Knowing the scientific facts about the symptoms, how the virus spreads, and what you can do to stop it will help to protect you as well as your community.

Misinformation and myths have been spreading fast around communities, so we will try to answer them with science and facts and with the help of reliable sources such as the World Health Organization, NIH, AABB, etc.

Why so many people around the globe believe all those myths about COVID-19? There is so much information available every day, but most of the time dissemination happens without any revision from health institutes. As a result, the more often we see something in our news feeds the more likely we are to think that it is true, even if we were originally skeptical at first.

Sharing scientific facts may be able to support discerning reality from fiction.

• Who is at risk?
  • Anyone can get COVID-19.
• Is it possible for COVID-19 to spread in warm sunny weather?
  • COVID-19 can survive temperatures higher than 25C. You can get infected it no matter how sunny and warm it is.
• Is COVOD-19 just a common cold?
  • No, it’s not and that’s a fact.
  • SARS-CoV-2 does share similarities with other coronaviruses, four of which can cause the common cold.
• Exposure to high temperatures prevents us from getting affected by COVID-19?
  • According to WHO, exposing yourself to the sun or warm temperatures will not protect you against COVID-19.
  • The virus had been spreading in areas with very hot weather.
  • Taking a hot bath will also not prevent COVID-19.
• All infected people with COVID-19 will get very sick or die?
  • No, most of them will have a mild form of the illness and we will be recovering without needing professional medical care.
  • Around 8 out of 10 people will have mild symptoms and around 1 in 6 will become severely ill and need hospital care.
  • Scientific modelling suggests that around 1 in 100 people who get COVID-19 will die.
• Does young people have to worry, or only old people can be affected by COVID-19?
  • Anyone can get affected by COVID-19. While we don’t yet fully understand why some people get more serious symptoms, we do know that young people are more likely to develop serious symptoms if they have certain underlying health conditions.
• Was COVID-19 made in a lab?
  • No evidence suggests that the virus is man-made.
  • SARS-CoV-2 closely resembles two other coronaviruses that have triggered outbreaks in recent decades, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. In short, the characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 fall in line with what we know about other naturally occurring coronaviruses that made the jump from animals to people.
• Can you recognize if someone has COVID-19?
  • No, the virus can be in someone’s body for up to 14 days before they get symptoms, and some people will have such a mild case of COVID-19 that they might not notice that anything is wrong.
  • That’s why it’s important that everyone follows healthcare advice, including hand washing, wearing mask, using tissues to catch coughs and sneezes, and avoiding crowds, to stop the spread of the virus, even if they feel healthy.
• Can COVID-19 be cured using Chloroquine as a treatment?
  • At the moment there is no proven cure for COVID-19.
  • If you think you have COVID-19 and are having difficulty breathing, contact your local health facility as you will need professional medical care.
  • As scientists and doctors continue their work to understand and treat COVID-19 our knowledge and ability to treat and prevent the virus will improve.
  • For now, it’s important to follow official government advice and get information only from reliable sources like the World Health Organization (WHO) or your government’s health department.
• Can children be affected by COVID-19?
  • Yes, children can definitely be affected, although reports of serious illness in children are rare.
  • A CDC study of more than 1.3 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. from January through May found that the rate of confirmed infections in children under age 9 was 52 cases per 100,000 people in that population of children; that’s compared with an average of 400 cases (of any age) per 100,000 people in the U.S. population as a whole.
  • Another CDC study found that among 52,000 reported COVID-19 deaths from February through May; just 16 deaths were reported in people under age 18.
  • In a study published June 29 in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers described 186 cases of MIS-C in 26 states. Of these, nearly 90% required hospitalization, 80% were admitted to the intensive care unit and 2% died, the authors reported.
• Is COVID-19 less deadly than the flu?
  • Yes, though the death rate for COVID-19 is unclear, almost all credible research suggests it is much higher than that of the seasonal flu, which has a death rate of around 0.1% in the U.S, Live Science previously reported.
  • Many studies estimate that around 0.5% to 1% of people infected with COVID-19 will die from the disease, according to Nature News.
  • Even a death rate around 1% is still 10 times higher than that of the flu.
  • Researchers in a recent paper published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, describing how they found that, in the U.S., there were 20 times more deaths per week from COVID-19 than from the flu in the deadliest week of an average influenza season, Live Science previously reported. If you drink lots of hot drinks will stop COVID-19.
  • There is none drinking cold or hot that will protect you from getting infected with COVID-19 or will cure you if you get sick.
• All house pets can spread COVID-19.
  • No, there is no evidence that house pets can spread the virus to people.
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said:“there is no evidence that they are playing a significant role in the spread of the virus and so far, there have been no confirmed reports of people contracting the disease from pets”. People should always wash their hands after snuggling with animals anyway, as companion pets can spread other diseases to people, according to the CDC.
• The use of a strong disinfectant to clean my hands and body will protect me from COVID-19.
  • You shouldn’t use strong disinfectants to clean your body.
  • Washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water or rubbing an alcohol-based sanitizer on them will stop the virus spreading.
  • Using stronger chemicals on your skin can be dangerous.
  • Never drink disinfectant or hand sanitizer as this can do serious damage.

• COVID-19 can be spread by 5G networks.
  • COVID-19 cannot transmit or travel on through radio waves or mobile networks such as 5G networks, according to WHO.
  • It can be spread mainly through respiratory droplets that are expelled when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks, as well as through contaminated surfaces.
  • WHO also notes that COVID-19 has been spreading in countries that do not have 5G mobile networks.

• Wearing a face mask can cause CO2 poisoning?
  • Wearing medical masks for long periods may be uncomfortable for some, but it does not cause oxygen deficiency or carbon dioxide (CO2) intoxication (when too much CO2 builds up in the bloodstream), according to WHO.
  • The same applies for N95 masks and cloth face coverings, according to Healthline.
  • When you wear a mask, you should make sure it has a snug fit but allows you to breathe normally, (WHO).

Featured photo by cottonbro, Pexels

Inside photos: WHO