The Bee’s medical expert/reporter offers insight into coronavirus

Dr. ChrisAnna Mink, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and a children’s health reporter for The Modesto Bee and McClatchy Newspapers under the Report for America program, answered questions on the novel coronavirus in a live event on Friday morning, which remains available for viewing.

Here is a condensed version of her comments.

Question: Should we be worried?

Answer: Public health officials in the United States still consider people in our country at low risk.

Q. What exactly is novel coronavirus?

A. It’s called novel because it’s new. There are plenty of coronaviruses. (90 percent of adults have had some sort of coronavirus. Most of the coronaviruses cause simple colds, cough, runny nose. You’re better in less than a week. The novel coronavirus is related to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). They are sort of cousins of the same family and cause a more severe illness.

Q. What are the symptoms?

A. Corona means crown, and the virus has little spikes that help it attach to your respiratory system. Symptoms include congestion and a runny nose. In addition you can get a high fever and also it can cause pneumonia.

Q. If you have symptoms, at what point should you call the doctor?

A. It depends on your underlying health. If you’re healthy the cough should last less than seven days. If you have some problem with your immune system, or asthma or diabetes, you might want to call your doctor by the third day, or sooner if you’re concerned, just to be cautious.

Q. Where did this virus come from?

A. It looks like it came from the Wuhan area in China. It came from what they call a wet market where there’s seafood and water around and live animals. The virus had the chance to mutate and spread from animals to humans. This particular virus shares some of the same genes as SARS that looks like it came from a bat.

Q. How does it spread?

A. We’re still learning. Things are changing constantly. The spread is definitely by coughing. It seems to be from bigger droplets, coughing, sneezing on your hands and you touch your eyes, your nose. The influenza virus, which is a real threat to people in the US, can last on surfaces for 24 hours. For this virus, we are still learning how long it can last.

Q. How much of a threat is it in the United States?

A. Our public health officials are reassuring us that we are pretty low risk. They are using the opportunity to remind you this is still the season of flu. We have had 54 children die from flu in the U.S. this year and 140,000 hospitalizations. That’s a very real threat. The things that you do to protect yourself against flu can help protect against other winter viruses. The only difference is with the flu you can get a vaccine.

Q. How do you differentiate between flu and coronavirus?

A. It’s really hard without specific testing because the symptoms start the same. One thing with flu is it tends to be pretty abrupt when it starts: You were minding your own business in the morning and by 2 o’clock in the afternoon you feel like lying down. They do have a lot of overlap. When you are unsure and if are at risk for complications, call your health care provider.

Q. Do masks work?

A. Masks have limited utility. This virus is not kept out by a mask. What a mask might help you do is not touch your mouth and touch your nose if there’s something on your hands.

Q. How do I protect myself and loved ones?

A. A good rule is wash your hands really well. If you’re sick stay home. Right now you shouldn’t travel to China. Don’t touch your mouth, nose and eyes — those are easy surfaces for the virus to get in.

Q. Any risks to travel within the United States?

A. There are no advisories for traveling within the United States. But you shouldn’t travel when you’re sick if at all possible.

Q. Can you catch the virus from a product coming from China?

A. We don’t think so. They’re still looking at this. The USDA has not issued any concerns over products yet. The issue would be the humans bringing those products from China. The one thing to keep in mind is we don’t know how long this virus survives on surfaces just yet.

Q. Do you believe the numbers given by the Chinese government can be trusted?

A. It’s my understanding that the World Health Organization and even U.S. public health officials are on the ground in China. The best information that can be getting to us is getting to us. But again the sickest people are going to the doctor. There might be many others, who aren’t as ill so they don’t seek medical care.

Q. What happens once people are diagnosed?

A. The main thing is receiving supportive care. For people with a severe infection in their lungs, they might need a breathing machine or oxygen. Most of the deaths so far have been older people with health problems. For a healthy person, things to keep you comfortable while the virus runs its course — such as fever control or possibly decongestants, cough syrup. I’m not a fan off cough syrup, I prefer honey and lemon.

Q. The epidemiology projection assumes we will see the first peak only by mid-February. Do you think that’s accurate?

A. There are several projections of when it’s going to peak. I think it’s too soon to predict. There are models the WHO uses. But since we are still learning how contagious this virus is and how it’s spread, it’s too soon to predict.

Q. What about pets?

A. We talked about this virus coming from animals. Pets tend to get their own infections. Being that this virus has adapted itself to being a human virus, it doesn’t appear you can give it to your dog.

This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 4:11 PM.