WEBVTT - How worried should we really be about coronavirus? 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:05.120 Hi everyone, I'm Katie Curic, and welcome to Next Question Today. 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:09.639 Now to growing concerns about the deadly coronavirus officially hitting 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:12.799 the US. Los Angeles County, where ten million people live, 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:17.200 has declared a public health emergency. In Washington State, they 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:20.560 are confirming now the first US death. There is a 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:24.440 confirmed case here in New York City. Coronavirus is now 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:30.080 in the nation's capital, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts. What 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.639 began as a distant and mysterious illness in China at 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:36.680 the end of twenty nineteen has made its way around 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.320 the world and is now spreading across the US. As 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.720 of this recording, the majority of states have confirmed cases 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:48.200 of coronavirus that range from a few to hundreds. Here 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.360 in New York City, where I live, there at least 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:54.640 thirty six confirmed cases, and Mayor Bill de Blasio says 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.680 they're coming in intensely. Just this week, I had my 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:02.000 own brush with the virus, which is now officially called 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.640 COVID nineteen. On Saturday, March seven, I ran into an 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:08.960 old friend, Rick Cotton, who's the head of the New 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.320 York and New Jersey Port Authority. Two days later news 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:16.280 broke that he had tested positive for COVID nineteen. We 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.920 only had seen each other on the street very briefly 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:23.000 and didn't have any physical contact, but still, in this climate, 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.600 you can never be too careful. After I heard the news, 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.440 I immediately went home and called the c d C. 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:32.839 I also called the New York State Department of Health 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.480 and spoke to my own doctor as well. In addition 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.600 to them, I spoke to the first guest on this podcast. 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:42.240 They all assured me I was at very low risk 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:45.800 for contracting COVID nineteen and there was no need to 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:50.000 self quarantine. So I'll continue to take the same precautions 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.880 as you are, hopefully washing my hands, staying away from 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:58.640 large crowds, and monitoring my symptoms. But all of this 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:03.120 leads me to my next question, what is coronavirus and 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:08.600 how can we protect ourselves and our loved ones. To 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:12.320 understand more about COVID nineteen, I called up someone who's 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:16.680 working on the front lines of this outbreak. Hi Maria, Hi, 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.280 how are you to be there? So nice to hear 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.480 your voice, you too. Dr Maria van Kirkhove is ahead 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:27.400 of the Outbreak Investigation Task Force for the World Health Organization. 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.800 She lives in Switzerland, but she traveled to China just 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.520 a few weeks ago to study the virus. How would 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.840 you assess the current situation with an understanding that it 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:43.839 seems to change almost by the hour. Yes, so this 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.800 is an evolving situation, you know. So this is this 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.760 is an outbreak that began in December UM with a 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:54.080 cluster of patients with pneumonia UM in Wuhan, China, and 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.280 then it has spread to other parts of China. UM 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.639 over the course of the month. In January, there were 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.440 case says that were being detected in other parts of 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.440 the world, mainly in Asia to begin with, but also 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.720 in other countries. And this started with a travel link. UM. 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.919 And this is we we we found cases that were 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:14.880 identified in a number of countries, and the outbreak has 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.680 grown since then. UM. What is interesting is that this 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:22.520 is a new virus. UM. Very early on, the first 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:26.679 cases were alerted to US in late December early January, 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.120 but within a week, within one week, the Chinese authorities 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.960 were able to identify that this was a new pathogen. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:37.520 This was a novel coronavirus. That's where that word comes from. UM. 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.800 And that and that's very important. So they were able 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.880 to identify that within a week using full genome sequencing, 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:49.520 was looking at the parts of the virus itself UM, 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.280 and in finding that new virus, they were able to 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:54.120 share that with the world and say, this is a 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:58.040 novel pathogen. Here's the sequence, which they made publicly available, 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.880 and that allowed countries all over the world to develop 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.440 PCR tests for laboratory detection tests so that they could 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:11.640 start looking for that virus. What exactly is a pathogen? Ah, 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.320 so the pathogen that we we normally call these pathogenes 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:19.120 either viruses or bacteria. This new pathogen happens to be 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.960 a virus. I lead a group on emerging diseases and zoonoses, 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.920 and most of the new viruses that we find come 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.480 from animals and they they spill over from an animal 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.240 to human, and we were constantly on the lookout for 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:38.040 new pathogens, new viruses that are infecting humans. Let's talk 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:42.919 about this one. What animal was responsible for the coronavirus? 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:47.080 As of today, we don't know, UM, but there's a 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.640 lot of investigations right now that are looking for what 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:54.520 was the animal source of this outbreak? UM. This is 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.760 a coronavirus, and we know that coronaviruses have a link 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:02.120 back to bats um. Most viruses, most viruses come from baths, 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.479 but coronaviruses come from baths initially. But what we think 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.600 happened here is that there was another animal, or what 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.400 we call an intermediary host, that animal was infected, and 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:16.080 that animal was responsible for infecting humans. There's a lot 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:20.359 of investigations underway in animal markets because some of the 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.680 initial cases in December UM had reported a link to 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.200 one particular market, and so that gave us a clue 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:31.320 that there could be an animal force. Tell us about 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:35.720 how contagious this is compared to other pathogens you've just 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:40.760 you've studied. So this is this This virus causes a 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:45.400 respiratory disease, and so people who get sick have respiratory symptoms. 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.960 And the way that it's transmitted between people is through 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.800 droplets um, which means if you cough or if you 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:55.360 sneeze on somebody, you are releasing some of these droplets 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.360 from your mouth, these little droplets of fluid, and those 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.840 droplets can go into the eye, his nose, and mouth 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.080 of someone else if they're in close distance to you. 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:06.600 Not in the air, but in they're actually in there 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.560 within three feet of you or so UM and so 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:13.520 if you're common contact with an infected person UM, you 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.240 could potentially be infected by them. And what we know 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:20.360 about this virus is that for every person who's infected, 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:24.440 on average, they infect two to two and a half 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.440 more people, and that means that you have the possibility 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.120 for this outpret to take off. What's important to know 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:34.360 here is that um it's a new virus, which means 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.680 everyone is susceptible UM and so what we're trying to 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.000 do with all of the information that we put out 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.239 is to try to tell individuals what they can do 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.960 to protect themselves from being infected. So everyone is susceptible 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:52.200 because nobody has built up the immunities to prevent them 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:56.320 from getting this virus. Having said that, um it doesn't 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:00.400 seem as dangerous for young children as far as everything 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:04.840 I've read, um and it's much more dangerous for either 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:09.400 older people or those who have compromised immune systems. Is 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:13.960 that accurate? Yes, that's right. What we know from initial 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.240 data is yes, indeed, young children seem to not be 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:21.680 infected as much UM or develop severe disease. So most 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.120 of the children that we are learning about that are 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:28.000 infected UM have a mild disease. We do know that 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:32.840 people of older ages over sixty seventy eight years old UH, 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:37.720 and people who have underlying conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:43.040 chronic respiratory diseases have a higher risk of severe disease 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.440 and death. You mentioned how it can be transferred from 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.920 human to human. A lot of people are also concerned, 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:55.040 Marie about how long it stays on surfaces. UM, what 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:59.480 are you learning about that? So we are learning that 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.280 this virus can stay on surfaces. So one of the 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.520 ways that it gets on surfaces is if you cough 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.040 or if you sneeze, These droplets come out of your 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.560 mouth and they move some distance from you and then 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:13.080 they settle down on surfaces UM, you know, like a tabletop, 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.360 UM or a door knob for example. But they can 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:20.560 be killed by disinfectants. So it's very important that surfaces 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.320 are clean regularly with the chlorine bleach for example, UM, 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:26.960 and then you can remove the virus from those surfaces. 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.520 And what are you learning about the lifespan? Because I've 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:34.240 heard everything from a few hours to several weeks in general, 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:36.640 it's a few hours. I mean, well, it could be 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:38.800 a few hours. I should qualify what that means. It 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:40.760 doesn't mean one or two hours. It could be up 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.319 to a day or two. That's still hours. But that 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.079 sounds like a really long time, doesn't it. I think, Katie, 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.080 what's important is for people to know that they have 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.800 some control over this. You know that they can um 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.760 protect themselves, they can protect their families in a simple way. 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.720 Is is regularly disinfecting your word space. You know, if 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:02.559 you look at your keyboard and you look at your 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.720 phone surface, making sure that that's clean, making sure your 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.760 handlebars are are cleaned a few times per day, making 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:12.240 sure you wash your hands. I mean, I know what 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:14.400 people must be so tired of us saying this, but 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.920 washing your hands with soap and water is a lifesaver, 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.200 not just for COVID nineteen but for many things. And 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.120 if you can't wash your hands, making sure you use 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.920 an alcohol rub well. You know you mentioned and I 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:30.000 noticed that things that are are cleansers are Purel. Sorry 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:34.240 to use a brand name, but they're antibacterial. And if 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.400 this is a virus, how does Purel protect you from 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:41.960 from it? If it's in fact antibacterial. Well there are 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:45.800 with the alcohol that's in these alcohol rubs, Um, you 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:49.280 are removing that virus from from your hands. I mean, 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:50.640 the best thing for you to do is wash your 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.160 hands with soap and water and make sure you follow 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:55.960 the steps and you get all of the surfaces of 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.840 your hands and you can remove those viruses from your hands. 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:03.560 But the alcohol rubbed alcohol has to be six or 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:07.000 above alcohol and that will remove that virus from the 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.120 from your hands. You were very kind to talk to 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.920 me after I realized I had a sixty to ninety 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:18.680 second conversation with someone who was later diagnosed with coronavirus 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:23.440 and was probably about three feet away, didn't touch and 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:29.160 basically just had a casual conversation. Can you please direct 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:33.000 some of what you would say to people who are 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:38.079 panicked that I actually, you know, was talking to somebody 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.200 who was later diagnosed with coronavirus who at the time 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:46.760 was it was asymptomatic. Yeah. So, so, first of all, 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:50.560 it's it's important to acknowledge that people are scared. You know, 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.040 there's a lot of information that's out there, UM, some 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.280 of it is accurate, much of it is inaccurate, UM, 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.400 And people are scared. It's a new dis ease, it's 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.480 a new virus UM, it's spreading around the world, and 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:08.160 people people can be quite fearful of that. What's important 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.560 for us to understand is, you know, why are people scared? 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:12.280 What is it that makes them scared? To try to 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.840 address some of those UM. The thing that you you've 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.480 mentioned is you you've indicated the type of exposure that 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:22.199 you may have had or you did have with this individual. 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:27.679 Knowing what the risk is UM is really important. So 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.959 you've indicated you know, the person was asymptomatic, you were 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.280 more than three feet away. It was a very it 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.640 was a very short encounter. You know. Putting all that 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.960 into context, what's important for everyone to do is to 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:43.440 assess their own risks. You know, look at what their 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.240 exposure was, UM, what their potential exposure was, because most 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.600 of the times it's even potential exposure is not actually 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.640 real exposure to the virus. And then there's certain things 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:54.960 you need to take into consideration. What is your age, 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:58.760 what are your underlying conditions? UM? And then what do 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:03.319 I do? So if you are concerned, what should I do? UM? 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:05.679 And I think it's important that people know that they 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:11.440 can contact their local health authorities UM Departments of Health. UM. 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:13.199 You know within the US you have the U s C, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.920 d C. There are hotlines that you can call. You 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.000 can call your own GP and ask the questions that 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:22.720 here's here's my concern, here's my potential risk. What should 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.720 I do? We need people to know what they can do. 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.280 And what is different about this virus compared to flu 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.640 is that containment is not possible with influenza, but containment 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.199 is possible with this coronavirus. And the reason we can 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.800 say that is because we've seen such incredible efforts by 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.760 a number of countries, including China UM that have really 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:49.360 showed us that transmission can be reduced, case numbers can 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.400 go down, and in many parts of China they have 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.840 their zero reporting cases. So what are they doing right? 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:01.559 They have their entire population mobilized to against this. Every 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.960 single person in the population knows what they can do 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:07.679 in terms of these three things I mentioned, handwashing, respiratory etiquette, 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:12.559 social distancing. UM. They're Chinese authorities and other countries. Is 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.000 not just China that has shown us. Singapore is another 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:18.040 good example. UM. They've shown that if you identify all 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.960 of your cases and all of your contacts UM, and 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.840 that they're isolated so that that you remove them from 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.320 transmitting to other people, UM care for them, making sure 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:31.440 they get appropriate clinical care, making sure that they're communicated 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.600 with and so that they know what their risk is, 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:37.040 and and and by keeping them either in quarantine or isolation, 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.000 that they're they're performing a public health good. There's been 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:44.120 a lot of suspension of public gatherings UM, and there's 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.600 been some movement restrictions in several temporary movement restrictions in 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:51.000 many cities across China, and so all of those that 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:58.000 combination of of UM efforts has has driven down transmission UM. 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.080 In some situations has been quite dream and we've seen 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.560 that in Wuhan where we've seen a total lockdown of 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.440 some cities, and you're hearing about some of this happening 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.720 in Italy as well. But that restriction of movements of 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:14.199 individuals prevents the spread UM of the viruses. So what 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.720 we're doing for all countries, Katie, is we're talking to 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:21.640 all of governments UM and saying the more aggressive action 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:24.840 you have early on, the better chances you have to 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.760 stop the outbreaks of starting UM. And we have evidence 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:30.640 that this works in several countries and we want to 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.600 see that happen in the rest of the world. So 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:39.640 you mentioned UH self quarantine or quarantining populations. When should 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.800 self quarantine or any kind of quarantine be put into effect? 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:48.000 Who makes recommendations on this? But it's up to national 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:52.400 governments to implements, and different governments have implemented different measures 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.320 in this respect, so it's important to follow the national 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:59.440 guidance of what each country recommends. UM. What you did 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.080 in a perfect example of this is that you had 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.560 an exposure and you went home and you self isolated 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.160 or you self quarantine. You went home and that was 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:10.240 a good measure before you and then you made those 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:13.560 phone calls to say, okay, what is my risk UM? 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:15.760 What we recommend It depends on the type of exposure 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.800 you have. If you're a contact of a known case UM, 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:23.440 then we recommend a quarantining of that individual so that 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.440 there's no chance of them passing it on to another individual. 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.160 They're monitored for fourteen days, which is the incubation period, 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:34.080 which is the time from UM infection to the development 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.280 of symptoms UM, so that for over those fourteen days, 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:40.320 people are monitored and they're checked for symptoms to make 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:42.200 sure if they have any fever or if they have 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:46.240 any respiratory symptoms, and then tested. If we do that, 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.120 if we actually find all of the cases, find all 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.760 of the context, and we we can by doing that, 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.520 we can actually stop transmission from from happening. We can 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.320 stop human to human transmission from happening. So, not to 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.440 make it all about me, but I did have contact 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.360 with a known case, was it Maria because it was 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:08.720 before the diagnosis was confirmed, or because I had very 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:13.040 limited exposure that I would not have to be quarantined 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:18.280 because everyone said that wasn't necessary. So it's it's both. 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.880 I mean, it's like, like you explain, it's the nature 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:23.280 of the exposure that you would have with someone, and 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:27.000 if they had symptoms themselves, um, what type of contact 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:30.480 you had with them, if you had physical contact with them. Um. 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:32.160 You know, one of the things we most worry about 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.560 our health care workers. You know, health care workers who 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:37.120 are our frontline workers. They have a different type of 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:40.640 contact with patients right there, touching them, They're very close 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.160 to them, they're spending a longer period of time with them, etcetera. 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:47.880 That's right, that's right, And so it's important that you 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:51.240 assess the risk based on that level of exposure that 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.960 you had. I know that a person can be infected, 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.720 but asymptomatic can the can the virus spread when someone 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:04.160 is asymptomatic before a diagnosis has taken place? And how 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.520 difficult has that been that the incubation period is so long. 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:10.960 So this is a very good question, and this is 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.760 a very important one. UM. We are working with all 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:18.520 of our member states to better understand three things. One, 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:24.000 when cases are reported, UM, are any of them reported 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.439 as being asymptomatic And what I mean by asymptomatic is 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.760 having no symptoms at all UM. And what we're finding 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.240 in some countries a small number of individuals are being 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:38.760 reported as asymptomatic UM. Most of those people are contexts 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:42.480 of known cases UM, and so the good the good 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.119 news there is that they've they've already been identified. Many 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.920 of them have either self isolated at home or are 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.880 in quarantine, and so they're already UM restricting their their 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:56.960 their contact with other people. Many of those asymptomatic people 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.440 do go on to develop symptoms. So having one that's 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:04.919 truly asymptomatic UM. Among the reported cases that we know 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:10.120 about is rare. UM. What we know from virus shedding studies, 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:12.879 and these are studies of looking at people where you 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.320 test them regularly, you take a sample from their nasal 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:21.199 swab or their throats. UM. We're looking at those individuals 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.439 before they develop symptoms, if there's any virus there, and 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.760 then after they develop symptoms. And what we know is 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:31.840 from some people, UM, they can shed virus, which means 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:36.000 they can they are shedding virus before they develop symptoms. UM. 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.919 So there is a theoretical risk. There's a possibility that 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.199 someone who is asymptomatic and transmit, but right now we 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.960 don't believe that that's a major driver of transmission because 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.840 we do not have many documented instances where someone who 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.480 is asymptomatic transmitted to other people. Do you think that 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:58.480 this will diminish as the weather gets warmer, Um, that's 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:01.240 a good question. I get that question quite a lot. UM. 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.080 The true answer is we don't know. UM. We have 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.840 no reason to believe that this virus will act differently 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:10.480 UM in different climates. You know, we're seeing cases being 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.720 popping up in different types of climates. UM. We have 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.679 a couple of cases in Africa. We've seen cases in Singapore. 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.919 We've seen some cases in Brazil, UM, and so we 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:22.359 want everyone to be ready and to be aggressive and 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.000 to assume that it will behave the same way. The 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.000 difference with with with not the virus, but there are 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:30.919 differences in the way people behave When the weather is nicer, 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:34.360 they spend more time outdoors as opposed to being indoors. 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:36.920 So we will have to see how this virus behaves 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.919 once the northern hemisphere winter ends. But remember the southern 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.080 hemisphere winter will begin. So UM, we want to make 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.600 sure everyone is acting as aggressively as possible to contain 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.480 this virus and to stop transmission. And I know you 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:52.879 have to go, you have such important work to do, Maria. 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.760 But could this surpass the flu in terms of the 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:59.639 mortality rate Because everyone keeps comparing the number of deaths 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.919 due to of flu versus this UM is it just 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:09.000 still early early stages. So mortality of of COVID nineteen 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.679 is higher than flu UM. From all of the information 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.919 that we have from across the country's um more people, 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:20.000 the mortality rate is higher than flu UM. What is 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:22.600 really important that from all the cases that we know 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:27.200 UM to date, eighty percent of them have experienced what 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.879 is more of a mild moderate disease which is not 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:34.960 require hospitalization, but about individuals will develop severe disease or 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:40.480 critical disease which will require some respiratory support UM and hospitalization, 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:44.359 perhaps ventilation, UM, and then a small proportion will have 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:48.760 died so far, UM. What we need people to understand 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:51.879 is that this is a serious disease. UM, that it 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:56.080 can cause severe disease and it can kill UM. And 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:58.040 so we hear a lot I hear a lot of Oh, 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:00.720 it's maybe just the flu, or it's just the add flu. 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.399 It's not that we need everybody to understand that maybe 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:06.720 even their own individual risk. Maybe you are young, maybe 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:09.359 you are healthier, in your family is healthy, and that's wonderful. 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:12.960 But if you prevent prevent yourself from getting infected, you 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.200 also prevent yourself from transmitting into somebody else who may 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.880 be part of a vulnerable population, somebody who may be older, 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.840 somebody who may have an underlying condition. And so that's 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.640 really important. Again, we all have a role to play here. 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:28.800 If we can minimize our own risk of infection, then 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:33.240 we can minimize that spread to vulnerable populations, and those 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:35.760 individuals have a higher chance of death. How do you 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:41.440 make people cautious but not so paralyzed with fear? And 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:43.960 I know you want people to take it seriously, but 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:49.600 you don't want mass panic and hysteria either. Absolutely not, 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:52.640 we don't. We just want people to be ready. UM. 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:55.399 We want people to be safe. We want people to 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.840 be smart. We want people to inform themselves with the 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:03.560 latest information. This situation is moving very rapidly. It's evolving quickly. 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:06.640 Every day we're learning something new. Keep up with us, 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:10.080 be patient with us, um as we learn information and 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:12.840 we share that with you. And and be kind to 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:16.000 one another, help each other out. Um. You know, there's 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:18.680 a lot of stigma, and there's a lot of negative 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.240 things that are happening. But on the other side, we 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:25.000 can see the best in people. You can help them out. UM. 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:27.800 If you have neighbors that can't get out themselves, help 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:32.200 them with the groceries, you know, offer offer some social support. Um. 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:35.040 Just be kind to one another. Um. Those are the 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:37.600 things we need people to do. Be ready, be safe, 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:40.600 be smart, and be kind. Well those are words to 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:46.040 live by. Corona or no corona, right, Dr Maria. Really, 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:49.040 I've loved being able to talk to you. Thank you 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:55.000 so much. That was Dr Maria van Kirkov, infectious disease 0:22:55.040 --> 0:23:00.440 epidemiologist with the World Health Organization coming up. One Chinese 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:03.320 American man tells us what it was like to be 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:15.040 smack in the middle of the epidemic. You Len Yin 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:18.480 lives in Minnesota with his wife Anne, and their two daughters. 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:22.159 In January of this year, he was scheduled to travel 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:25.359 to Wuhan province in China, where he was born, for 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:29.000 New Year's celebrations with his family and friends. But as 0:23:29.040 --> 0:23:32.240 he was getting ready, rumors began to emerge that there 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:35.679 was a mysterious illness in the region. You Lynn and 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:41.320 his family tried to find out more and I looked online. 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:46.800 That's really not a lot of information and my family 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:50.920 in Wohan did not mentioned at all about that. But 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:54.080 I was the nervous, so actually went to check with 0:23:55.320 --> 0:23:59.440