FACTS ABOUT CORONA

  So we need to get the facts straight. Howdoes this virus work, how does it transmit, where does it want to go, andlet's protect ourselves. I'm Dr. Peter Lin. I'm a family physician in Toronto,Canada. The coronavirus is a family of viruses that can cause as mild things asjust a common cold, all the way up to SARS or MERS. These are these badpneumonias that we're talking about. And basically what these viruses are, theylook like a tennis ball with all these spikes sticking out of it. And dependingon the type of spike, it allows that virus to attach to certain places. Sosome viruses, they have this spike that attaches to your nose. So basically you just get a common cold. But the SARS virus and this new virusthat we're talking about has the spike that allows it to attach to the cells inyour lung and when it attaches there, it puts in information to make photocopiesof itself. So it uses our equipment to make more viruses. >> I'm declaring a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak ofnovel coronavirus. >> Most of the coronaviruses live inanimals. In this particular case, it was from Wuhan. There was a fish market where they were selling live animals and the thought is that the virus was in a liveanimal, then it crossed into a human. But then what we found was that people weregetting sick in terms of healthcare workers, in terms of family members thatwere looking after them, which now meant that the virus can pass from human toanother human. Just like all viruses, it needs to reach a target, which is yourlung and it has to get there with your help. It has no feet and no wings. Sotherefore it needs us to move it there. So that's why we keep saying don't hangaround sneezy people because you're gonna breathe it in. And don't touch yourface because that's how the virus is going to get in. The masks are helpful, butthey're not necessary because they're leaky. The ones that you and I buybasically have pockets here, so therefore the virus can get in. What the masksreally do is they stop us from touching our face. If you're sick, we tend to maskyou, so therefore you're not spewing out the viruses to other people sittingaround you. The true people that have the real masks are the N95. Those are sealed. These are for the doctors that may be caring for the patients. So in thebeginning, the coronavirus will cause kind of like flu-like symptoms or a cold. So people just get the stuffy nose, that kind of thing. But you'll understand thatas soon as that virus starts manufacturing in your lung cells, they'reproducing all these copies of the virus. All of a sudden now you kill the lungcells, so now you can't exchange oxygen and that's why one of the early symptomsis people get very short of breath and they tend to have a difficult time breathing and that's why they end up in hospital. So currently unfortunately wedon't have a direct treatment for the coronavirus, so we don't have amedication that can kill it off. And so it's really supportive. So in other words,the patient can't breathe, we give them oxygen help them to breathe, they can'tdrink, so therefore we give them fluids to support them. Their kidneys begin toshut down, we help them with all those things. So it's a very supportive process. This is a new virus that we've never seen before, so our immune system, ourarmy, are having a hard time figuring out what to do. So usually what we have to dois we make something called antibodies. So these are things that can grab on tothe spikes that we see on the virus and it'll get rid of the virus for you andthat will actually bring you back to good health. So therefore the elderly may have a worse outcome and of course the youngchildren, the babies, their immune system is not so good either, so they maynot make those antibodies as well. So just remember your hands may be withvirus. Virus cannot hurt you because it can't get through the skin, but themoment I do this, now I've brought the virus right to where it wants to go. Solet's remember not to touch our hands to our face. So let's say you think that youmight have been on a plane or you might have bumped into somebody that has it,what should you do? So the first thing is to contact a healthcare worker to tellthem that potentially you have it. If you're feeling symptoms and you're goingto go into a facility, call ahead. OK. So whether you're calling the paramedics orwhether you're calling the hospital or your doctor, just mention that you wereon a flight. If you don't have any symptoms, then what we do is a little bitof a self-quarantine. In other words, we can just keep you away from other peopleand so you don't go in to parties, don't go with your friends, don't go intopublic transportation. So we can contain it very easily by making sure that youdo a self-confinement so to speak for the let's say 7 to 14 days is thelongest incubation time, so after that if you're feeling well, then you don't haveanything to worry about. If we get the facts right, then we don'thave to be overly worried, but we do the right things so that we don't get thevirus ourselves, and that we don't pass it on to others. And if welook after each other in this way, this virus will have nowhere to go.It needs us to move it, it needs us to make copies for it, and if we don't helpit, then the virus will stop. So we have the power to do that, right now.