Coronavirus COVID-19: Don’t Be An Idiot

1. STAY CALM. For MOST healthy kids and adults, infection with COVID-19 will produce mild to moderate flu-like symptoms (key symptoms are fever, cough, difficulty breathing, aches). There is no treatment at present, but with rest and plenty of fluids, most people seem to recover without incident.

2. ARE YOU AT HIGH-RISK? If you are over 60, or have underlying conditions, especially heart or lung problems, or are immune compromised (or taking immunosuppressive medication), then you should be extra careful — you are in the “high-risk” group. COVID-19 has a significantly higher fatality rate for these individuals.

3. DON’T TURN OFF THE NEWS. Sure, the media tends to get carried away. Reports may seem contradictory at first. One expert says this, another says that. Many programs have pundits or guests talking with authority about COVID-19 who ARE NOT experts at all. The world doesn’t have a lot of experience dealing with outbreaks of this scale, so some chaos is not surprising.

BUT you need to be aware of current reports so that you can take steps to minimize the spread of COVID-19. Even if you’re not in the high-risk group, odds are you have friends and loved ones who are. ALL of us need to pitch in to ensure that those in the high-risk group avoid infection.