Covid-19 has impacted billions of lives in the past few months, and it is less likely that it is going to disappear any time soon. So, let us know what it really is, and how we can avoid its infection.
Believe it or not, coronavirus has been there since long time. It is a common virus, which usually causes common flu, or cold. It is likely that you and I had coronavirus a lot of time. But there are other types of coronavirus, which causes a much serious illness like MERS, or SARS, that have a very high mortality rate.
The disease that SARS coronavirus causes has been named as Covid-19 or novel coronavirus.
The main source of Covid-19 seems to be from droplet infection, where an infected person spreads the virus through cough or sneeze, and touching inanimate objects.
Once infected, the virus mainly starts its infection in the intestines, lungs, or the spleens, where it can have the most effect. Even a few Covid-19 into the body, can have a severe effect. Once into the system, Covid-19 starts mutating into more cells, until it completely spread itself. While it doesn’t cause much harm during this process, what it does after this is a real beast.
Once you are infected, the immune system starts kicking in. What Covid-19 does is infect some of the immune cells itself. This creates confusion between the healthy immune cells, identifying the damaged cells, causing the whole system into become fighting frenzy. As a result, there are more immune cells deployed to fight against this chaos, thereby causing more damage than good. As a result of this, the healthy cells get damaged and the organs become weak.
For many of the cases, the immune power of the patient helps overcome Covid-19 eventually, but for severe cases, the weak organ results in bacterial attacks, causing pneumonia, or heart failure. Without proper ventilation and treatment, it is more likely that the patient is likely to survive.
It is much more contagious and spreads faster than a normal flu. It has been issued as pandemic and not epidemic, because epidemic can be contained, and pandemic can’t be contained. It can only be mitigated.
So, the question is how to mitigate this problem? While there are no 100% solution to this issue, but steps can be taken to prevent its spread.
If we react to this in the early days of the outbreak, the spread can be slowed down and eventually stopped at some point. But if we don’t react to it now and let it spread, from 1 person to 10, from 10 to 1000, and from 1000 to millions will be infected in a rapid speed. It will cause millions of infections and thousands of deaths within a few days.
The reason why we should avoid a fast spread is because we don’t have any countermeasures to slow this down. As many people getting sick at the same time, it would be difficult to provide proper treatment for all. Priority basis facilities would be implemented, and many would die untreated. In order to prevent that spread from fast to slow, we need to react in the early stages.
Since there are no cure developed yet, we need to socially formulate strategies to break the chain of spread. It includes extreme measures like social isolation, to some good practices like washing hands frequently and maintaining a proper hygiene.
There are some good to do things during this time like:
Wash your hands with soap: In many medias, much importance is put on washing your hands on a regular interval. Scientifically, washing your hands with soap has a connotation. Covid-19 is encased in a layer of fat, soap helps in breaking that fat and washing the virus off your hands.
Social Isolation: Take it like this way, a virus can’t survive without a host. If someone is infected with Covid-19, and keeps him/her-self from getting in contact with other person, it cannot effect anyone and shall be contained after some time. But if the person is infected, and are in contact with other person, he/she will not only spread the virus to the other person, but all other person who are in contact with those person. This is the chain which needs to be broken through social isolation. You need to prevent yourself from getting infected and prevent its spread.
Wear a mask if you are outside: While outside, it is difficult to know who are infected and who are not. In a country like ours, flu is most common. People might be unaware if they are infected. It is best to wear a mask while outside your home. On the other hand, if you have a cold or if you have symptoms of Covid-19, wear a mask and prevents spreading the virus.
Know the signs of Covid-19: Few of the signs includes fever, runny nose, dry cough, shortness of breath, tiredness, soar throat and body aches. Symptoms of Covid-19 may appear 2 to 14 days of infection.
Avoid travelling: Times like this, it is advisable not to travel abroad, or even restrict inter-city travels. If it is necessary, take travel advisory and maintain personal hygiene.
Avoid social gathering: It is best to avoid social gathering as it might be unclear who have been infected with Covid-19.
Knowledge sharing: For an educated fellow, it is easy to follow the news and know the protocols. But for few, assessing and reacting to the current situation is very difficult. Especially to the ones who earn their living daily. People like us have the ability to teach them what the current situation really is and how to tackle them.
Some other good to do practices are:
- Avoid touching your face
- Use hand sanitizers
- Do not share your food or your stuffs
- Avoiding panic
- Follow respiratory etiquette
- Use broadcasting channels for meetings
- Maintain proper hygiene
These are just few good to do practices, which can help prevent Covid-19. As you are aware there are no firm cure to this virus, it is our responsibility to help flatten the spread. Together, you and I can stop the spread, and get over this pandemic.
parijanam 