From December 2019 till present, COVID-19 has been confirmed in hundreds of thousands of people with millions who are not yet discovered or confirmed especially in Developing part of the World. Millions of people have lost their jobs, economy is crashing and robbery is becoming the order of the day in developing countries because government policy is failing people.
At the same time, scientists and health workers are often adjusting policies as new research reveals more about the virus and its symptoms than we knew few weeks ago. These confusing updates are happening at a pace we all cannot explain.
This article is written to focus on the new updates on the virus which has radically altered our way of life to the point that no hope for returning to normalcy any time soon-
SHOULD I WEAR FACE MASK FOR COVID-19? CDC SAID NO, THEN YES
Earlier, because of concern that we might run out of resources and eventually not allow health workers who are frontiers get PPE to work, CDC recommended that face mask should only be worn by those who are sick or caring for COVID-19 patients.
Now, the CDC recommends people wear homemade or cloth masks in public because a lot of people are already infected but not showing symptom(s) hence they can infect healthy people.
The agency says the mask should fit snugly against the face, be secured with ties or ear loops, include multiple layers of fabric and be laundered (washed and ironed) after every use.
REPORT OF NEW SYMPTOMS
World Health Organization (W.H.O.) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first told us to watch out for 3 symptoms: dry cough, fever and difficulty in breathing.
Today, many other symptoms have been found related to COVID-19:
In Germany, two-third of the patients have anosmia (loss of ability to smell).
In South Korea, one-third of the patients have anosmia.
Another more recent symptom accumulating more anecdotal evidence has been informally called COVID toes. In COVID toes, there is presence of purple or blue lesions/ rashes on a patient’s feet and toes, most commonly appearing in children and young adults.
To read about how COVID-19 affects brain, click on this link- https://www.healthgist.net/stay-alert-how-covid-19-affects-human-brain/
Other symptoms that has been found associated with COVID-19 are: cough with sputum production, headache, haemoptysis (coughing out of blood-stained mucus), diarrhoea, and lymphopenia (reduced white blood cell count).
FINAL NOTE
Relate with everyone as if they are suspected case of COVID-19 by maintaining social distancing and wearing your homemade face mask.
Make sure you have more than one face mask and launder used one on daily basis.
Hand hygiene and hand hygiene…
We shall continue to update this article as more become unfolded about this novel corona-virus.
Dr. Adeyemo Olusola is a medical graduate of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, Nigeria along with certificate in advanced diploma in Principles of Nutrition, Management and Leadership, Dublin and Certificate in Global Health from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In addition to his numerous certifications, he is a certified Telemedicine Physician from Harvard Medical School, USA. He is an avid reader of books from different oases of life, expert in Medical Statistics and an award winner at both local and international level. “So many a time, I have seen people die avoidable death because of lack of knowledge or information, falling victim of fate. There is then a necessity laid on us to help arm our society to the teeth, as a healthy society cannot be detached from an informed one. Hence, there is need for healthgist.net. We hope you will have a wonderful stay on our website.”
