Transcript:
Hi I'm Dr. Hamilton-Stubbs. Thank you for joining me today. Today we're going to talk about the new normal in Virginia across the country as we reopen government and our places of businesses houses of worship as a pandemic is still going on. We'll also talk a little bit about the different types of testing and prevention of illness. I want to tell you that tonight at 5:30 we're going to have Dr. Hart, the medical director of the Crater Health Department in Petersburg and it also serves six other districts here to talk about the coronavirus, reopening the government, precautions and testing, in a little bit more detail with a chance for a question and answer the calling number 978-990-5000 and the access code is 887438.
We will also livestream it, at least the audio, from our Facebook page at facebook.com/iamdrphstubbs and that'll be today May 26 at 5:30 p.m.
So right now we're going to talk about our new normal. It would be a while before we get back to life as we knew it prior to the coronavirus and the pandemic. We need to try to stay alive and protect ourselves from this deadly virus and unless the virus mutates into a form that is not as dangerous or if it disappears like its predecessor SARS, we need to do some things to protect ourselves even if there's a vaccine that becomes available or medical treatment. So here is the thing that we need to do. We need to continue wearing our face masks and social distancing. If you have a problem with breathing or you're unable to remove the mask if you become incapacitated or cannot breathe or if you're a young child under two, those are the only groups of people where wearing a mask may not be recommended otherwise we should all have on a mask. The mask is going to protect other people from your infection if you happen to get one more so then you being protected from them. But if both people are wearing a mask you and the person that you're next to you and the people in your surroundings then you'll all be better protected than if only one person is wearing a mask. You also have to take into consideration how long you are in the environment so if you're just passing through a well ventilated area the chances are you getting infected are different than if you are sitting in your place of worship for one hour and you have people around you who are infected but may not know it. As we talk we are spreading the virus in the air. If we happen to have it and when we talked louder you spread more virus. Singing is not recommended at this time in our churches. Singing disperses the virus in greater numbers and for a farther distance so there will be some limitations on how we can worship and if you are in the church you need to have better ventilation. Closed rooms are not recommended so open up the windows if you're going to be in a church or any building that has been closed for an extended period of time before you turn on your air conditioning unit or start drinking water from your water fountains. These things may need to be checked according to the CDC's website if the building has been sitting for a while week or more depending on the level of humidity you may need to have a professional come out and check the building for mold and if mold is detected that has to be eradicated before it's safe for people to come back into the building. If you have water fountains and the water has been in the fountain stagnant, this is a risk factor for Legionnaires' disease, as well as water in any kind of air conditioning unit. And there are some water management programs that are available that you can designate someone in your home or at your church or your place of worship to go to this training or you hire a professional person to make sure that you don't spread Legionnaires' disease the virus that causes Legionnaires' disease, when you turn on the AC.
If you have the symptoms of COVID-19 and they usually develop anywhere from two to five days after exposure then you want to be tested. This is what you should look for if you have and we'll just go from head to toe that's how I like to remember symptoms of diseases especially syndromes so starting at the head confusion. If you have problems with smell, you can't smell suddenly, or you have a dry cough that's persistent chest, pain difficulty breathing, GI symptoms, a fatigue that is not explained, these are all symptoms of the coronavirus or COVID, blueish lips. So check those symptoms out and make sure you know what those symptoms are. When you are at risk, when you feel that you have been infected, you should get tested. You still have to talk with your doctor to get a doctor to get approval to have the test because we still don't have enough tests for everyone in Virginia, although that is rapidly changing. When you try to get tested if you go to the Health Department you should be able to get tested without cost to you. If you are denied testing and told just to go home, if you have risk factors for severe disease, be sure to share that. Chronic disease, if you are over 65, if you are being exposed to someone who has those diseases or obese. Now obesity is a very simple a very sensitive subject because we don't like that term, but if you are more than a few pounds above your ideal body weight, have liver disease, diabetes these are things that put you at increased risk and you need extra precautions and you should be tested if you have these symptoms.
So as the government reopens remember that we still have to do things to prevent ourselves from becoming infected with the coronavirus we don't know where this virus is an invisible killer so you must act accordingly if you have a problem with a thief in your neighborhood you wouldn't sleep with your doors unlocked. You wouldn't leave your valuables in the car so we know that we have a virus that is killing our loved ones and making us very ill. It's robbing us of our health you don't get sick and just wake up the next day and you feel okay. If you get infected you could have a long retracted recovery period so just like you protect your valuables from a thief, you have to protect your health from a thief called coronavirus and this means wear your mask unless it's indicated that you shouldn't wear a mask and those are people who are unconscious, children under two, if you have difficulty breathing with your mask. Now that's not just the normal difficulty of being unfamiliar with having a mask on your face but if you have difficulty breathing try adjusting your mass try getting a different type of mask or if you're making the mask try making it a little bit larger to see if you can't get that extra protection that our mask offers. Wash your hands frequently and you should do your 20 seconds of washing your hands and that's equivalent to singing the Happy Birthday song twice. You don't need to go out and buy a special antibacterial soap you just need a soap that will make a nice lather and be sure to wash your hands on the running water and lather them well if you don't have access to soap use a hand sanitizer that's at least 60% alcohol you want to make sure that you're getting in between your fingers and you want to make sure you're cleaning your fingernails. If you're out and you're in an area where you could be exposed to the coronavirus you have to cover your eyes and that is with the shield or goggles or if you wear glasses this may offer some protection. When you go to the grocery store you have to be conscious that the virus can linger in the air and settle. And it could settle in your hair or your clothes on the floor and then walk when you walk it would be on your shoes. So what I like to do is I changed my clothes and I do my shopping at a time where it's not inconvenient for me to jump in the shower and washing my hair. I leave my shoes outside and when I come inside my office I leave my shoes and it's a plastic tub that has just a little bit of water with a bleach solution where I drop those shoes so that I can try to decrease the viral load.
I hope this has been helpful information to you join me tonight at 5:30 when we'll have Dr. Hart and Senator McClellan talk with us more about protecting ourselves in more detail. The calling number is 978-990-5000. The access code is 887438. Or you can try logging in on our Facebook page facebook.com/iamdrphstubbs at 5:30. I hope to see you bring your questions we'll take them through our chat box.