10 WAYS TO AVOID COVID
People ask me all the time how they can keep themselves and their families safe from COVID. I am not a medical doctor, but here is what I do to stay safe—and what I ask my mother to do.
Stay indoors with a select group or go outside socially distanced. Do not have people coming to the home who have not been tested and have been circulating socially. Contact with health aides, a repairman, a deliveryman, a friend of a friend, all require caution. Contact with a young person also requires caution. No matter how many times I’ve said it, young people still put themselves in harm’s way.
You do not have to have a fever to have COVID. If you feel any symptoms, especially respiratory, get tested. The older you are, the sooner you should be tested.
Before you go for a test, find out how long the testing site will take to turn around the results. Three days is the ideal turnaround time. More and more testing sites use national laboratories to process the results. A nine-day turnaround to get results is problematic. In New York, in-state labs can turn around a test in three days.
Temperature checks are only somewhat helpful. People stress temperature checks because they’re the only prophylactic we have right now, but asymptomatic spread is very real. And people who show no symptoms are very capable of spreading the virus. Don’t take false comfort.
The experts first told us that the virus could remain viable on surfaces for up to forty-eight hours. This caused us to clean subways, buses, and my entire house. Experts now say that surface transmission is rare. I am still dubious. I have seen the so-called experts go back and forth on too many basic issues. Cleanliness is important, but not to the point of obsession. And cleaning surfaces is helpful during flu season regardless.
Hand sanitizer is important. As the state of New York is now a manufacturer of hand sanitizer, I feel that I have some level of expertise. While the marketing agencies have done a great job creating the perception that hand sanitizer is a sophisticated product, it really isn’t. Hand sanitizer is alcohol. The CDC says it must be at least 70 percent alcohol to be effective. Alcohol is available and much less expensive than hand sanitizer, although it does tend to dry out your skin. For people who are concerned about such things, that’s why we have hand lotion.
Ventilation systems make a difference. While people don’t normally pay much attention to air filters, they should now. HEPA filters are the best for equipment that can handle ventilation. After that, a MERV 15 filter is best and a MERV 13 filter is acceptable. Consider using them in your home and office.
Congregate settings are a real issue, especially for people who are in the vulnerable category. The “super-spreader” phenomenon has not gone away. One person in a public setting can infect dozens. Remember, an individual can be asymptomatic and not even know they have the virus. In a closed environment, such as a home or a car, opening windows and allowing circulation is helpful. Always exercise caution when inside with others.
If you feel symptomatic, isolate yourself and get a test. Testing doesn’t hurt and it doesn’t cost anything. Just make sure it’s a site with a short turnaround. If you test positive, it is no fun calling all the people you have encountered over the past ten days and telling them they have to get a test because you may have infected them, but it is what must be done. Protect yourself and protect others.
Wearing a mask is common sense for everyone. Surgical masks are inexpensive and the burden is minimal. For people in the most vulnerable category, I have additional advice, and this is controversial, but it is my informed position. I advise my mother to wear an N95 mask when she leaves the house. I believe from all I have seen that a mask not only stops a person from spreading the virus but can be beneficial to prevent a person from inhaling the virus. It is true that a mask is most effective at stopping the spread from the person wearing the mask, but a mask can also protect a person from contracting the disease. Essential workers, including those in emergency rooms, have had a lower infection rate than the general population. That is a fact, and most experts will also agree that a mask protects a person from inhaling the virus, to an extent. This is not to say it is foolproof, as the mask has to be worn correctly and fitted around the nose and cheeks. Health-care professionals do not recommend that the general public use N95 masks because they think it is overkill and they think the N95 mask supply should be safeguarded for health-care professionals. I understand their point of view. However, we don’t currently have a shortage of N95 masks, and I am suggesting that vulnerable people consider using them. I make sure my mother has them. Now, what she does with them is a different story. I am only her son, and in our house “mother knows best.”
Declaring “New York State on PAUSE,” with secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa, budget director Robert Mujica, and president of SUNY Empire State College Dr. Jim Malatras, on March 20, 2020.
Kansas farmer Dennis Ruhnke wrote to Governor Cuomo saying he had five N95 masks. His wife had only one lung, so he was keeping four masks, but he sent one for a New Yorker, along with a handwritten letter.
Delivering a press briefing commending members of the National Guard, March 27, 2020, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
