New Coronavirus Preparation Tips For MD Families

MARYLAND — The Centers for Disease Control has shared tips for Maryland residents to lessen the chance that they contract the new coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, or spread it to their family members. A top Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official warned Tuesday that it is only a matter of time before the respiratory disease spreads to communities across the United States.

Two people have tested negative for the new coronavirus in Maryland, state health officials said on Feb. 26. So far, no cases have been confirmed in Maryland, but Harford County leaders have dusted off 2006 plans for coping with a pandemic — for instance how would trash be picked up from streets if multiple municipal workers are out sick.

While there is no treatment or vaccine for coronavirus at the moment, health officials advise taking precautions to stay safe from respiratory viruses in general, including the coronavirus if it reaches the state.

Tips To Keep Coronavirus From Spreading:

• Stay home except to get medical care. Do not go to work, school, or public areas. Avoid using public transportation, ride-sharing, or taxis.
• Separate yourself from other people and animals in your home. As much as possible, you should stay in a specific room and away from other people in your home. Also, you should use a separate bathroom, if available. Avoid contact with your pet. Wash your hands before and after you interact with pets and wear a facemask.
• Call ahead before visiting your doctor. This will help the healthcare provider's office take steps to keep other people from getting infected or exposed.
• Wear a facemask when you are around other people (e.g., sharing a room or vehicle) or pets and before you enter a healthcare provider's office.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw used tissues in a lined trash can; immediately wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains 60 to 95 percent alcohol. Soap and water should be used if hands are visibly dirty.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains 60 to 95% alcohol, covering all surfaces of your hands and rubbing them together until they feel dry. Soap and water should be used preferentially if hands are visibly dirty. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Do not share dishes, drinking glasses, cups, eating utensils, towels, or bedding with others in your home. After using these items, they should be washed thoroughly with soap and water.
• Clean all "high-touch" surfaces every day, such as counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables. Use a household cleaning spray or wipe.

Related: Coronavirus: Bel Air Begins Planning For Pandemic

Bel Air officials are working on a contingency plan in case the illness makes its way to the area, so services from police response to trash pickup are not disrupted. On two occasions before, Harford County had plans in place for potential pandemics — mad cow disease and SARS — said Town Administrator Jesse Bane.

"There was a plan in place at that time in Harford County to deal with what we were going to do if we found cows affected with the disease, and then there was SARS, believed to be pandemic but it never really panned out to be as bad as they thought it was going to be," Bane said. "This will be the third time since we've started to prepare for these things in Harford County."

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, told reporters in a conference call the question is no longer if the coronavirus, now officially called COVID-19, will spread across the United States but when that will happen.

Communities, schools and businesses in Maryland and elsewhere should begin preparing now for “the expectation that this could be bad,” Messonnier said.

Related:

• Maryland Coronavirus Test Is Negative: State Health Official
• Coronavirus Alert: What MD Health-Care Workers Need To Know
• Airline Flags Passenger At BWI For Possible Coronavirus Exposure
• Maryland Governor Says State Is Preparing For Coronavirus

“I understand this whole situation may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe. But these are things that people need to start thinking about now,” Messonier said. “You should think about what you would do for child care if schools or day cares closed.”

Related: Easy Ways To Avoid Getting Sick This Season

Globally, at least 80,000 people have been infected and 2,700 people have died from the new coronavirus, creating a global pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. It is spreading so quickly overseas that infectious disease experts and scientists warn there may be no way to contain it.

The CDC said Monday that 53 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the United States. Three dozen of the patients are among passengers repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined for weeks off the coast of Japan; three patients were infected in Wuhan, China, the center of the outbreak, and the others contracted the virus while traveling abroad.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a news conference Monday the “sudden increase in new cases” outside of China is “deeply concerning.”

Flu Versus The New Coronavirus

The symptoms of the new coronavirus are similar to seasonal influenza, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Both are infectious respiratory illnesses, but they’re caused by different viruses.

Both cause fever, cough, body aches and fatigue, and can result in pneumonia. Both illnesses can sometimes cause vomiting and diarrhea. Both can be spread from person to person by sneezing, coughing or talking.

Common good-health practices such as frequent hand-washing, covering coughs and staying home from work or school during the course of the illness can help control the spread of both illnesses.

Neither responds to antibiotic treatment, but both may be treated by addressing symptoms, such as reducing fever. Both illnesses can be severe enough to require hospitalization.

But there are some distinct differences between the two:

Flu is caused by several different types of viruses, while COVID-19 is caused by the new coronavirus, which is also called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2.

Johns Hopkins says there is some evidence COVID-19 could be airborne, “meaning that tiny droplets remaining in the air could cause disease in others even after the ill person is no longer near.”

There is no vaccine to protect against the new coronavirus, as there is against influenza. Scientists around the world are racing to find a vaccine for the new coronavirus, although none currently exists.

A company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has shipped vials of its novel coronavirus vaccine to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease for further research.