How to prevent the infection of Coronavirus Disease 2019( Covid 19)
CONTENT
1. Why Covid 19 is hard to prevent?
2. How to choose mask and when to use?
3. When to use disinfectant and how to choose?
4. To keep Covid 19 out home
5. How to choose disinfectant?
6. risk of transmission through restaurant
7. risk of transmission through freight company
8. risk in pharmacy department of hospital
9. risky property of the Covid 19
1. Why Covid 19 is hard to prevent?
As an analog of SARS, the first impression of Coronavirus Disease 2019( Covid 19) is a disease causing atypical pneumonia, symptoms like fever higher than 38 degree C, respiratory symptoms, transmission via droplet infection… etc. However, unlike SARS, the disease may exhibits no fever and even no respiratory symptoms and transmit by the way other than droplet infection. Partially because the disease is contagious when symptoms still not emerge.
2. How to choose mask and when to use?
It might easier to prevent droplet infection of Covid 19 only by wearing mask; however, there are many level of mask, not any masks look alike have the same effect. In Taiwan, only CNS14774 medicinal mask for surgery or above can prevent the disease transmitted via droplet infection. List below are some standard in different countries:
When should we wear mask? In hospital, crowd or confined space ( open windows to prevent ). If you feel uncomfortable, you should wear mask even at home, and eat alone without your family, using disposable tableware to prevent transmission through saliva( mouth water)。In Taiwan, restaurant in hospital have banned dining in the hospital, if it does, disposable tableware must be used to do so.
3. When to use disinfectant and how to choose?
However, even if you wear mask, droplet attack your eye, or droplet touched by your hand can transmit Covid 19 via touching of your hand to your eye, nose or mouth. As a result, it’s important that when you outside, you should not touch things if there is no necessary to do so. Things like faucet, button of elevator … etc. are proved to be positive in virus test in some place. In a German study[3], refer from previous coronary virus, coronary virus may stay alive 9 days (on plastic surface, an extreme example.) In Taiwan, the place where patient 32[1] used to be were under disinfection, including button of elevator… etc.
Once airport can’t reveal patient by measuring body temperature via infrared, it means that patients without symptom may import without notice by the government. Those patients may potentiate the transmission by leaving their droplet on some where like faucet, button of elevator…etc.
4. To keep Covid 19 out home
Whatever, if you go out today and actually contact with the virus, once you wear mask conforming with international standard, do not touch things unnecessarily, touch your eye, nose or mouth… etc. You needn’t be afraid of being transmitted even if you really run into the virus. The final test is don’t bring virus home!
Like McDonald’s or KFC, install a automatic touchless hand-wash sterilizator behind the gate of your home is a good method. Family members back home must soap wash their hands first, than sterilize their hands after tissue-dry their hands before touching other thing in your home. By doing so, even if family member bring virus on their hands, virus can’t enter your home. The sterilization must be enforced strictly, because even one member do not obey, he or she might bring virus to faucet, light switch, doorknob, tableware…etc, and your home is occupied by the virus.
Because faucet is proved to be positive in virus test in some place. A better way is:
1.Wash hands and faucet with soap together right after arrival at your home.
2.Tissue-dry hands and faucet.
3.Sterilize your hands and faucet with 75% alcohol at least 30 seconds.
4.Above must be enforced strictly, because even one member do not obey, he or she might bring virus to faucet, light switch, doorknob, tableware…etc, and your home is occupied by the virus.
Mathematical Induction、MI、ID:
1.START(The initial or base case):The faucet is clean.
2.CONTINUATION(The induction step, inductive step, or step case):I sterilize faucet after using it.
The result is the faucet will clean forever.
Do not touch eye, nose or mouth without finishing the steps above, even if you do touch eye, nose or mouth with finishing the steps above, you hand better do it with tissus.
Wear mask when go out, keep one meter to each other to prevent droplet.
5. How to choose disinfectant?
According to a German study[3], not all disinfectants are equally effective. Many disinfectants we used before are effective to bacteria, but not the virus we are fighting today. The disinfectants study suggests are listed below. You can put them in the automatic touchless hand-wash sterilizator behind the gate of your home.
- 62% ~71% alcohol[3](this is the data from previous coronary virus, today the most used one is 75% alc. )、
- 0.5% Hydrogen peroxide[3]
- 0.1% bleach( sodium hypochlorite)[3]
for one minute.[3]
disinfectant like alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride(BZK，BKC，BAC，ADBAC) and Chlorhexidine(, also known as chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG)) are not effective[3], because they often used in bacteria but not coronary virus.
Methods listed above only can prevent yourself from virus, but it can’t prevent others to encounter virus, unless they remember the methods above. As a result, prevention of Covid 19 is not only the matter of you, it is the matter of the human beings and all restaurants. McDonald and KFC are good models.
6. risk of transmission through restaurant
In South Korea and China, restaurants in the seriously infected areas are forced to close. In Taiwan, restaurants in hospital have banned eating in the hospital. Eating out also have some risk. If workers receive patients’ payment, because there might be virus on the money, he might bring virus to food or drink he processed after touching money. Saliva on the tableware without properly cleared might be the way of virus transmission.
A method is the worker receiving money and workers processing food are different persons. The worker receiving money wearing plastic gloves, alcoholic disinfection after receiving money every time is a method. Use of disposable tableware is also an important method.
7. risk of transmission through freight company
Another possible transmission route is food freight company like Uber eat or food panda[4]. Some freight company in Taiwan supplying their workers with 75% alcohol to disinfect after each time of cargo delivering is a good model. I think Uber eat or food panda should learn this practice.
8. risk in pharmacy department of hospital
There are two source that pharmacist in pharmacy department of hospital may encounter Covid 19. One is the drug car transporting drugs between pharmacy department and wards; the other is the pharmacist delivering medicines to patients.
If the drug car go to the ward with Covid 19 patients, nurse take caring patients might bring virus to the surface of the drug car. Previous study reveal that coronary virus can still alive on plastic surface up to 9 days[3]. When drug car go back to the pharmacist department, pharmacist setting the drug car might bring virus to dispensing table. As a result, pharmacists must disinfect their hands after finishing the work of drug car with 75% alcohol.
Pharmacists delivering medicine to patients must check his or her prescription before delivering the dispensed medicine to him or she. If he or she is a Covid 19 patient, the pharmacist might contact with virus during his or her working. As a result, Pharmacists delivering medicine to patients must disinfect their hands after medicine-delivering with 75% alcohol every time when he or she leave his or her place and back to the dispensing table.
Without doing two things above, virus might be bring to scissors, utility knife, book sewer, stamp for dispensing, medicine pot, handle of refrigerator, faucet, …etc. It will not good to pharmacists in the department and might also harmful to patients.
9. risky property of the Covid 19
One of the risky property of Covid 19 is that even the patient is cured, his or her lung will fibrosis, an irreversible harm will last for the rest of patients’ life. Lung is an organ we often suffered from problem when we aged. Hope one day the medicine can be discovered other than symptomatic and supportive treatments to cure the disease before irreversible fibrosis to occur. Medicines such as Remdesivir could do so, if it finally proved effective and safe in long-term usage.
author: a pharmacist
refer:
[3]Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents
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Published Online: February 06, 2020
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/breakingnews/3070265
[1] https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/breakingnews/3082156
[2]https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/breakingnews/3084490
[4] https://www.ettoday.net/news/20200131/1635322.htm#ixzz6FPs4LImm
