Our Medical Director, Dr. Lawrence Goldyn, would like our patients to know that the likelihood of a large outbreak of Coronavirus in our community is low.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 80% of infections are mild, no more severe than the common cold. So far, there have been 14 confirmed cases in the US and 40 other cases among people from the Diamond Princess cruise who were repatriated to the US. There has been one additional recent case in Northern California, in Solano County.
We should expect the number of cases to rise everywhere. But that does not mean the virus becomes more dangerous. The death rate from the virus is around 2%, close to that of influenza. So since influenza is so much more common, your risk of dying from influenza is much higher than the risk of dying from COVID 19.
Handwashing with soap and water continues to be a top recommendation to protect against the virus, since the abrasiveness of soap helps remove infectious particles from the hands. The use of alcohol based hand sanitizer is also effective.
