Here's some crib notes from that talk - not my work. Its a bit disorganised because i have deleted the dental specific parts that are superfluous.
Please excuse the poor grammar and spelling issues.
Brief notes on the Covid 19 FB live session by Dental Evolution with Prof. Laurie Walsh
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Key point summary
- The Covid 19 has 2 main strains due to viral mutation
o The Iran, Italian, south America strain – appears to be more lethal
o The China strain – appears to be maybe less lethal
- Fundamental structure still the same, so same style of PPE and universal protocol will work well as this virus is relatively easier to disrupt off e.g. detergent or alcohol-based hygiene practices
- The virus primarily transmits via aerosol/droplets hence via direct surface contact once it settles, it is now also known to transmit via feces and poor hand hygiene
- People who has compromised lung function – mainly the ability for the lung to clear debris/pathogen via its lining as well as fight infection are at a much higher risk, hence a much higher death rate in elderly people and smokers.
- Being a RNA virus, the virus works on Angiotensin conversion enzyme 2 receptor, other medications previously developed to fight other RNA virus appears to be working to a certain extent e.g. Hep C, HIV hence death rates appears to be lower in more advanced countries where these drugs are more available.
- Many patients who has contracted Covid19 will start to experience mild diarrhea 2-3 days before the shortness of breath and cough and fever kicks in. If your patient has all these, please avoid them and ask them to be tested
- Pre-procedural mouth rinses – 1% peroxide for 30seconds work well for viral contents
- We only have 2000 ICU unit in Australia, hence the discussion about flattening the curve. If we don’t all get sick at the same time, there will be enough facility to help us all.
- The WHO fatality rate is measured at 3% at the moment.
- Prof Walsh’s prediction is that closure will no doubt occur with in 1-2 weeks, any public places of gathering will be closed
- Closure will be likely 4-6 weeks depending on how well people recover and control the spread of infection
- Cloth mask do NOT work due to lack of filter
- A mask starts to drop in performance after 20min but may work up to 2 hours at which point should be replaced due to it becoming damp both inside and outside rendering it useless
- Wipe down regularly especially door handles and again
- A surface cleaner using neutral detergent+/- disinfectant will work well
- Ozone water – can be used instead of peroxide as a good effective antiviral disinfectant
- Take home message:
o Remember to focus on your world once you are outside your clinic
o Think about what you touch not just at work but also at home
o Wash your hand basically before you do anything
- Vaccine is coming, but don’t hold your breath
It might take about a year for a vaccine to be passed, they're already human testing in the US, if they fully understood covid-19 we wouldn't be in the position we're in now. You can do throats swabs and they come out negative but people can still contain the virus, they've only done small sample testing in China with kids but they've retested with anal swabs and it still shows to be present after a few weeks. So they're not really even sure how long it lasts.
They do know how long it lasts. the virus is shed from 4 days until 36 days. it is spread through respiratory routes for the first 14 days but continues to be shed fecally for the next 12.