Q&A:
1. SARS-CoV2 (virus) causes CoVID19 (disease) – the SARS-CoV2 is an RNA+ virus coated with one layer of protein shell.
2. Viruses can’t survive outside of their hosts for long (5-15 min), although some reports say SARS-CoV2 can survive longer than 30 min to 3 days, depending on where they land – no evidence for such long-living viruses being infectious.
3. Viruses, in general, survive better in a cold and wet environment, therefore, winter is a high season for all kinds of viral infections.
4. RNA viruses are unstable, they mutate like crazy – we have evidence for this because CDC has sequenced all the viral isolates from U.S. patients so far. This could be good as they could be less deadly after several generations of replication – it is expected that the strains spreading in the U.S. and China now are already different from the ones killed thousands of Wuhan ppl.
5. What kills virus: high temp, 70% alcohol, soap, acidic and basic detergent, … whatever denatures the protein and RNA.
6. Life cycle of SARS-CoV2 – enters host cells via the Spike, a protein on the shell, attaching to the ACE2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, a normal human membrane protein hijacked by the virus J. Then the virus replicates – makes more shell proteins and more RNAs - followed by assembly of RNA+Protein shell, and new viral particles burst out of the cells.
7, Children are not super spreaders – evidence-based statement. We have not found transmission from young children to adults. My guess is that virus may not be able to complete a life cycle in children’s body, for the reasons unknown so far – I have speculations, but no research evidence J.
8. Children can be carriers – they can carry the virus in very low doses, which means that they are unlikely to bring home a large number of live particles to give to your elderly – see below for precautions.
9. Can dishes cleaned to be free of the virus by dishwasher – absolutely.
10. Why you don’t support testing everyone - because the qRT-PCR based protocol (developed by a German company, Qiagen, my lab uses this kit as well) is lengthy and technically challenging for even highly skillful technicians. Most importantly, ppl have to have high enough viral particles to give positive results. This would mean most people at the asymptomatic stage, even when they have come to direct contact with infected people, will be tested as negative. Therefore, it’s costly and unreliable for negative results so far. However, the antibody-based testing kit is being developed and hopefully, we should have that available soon for a larger population. That is why I emphasized many times before that we all need to keep our distance from each and every one of our daily encounters!!!
11. Can virus enter my body via my skin other than nose and eye – no, unless your skin is broken.
12. What is the difference between carriers and super spreaders:
Carriers – everyone and everything – including pollen, polluted air particles, it’s more than we know, but they don’t usually get many infected, because the viral load is usually not high enough – see below for hygiene practice.
Super spreaders – people who are infected and a virus can replicate and burst out of their bodies, but themselves have no alarming symptoms - this is extremely rare, particularly when we raise our public awareness at this high level.
Infected people – ppl show symptoms and most likely infectious to us.
13. What should we do to protect ourselves – each of us has a different lifestyle, some calmer than others. Personally, I do the following more vigilantly than usual:
a. get plenty sleep – best way to boost your immunity;
b. keep your social distance farther than usual – 6 feet;
c. drink a lot and pee a lot, except for the 2 hours before bed;
d. wash hands with soap as often as possible;
e. shower and change clothes daily before bed;
f. get out when it’s possible – the UV in daylight is the best natural viral killer.
14. Wish us all luck!
