How Windsorites can prepare for the Coronavirus

 

With Ontario investigating its first three cases of the novel coronavirus outbreak, this may raise concern for residents of Windsor and health officials in the city are keeping residents informed.

“A coronavirus is a group of viruses that are named after their appearance. There are a number of coronaviruses that are out there. There are only a few that are of interest to us from a disease perspective,” said Dr.Wajid Ahmed, a medical officer at the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.

Ahmed said the coronaviruses that are most relevant to Windsor at the moment are the SARS virus, MERS, and the usual coronavirus which is like a mild cold that many people get all the time. However, this version of the virus, called 2019-nCoV, is different.

“It’s different in terms of the disease it caused, in terms of infectivity and its fatality,” said Ahmed.

Now 17 years since the deadly SARS virus, hospitals across Canada will show what they learned from that experience. 

Steve Erwin, manager of government and community relations at Windsor Regional Hospital, said there was a lot to learn from SARS.

“Hospitals across the system learned a lot from the SARS experience in terms of preparedness, like how we alert the community and how we work with health care partners,” said Erwin.

Erwin said the SARS experience, though deadly, helped change the system to be more prepared for the present outbreak of coronavirus.

“The silver lining in that issue when it developed was that it led to a lot of conversations about what healthcare practitioners can do better,” said Erwin. “So what we’re seeing now is kind of the fruit of that. Researchers are working on potential vaccines and advice to the community.” said Erwin.

The appropriate precautions to protect oneself include coughing and sneezing into your sleeve, washing your hands as much as possible and avoiding contact with people who are sick.

The latest updates from the World Health Organization have confirmed approximately 7,800 global cases of the new virus. The majority have been diagnosed in Wuhan, China, where the disease was first identified. A travel warning for China has also been issued by the U.S. State Department.