Coronavirus Questions answered: New Self-Swab Tests, Visiting Elderly Relatives | NBC News NOW

We are receiving tons of

questions

from viewers about the corona virus pandemic. We are trying to answer as many as possible here to help me do that, dr. Anand Parekh is the former deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. He has experience with bird flu. The swine flu. Ebola outbreaks. Doctor. Thank you very much for being here with us. We'd love to answer some

questions

from viewers, but the first president was Trump. Speaking earlier about the possibility of a new testing process, I would like to say that we are working with several groups to determine whether

self

-

swab

bing is a much easier process than the current process and it is not very pleasant to do, I can tell you that because Did?

The president goes on to say that the

swab

process is not that pleasant. What do you think about this talk about new

tests

, potentially a

self

-swab? Well, I think it's interesting. I think we need to look at where the research is and what the current evidence is. it's not always pleasant, you really hate his neza friend, the drill, so something that goes up your nose to the back of your throat to try to extract the droplets, the particles and the corona virus in there, so I think the self swab is interesting. I think we have a lot of other issues that are more important at this point in terms of testing and obtaining test kits, reducing the processing time and ensuring that there is communication in terms of where to get the

tests

as we move forward, if we reach a point at which it is a simpler test that people can perform on their own.

I think it's great, but there are a lot of elements here when it comes to testing. There has been a lot of talk about how the government has done in handling the corona virus and I haven't. I want to get political attention, but I would just like to know your opinion, do you think the government has done an adequate job in dealing with the corona virus? If not, what are some things you would like to see happen? Well, I think it's been a tale of two responses. I think the first response was not the White House's bet on containment and unfortunately that didn't work and we lost about a month, a critical month.

I think this in recent weeks has been seen particularly as cases that it spread from China to Europe, the White House really takes this much more seriously, that this is a pandemic virus and that mitigation is going to be absolutely critical. , so I think the measures that you've seen, particularly in the last few weeks, the public communication, the focus on testing the focus on social distancing is absolutely critical. I think that from now on there has to be a focus and you heard it today with the invocation of the defense production law on the increase in critical medical materials, as well as PPE and personnel. protective equipment for healthcare workers who are going to be on the front lines of this surge that we expect to see in the next week, so getting that stuff out very quickly is going to be really, really important and so all of these things that testing Social distancing and surge preparation are really the three areas of focus in moving forward on that social distancing note.

We're here in New York, a city that is currently considering whether to implement a stay-at-home order. What you make of those orders that we're seeing in some parts of the country is that a good idea is that it's an effective method of defending New York City right now. I think Bay County officials a couple of days ago did the right thing, you know? sheltering in place doesn't mean martial law, all it really is is alerting the American public or residents there that non-essential movement needs to be limited, non-essential travel certainly exempts critical infrastructure, first responders, you know, pharmacies, healthcare settings, grocery stores. and businesses like that, but we absolutely need to spread the message of staying home.

I think what we all want is to not see anywhere in the United States a situation that we are seeing right now in northern Italy, what we saw in Wuhan and if you look across the United States right now, what Are they one or two places that concern us the most? Well, I think it's the Bay Area and I think it's New York City, so I definitely think that New York City and the jurisdictions in that area can be called either a shelter in place, whether it's a modified quarantine, whether it's with the National Guard or not, that's what we're absolutely concerned about and I would do social distancing, that's it, in addition to deploying our critical medical supplies. how we can bend the curve right now, so anything we can do to spread the message of staying home and social distancing, we should do it, yeah, and just look anecdotally, living here in New York, working in New York.

York, you can see that some people maybe just don't realize how serious the situation is today. I was surprised at how many people were still outside. We've heard stories of Central Park full of people exercising, people in my building talking about doing a group workout together, I think. A lot of those things don't exactly fall into this social distancing that you're talking about that is so essential. I think you're absolutely right. I think the message I would have for the American public is: stay home, you know, do the right thing. What we are so lucky in this country is that we have freedoms, but with freedom comes responsibility and we must exercise these freedoms and with discretion, and I think that right now what we have is social distancing, so I think that message should to be heard. loud and clear and that's not just for those most at risk, it's really for all Americans because we can all transmit the virus and in many cases we are unfortunately asymptomatic, that makes us even more important.

Okay, I have a pretty long list. One of the viewer questions here is that okay, we tried to mark some of them, give some people some answers, I'm happy to do that, very good, thank you very much, one of our viewers asks if it's safe to walk outside with my 87 anus. Older mom, she lives alone, is she okay, as long as we walk with a proper distance between us? I think it's perfectly fine, you definitely want to know how

relatives

and family members are doing, and I think in this particular case, as long as you're employing. six feet social distancing on that, that's really the measure that we use.

I think that's perfectly fine, we want to make sure that social distancing equals social isolation, so again let's check on

relatives

like that, going for walks, you know, very, very small groups. like that six foot distance, I think that's perfectly fine, what about doctor appointments? I got a call from my dermatologist this morning saying my appointment in two weeks was canceled. He thrilled me that people rescheduled routine doctor appointments or dental work even well, I think. any electives that you really want to postpone, of course, you know that healthcare facilities will be open, so I think in terms of critical needs, that's where you want to go, I would always say call first to understand the triage situation and understand what can be done. do by phone what you can do via telehealth now that there are new provisions, so I think that's all that's important.

I'll add just one more point to your question about seniors, it's very, very important, especially for all Americans. but particularly for older people, you know, they need to stay home, you know, again. I think if it's a short walk again, you know, with a relative, someone who has a household contact over six feet. I think that's fine, but I think we need to be very careful, I want to make sure we send the right message that the first thing we need to do here is try to stay home and stay healthy, okay, let's talk about the underlying conditions, the lung conditions, We know that people who have Those are particularly susceptible, but what about smokers or people who used to smoke but no longer do?

They are at higher risk and if they were particularly concerned, we are learning more and more so we don't have definitive answers. but, absolutely, people who are long-term smokers who might have a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease called COPD will probably be at higher risk, so in the high-risk category, anyone with a serious chronic condition, a heart condition. lung condition kidney condition any immunocompromised person those are the individuals when you look at the data in terms of who is being hospitalized who needs intensive care and those are the individuals who were most concerned when people are trying to go to the supermarket to buy the types of foods that they need .

I know some places in particular still have a lot of great fresh produce, which is wonderful. Can the virus live on fruits and vegetables? People ask if there's a better way to wash and clean them if you just want to have some fresh, healthy food in your house yeah, no, I think you know, you know, practice good hand hygiene, you know, when you go to the grocery store, you know , try to go alone, make sure you social distance, I think fruits and vegetables are perfectly fine when you can't get home, wash them, wash your hands, there has been no evidence that the virus can be transmitted that way now, so Of course, if someone knew that you coughed or sneezed and the droplets just fell on that food and then suddenly you touched it with your hand and then you touched your mouth, nose or eyes, then theoretically it could be possible, but I think as long as you follow basic common sense here in terms of washing your hands, observing, knowing your fruits and vegetables before you eat them, I think it's perfectly fine, I lied, I know I said the last question, but you mentioned droplets so I have one more because it's on our list and a lot of people have been asking if someone coughs in the air.

I know this happened to our producer Kristina the other day, someone coughed near her and she was nervous about what to think if someone coughs into the air and there are droplets in the air. Know? Can you end up catching it if it stays in the air for a while? Yes, I know there was a major study that was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and some articles. I think most experts still believe that the virus is transmitted through large droplets within six feet, so all the respiratory etiquette that we talked about in terms of aerosolization of the virus needs to be followed.

You really need it. This is really focused on the healthcare workers who perform procedures on these patients, often attaching pieces of respirators to them. In that case, the particles that are released are often very small, so healthcare workers who must wear not just masks, must wear what I call tight-fitting n95 respirators to keep these small particles out. on for about half an hour at this site and then all surfaces need to be cleaned, so I think it's really in terms of aerosols the concern that really exists for the protection of healthcare workers, the infected infection control practices that we want to protect them. but for the general public, most experts again believe that it is the droplets that we should worry about and again wash our hands and keep our distance.

It is also prudent to do some environmental cleaning since this study showed that the virus can live on cardboard for 24 hours as well as metal and plastic for up to 72 hours, so anything related to regular cleaning and disinfection is probably a good way to do it. Many questions from our viewers, dr. Peck, thank you so much for helping us get through a lot of them. I really appreciate your experience. Thanks for inviting me.