A few items I’ve been asked.
1) At what point after a possible exposure should I, or do I even need to be tested. Initially, we thought that the incubation period (time from exposure to starting to develop symptoms) was as much as 14 days. That is still the case but most people start to have symptoms within 5 days. That does NOT however mean that tests will be positive. It will take a few days for the level of virus to be high enough to be able to swab enough to identify it in a lab. A safe time frame for minimizing false negative tests is probably about 3 days. As far as antibodies are concerned, it is longer, probably closer to 7 days after symptoms, at least for the early phase IgM antibodies. It could be a couple of weeks before the permanent IgG antibodies are positive.
2) If I think I have been exposed, should I isolate? Probably not. If you are not symptomatic, wear a mask, socially distance, be smart but don;t be paranoid. If symptoms start to develop, that changes things and at that point, call your doctor. We are still NOT routinely treating this with anything other than rest, fluids and isolation. Unless you are hospitalized in which case some meds, like the antiviral Remdesivir are being used.
3) Did the virus come from a lab? NO. It came from bats. That is not even a debate. Whether it was unwittingly released from a lab is a theory but there is less and less evidence for this but it is irrelevant. It came from bats, which were also sold at the wet markets and this would have happened regardless of how it got out.
4)MEAT PLANTS. Let’s be clear about a few facts:
a) Almost 5000 US meat plant workers have become ill and more than 20 have died.
b) More than 115 plants have been affected in 19 states.
c) Many meat plants were planning to close or cut way back on production.
d) President Trump’s signed executive order does ONE thing: it protects meat plant owners from litigation by their employees! If gives them carte
Blanche to keep running, whether they implement safety measures or not. It does NOT protect employees. It endangers them, their families and communities and consumers who buy these potentially infected products.
We will not die from lack of meat and in fact we will be better off.
We need to open up but we need to do it in a safe and controlled way.
Stay safe and be well.
AC 😎✌️🌱❤🐖🏃🏻🧘🏻♂️🌎😷