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Article III:  "What To Do If Get Exposed To Coronavirus?":

Those who may have been exposed to someone with coronavirus and those who have recently travelled to a country or region with the widespread transmission have been advised to self-quarantine for 14 days from the time of last possible exposure.

“Quarantine in general means the separation of a person or group of people, who is reasonably believed to have been exposed to a communicable disease but not yet symptomatic,” says Dr. George A. Diaz, chief of infectious diseases at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett in Washington. He treated patient zero in the U.S. coronavirus pandemic.

Do we know who patient zero is in the coronavirus pandemic that started in China?  The short answer is – no.

Chinese authorities originally reported that the first coronavirus case was on 31 December 2019 and many of the first cases of the pneumonia-like infection were immediately connected to a seafood and animal market in Wuhan, in the Hubei province.

Chinese experts are at odds about the origin of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. More specifically, who is "patient zero" for the outbreak. Also known as an "index case", patient zero is a term used to describe the first human infected by a viral or bacterial disease in an outbreak. 

Advances in genetic analysis now make it possible to trace back the lineage of a virus through those it has infected. Combined with epidemiological studies, scientists can pinpoint individuals who may have been the first people to start spreading the disease and so trigger the outbreak.  Identifying who these people are can help address crucial questions about how, when and why it started. These can then help to prevent more people from getting infected now or in future outbreaks.

Activities to do during quarantine:

  1. Check for symptoms such as fever, cold, cough and breathing difficulty.

  2. If the symptoms persist, get tested for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) which is caused by the coronavirus infection.

  3. Take medications like Tylenol and inform your doctor.

  4. Eat healthier foods like fruits and vegetables and take vitamins like Vitamin C. 

  5. Do more exercises and take a bath.

  6. Avoid crowd of people and rest.

  7. Wear a mask and cough/sneeze in a tissue.

  8. Wash hands with soap and sanitizer.

  9. Check your body temperature by thermometer.

  10. Connect online with family, friends and doctors for better relationships and directions.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that you quarantine for 14 days and watch for common signs and symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, cough or shortness of breath. Other options may include ending quarantine after 10 days if you don't have symptoms and won't get tested or ending quarantine after 7 days if you receive a negative test result on day 5 or later. But continue to watch for symptoms for 14 days.

According to the CDC guidelines, you should get the COVID-19 vaccine if you have contracted the virus previously.  However, you should wait 14 days from your diagnosis, and 90 days if you received an antibody treatment.

You’re considered vaccinated once it’s been two weeks since your second dose in a two-dose series like the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or two weeks since you received a single-dose vaccine such as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Vaccines are effective at protecting you from getting sick. Based on what we know about the COVID-19 vaccines, people who have been vaccinated can start to do some things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.  We’re still learning how vaccines will affect the spread of COVID-19.  After you’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19, you should keep taking precautions—like wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart from others, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces—in public places until we know more.  These recommendations can help you make decisions about daily activities after you are vaccinated.  The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines offer immunity against COVID-19 for at least six months and might offer protection for up to two to three years. However, they will most likely have to be administered annually.

Now we have some hope.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an antiviral drug called remdesivir (Veklury) to treat COVID-19 in adults and children who are age 12 and older. Remdesivir may be prescribed for people who are hospitalized with COVID-19. It's given through a needle in the skin (intravenously). The FDA has granted an emergency use authorization for the rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib (Olumiant) to treat COVID-19 in some cases. Baricitinib is a pill that seems to work against COVID-19 by reducing inflammation and having antiviral activity. The FDA states baricitinib may be used in combination with remdesivir in people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 who are on mechanical ventilators or need supplemental oxygen.

by Naveed Khan and World Wide Web (WWW) pages; 4/23/2021

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