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What is Coronavirus and Steps to Keeping Yourself Safe

You may have recently heard on the news about the coronavirus having its first confirmed case in the United States. The patient is from Seattle, Washington, is in his mid-30’s and he recently traveled to Wuhan, China. Coronavirus is not new to China; however, China has reported close to 300 cases and there have been six confirmed fatalities. Globally there has been around 500 reported cases. It’s important to note that in all six cases of these fatalities, the patients have had another pre-existing condition when they caught the virus.

So, what is Coronavirus and how does it affect your body? The Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) is a newer strain of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS) or (MERS), a Middle Eastern strain. Coronavirus is a zoonotic disease, which means it can spread from animals to humans (think Ebola and salmonellosis). Unfortunately, there is no specific animal that carries the virus. nCoV attacks similarly to pneumonia, where it causes the lungs to fill with fluid, leading to organ failure as well as sepsis (bacterial build up in the blood). Other physical symptoms of nCov are: shortness of breath, runny nose, fever, chills, sore throat and cough.

How do we protect ourselves from the Coronavirus? It is difficult to say definitively what the best line of defense is because there is still so much that is unknown about the virus. As of now, the CDC is recommending tried and true safety measures; with good hygiene being the first line of defense. Proper handwashing, coughing into your elbow and staying home when sick are great ways to avoid catching or spreading viruses. For more detailed information about good preventative tips, check out our other blog “Five Tips for Keeping the Flu out of Your Office.” 5 Tips for Keeping the FLU Out of Your Office

Good hygiene is strong step toward breaking the chain of infection, but proper surface disinfection is a crucial step that is often misunderstood. Specifically, paying attention to dwell time. What is dwell time? Dwell time is the amount of time disinfectant chemicals need to stay on the surface WET to make sure it is killing everything it claims to kill. Every chemical has an efficacy report, a study that proves the efficacy of the chemical, or the ability to produce the desired results. An efficacy report is a scientifically proven study of all bacteria, fungi and viruses the chemical can kill and how long it will take to kill them effectively. Curious as to how long it takes to kill the flu virus? You may be surprised! Take Windex Multi-Surface for example. It can kill the flu virus on non-porous surfaces, that is, as long as the chemical sits wet on the surface for 10 minutes. Think about how long that is! In actuality most people spray a surface and wipe it immediately. While the surface will look and smell clean, the influenza virus isn’t harmed and remains active. https://www.windex.com/en-us/products/disinfectant-cleaner-multi-surface

Professional companies like ours that care about breaking the chain of infection and stopping the spread of viruses understand that we do not have the time or want to take the chance on something needing to stay wet that long to be effective. In high risk environments such as operating rooms, that is just not good enough. Bryco Facility Services uses Oxivir® Tb wipes when applicable because they have a dwell time of just one minute to properly disinfect viruses. http://www.diverseyvericlean.com/diversey-vericlean-system/products/disinfectants/oxivir-tb-wipes

This strain of coronavirus is new to the United States so everyone is on heightened alert. ABC News reported that airports in New York, San Francisco and LA began screening for the virus on January 17, with Chicago and Atlanta beginning to screen soon.