CORONAVIRUS WORRIES AND DAILY LIFE

Yesterday morning I woke up to find out Atlanta has its first two confirmed cases of coronavirus. 

I realize that two people out of millions is tiny, but that isn't alleviating my fears. In normal circumstances I wouldn't worry so much, but I have a daughter with a primary immune deficiency. 

It means that she is very high risk, and there is no herd immunity for this illness because it hasn't been around long enough. 

Herd immunity is the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a sufficiently high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease, especially through vaccination. The level of vaccination needed to achieve herd immunity varies by disease but ranges from 84 to 95 percent.

My daughter gets what herd immunity she has by infusing herself weekly with immunoglobulin. She still spends much of her life with viruses, but coronavirus appears to be very virulent and she has lung disease as one of the autoimmune illnesses she has. 

Yesterday I received a notice on my door about what to do to try and protect ourselves from coronavirus. It is from the CDC.

We all need to be aware of our surroundings and to take precautions, because we are just at the beginning of this virus. None of us know what will happen with it, but it is unfortunately spreading. 

We of course can't spend our daily lives in fear. For myself I am practicing the recommendations. I keep a small bottle of antibacterial gel in my car and I use it every time I return to my car.
When I get home the first thing I do is wash my hands with soap and water. I have antibacterial wipes that I use daily on my cell phone, keys, door handles, and counter tops. 

Daily living goes on and hopefully the majority of us will not be affected by this disease, but there is certainly nothing wrong with a few precautions.