In this video we are going to answer the questions that you have asked us these days on social networks about the new coronavirus. It was first detected in humans in December 2019. Since then it has spread across all continents.
Given its rapid spread and that a vaccine or effective treatment is still not available, the WHO declared a state of health emergency in January and alerted the population to prepare for a possible pandemic. Therefore, it is normal for the population to have doubts about 2019-nCoV and misunderstandings are generated or false information is spread.
Now, we are going to answer your questions with the help of the official information offered by the WHO and the opinion of various experts. This video has been made with the collaboration of Daniel Orts, a preventive doctor and disseminator, who has helped answer most of these questions, and also Pau Mateo, Emergency Physician of the Diario de un MIR channel and Carmen Jódar Casanova, Family Medicine specialist and founder of the blog mimedicoonline.es.
Do symptoms include pain when swallowing?
No. A sore throat or dysphagia is a common symptom in some respiratory conditions but is not common in new coronavirus infections. The characteristic symptoms of COVID-19 are coughing, shortness of breath, sneezing, and mucus.
What are the human organs that are affected first?
As in any respiratory disease, the upper respiratory tract is affected; the larynx, bronchi and mucus in the nasal area, which is what motivates the infection. In severe cases, it can reach the lung.
What are the death statistics by age? Were all the deceased chronically ill? How does it affect babies and children?
People at risk of serious diseases are the elderly or those who suffer a serious illness, respiratory, or have a depressed immune system.
Mortality is gradual with age as we can see in this graph: as age increases, the death rate also increases. The mortality rate of the new coronavirus is approximately 2% until age 60, but increases to 8% until age 80; and in patients over eighty years it reaches almost 15%.
Overall, we see that three quarters of the deceased are patients over 70 years of age or critically ill, that is, with serious illnesses and short life expectancy.
Regarding sex, there is no evidence that it affects men more than women. The statistics provided by the Chinese authorities show us that the proportion affected by sex is 55% men and 45% women; an irrelevant and unrepresentative difference.
In the case of children under 9 years of age, no case of death has been recorded. Babies and children are not considered a population at risk. And why are children less affected? Let’s hear what Daniel Orts has to answer about this.
Once you catch the new coronavirus and are recovered, can you get it again?
It is still too early to know how it behaves in a virus in the long term, but everything seems to indicate that, when the symptoms resolve, it no longer becomes ill.
However, the rate of relapse is becoming worrying in China. A study carried out among patients who left the hospital in the province of Canton found that 14% of the cases tested positive again. For this reason, in Wuhan they have decreed 14 days of isolation for patients who are considered already cured. Therefore, it is now suspected that the maximum incubation period of the coronavirus may be up to 24 days, and not 14.
Are there studies on the prevalence in patients who have overcome it or have been asymptomatic?
It is difficult to know the registry of people who have been asymptomatic or with mild symptoms, because they do not go to the doctor and do not appear in the official records. For now, 40% has been recovered, but this percentage is smaller than reality because, as mentioned facts, there are many more cases than those registered.
Why does incubation take so long in some people? Is the virus just as contagious throughout this period?
Regarding contagiousness, it is similar throughout the incubation period: although it is greater in the symptomatic period, because coughing, sneezing and mucus occur. On the other hand, it is at this stage that we take care of infecting the rest the most. So, in general, the contagiousness remains more or less stable.
At what temperature does the virus die?
It is difficult to know, because we still know little about this new coronavirus, and such precise measurements have not been made. However, it is expected that, with the arrival of good weather, the cases of coronavirus will decrease; From the information we have, coronaviruses live better the lower the temperature.
So, if there are infections of the new coronavirus in your country, do not succumb to panic. Follow the recommendations of local health authorities, do not share false information and go to reliable sources.
