Name: More answers to your COVID-19 questions
Uploaded: 2020-03-28T11:02:38.000Z
Duration: 4 min 57 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

and your questions now around this baffling global pandemic continue to pour in.

And so ABC chief medical correspondent Dr Jen Ashton is standing by with more answers for all of you.

So Dr Jen will begin with the first question.

How effective and useful are homemade masks?

I am seeing lots of offers for making face masks from designers toe home sewers.

You know, from the beginning of this pandemic and outbreak, we've been saying it's just a cz important to say what you don't know as what you do know, and obviously those made it home Masks are untested.

But when the CDC said that health care workers could use a bandanna if necessary, I think at this point it's probably better than nothing.

So the Rosie the Riveters Yeah, I give them thumbs up for helping.

So this next question, because it has been confusing, as well as to just how long this virus can last on surfaces.

So the next question is, with all the concern about the virus surviving on surfaces, should we be concerned about our food being safe if we're ordering for delivery or take out this is a tough one, Amy, because I've thought of that myself.

I can tell you scientifically, if there is any, let's say the food worker coughed on your food and then you ate it.

Your stomach acid would likely kill that virus.

However, if you eat with your hands, maybe not so much.

But it's a balance because you want to support these restaurants when they are really struggling right now.

So I've been trying to order in just once a day just to try to keep them going.

The next question we have here Are there any over the counter medications we shouldn't be taking?

I love that question because it's about the caution with these things that are over the counter.

There's so much interest right now in these alternative or complementary supplements.

There's no data on this, so you have to remember that if something can help, it can also hurt.

Big organizations are saying Do not go to these supplements now.

We don't know how they could interact with the virus.

There has been some very early data controversial, not peer reviewed yet that ibuprofen may cause an up regulation in one of the receptors that this virus binds to.

So if you have a choice between acetaminophen and ibuprofen, probably go with the acetaminophen.

But that is not pure reviewed recommendation yet.

Another question about the virus is life on surfaces.

How long does the virus live on a bath towel?

They've studied this in the lab last week on surfaces like stainless steel, cardboard, plastic and how long the particles linger in the air.

The range was anywhere from three hours to three days.

They don't know about money, clothes, bath towels.

Just go ahead and throw it in the laundry, all right.

Has anyone looked at the data from the people who regularly get the flu shot?

Could this be why Children seem to be less susceptible to the Corona virus?

I love this question to, because it's really how scientists think the answer is no.

We haven't looked at that data yet, but basically the flu vaccine is not going to give any protection against this Corona virus.

However, it may be seen that people who have been vaccinated against the flu have less chance of serious complications with covert 19.

That's why we need that data to come out on our US cases with so much unknown right now, Dr.

Jen, is there anything we can be doing that's that's known to be effective to boost our immune systems?

You know, you and I talk about this all the time.

Amy, the best things you can do all the time and especially now get 7 to 9 hours of sleep.

Wash your hands as much as possible and exercise, if it is possible, depending on where you are, has been shown to boost the immune system and has been associated with lower chance of various upper respiratory infections.

So I'm doing push ups in my apartment because I can't leave for the next week, but exercise is really, really important.

So I'm gonna challenge you to that push up challenge that we've all been challenging each other around social media, So look for it later today.

And if you have any questions for Dr Ashton, send them to her Instagram at Dr J.

Thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel.

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More answers to your COVID-19 questions

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