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  • So we need to get the facts straight. How does this virus work, how does it

  • transmit, where does it want to go, and let's protect ourselves. I'm Dr. Peter

  • Lin. I'm a family physician in Toronto, Canada. The coronavirus is a family of

  • viruses that can cause as mild things as just a common cold, all the way up to

  • SARS or MERS. These are these bad pneumonias that we're talking about. And

  • basically what these viruses are, they look like a tennis ball with all these

  • spikes sticking out of it. And depending on the type of spike, it allows that

  • virus to attach to certain places. So some viruses, they have this spike that

  • attaches to your nose. So basically you just get a common cold.

  • But the SARS virus and this new virus that we're talking about has the spike

  • that allows it to attach to the cells in your lung and when it attaches there, it

  • puts in information to make photocopies of itself. So it uses our equipment to

  • make more viruses. >> I'm declaring a public health emergency of international

  • concern over the global outbreak of novel coronavirus.

  • >> Most of the coronaviruses live in animals. In this particular case, it was

  • from Wuhan. There was a fish market where they were selling live animals and the

  • thought is that the virus was in a live animal, then it crossed into a human. But

  • then what we found was that people were getting sick in terms of healthcare

  • workers, in terms of family members that were looking after them, which now meant

  • that the virus can pass from human to another human. Just like all viruses, it

  • needs to reach a target, which is your lung and it has to get there with your

  • help. It has no feet and no wings. So therefore it needs us to move it there.

  • So that's why we keep saying don't hang around sneezy people because you're

  • gonna breathe it in. And don't touch your face because that's how the virus is

  • going to get in. The masks are helpful, but they're not necessary because they're

  • leaky. The ones that you and I buy basically have pockets here, so therefore

  • the virus can get in. What the masks really do is they stop us from touching

  • our face. If you're sick, we tend to mask you, so therefore you're not spewing out

  • the viruses to other people sitting around you. The true people that have the

  • real masks are the N95. Those are sealed. These are for the doctors that may be

  • caring for the patients. So in the beginning, the coronavirus will cause

  • kind of like flu-like symptoms or a cold. So people just get the stuffy nose, that

  • kind of thing. But you'll understand that as soon as that virus starts

  • manufacturing in your lung cells, they're producing all these copies of the virus.

  • All of a sudden now you kill the lung cells, so now you can't exchange oxygen

  • and that's why one of the early symptoms is people get very short of breath and

  • they tend to have a difficult time breathing and that's why they end up in

  • hospital. So currently unfortunately we don't have a direct treatment for the

  • coronavirus, so we don't have a medication that can kill it off. And so

  • it's really supportive. So in other words, the patient can't breathe, we give them

  • oxygen help them to breathe, they can't drink, so therefore we give them fluids

  • to support them. Their kidneys begin to shut down, we help them with all those

  • things. So it's a very supportive process. This is a new virus that we've never

  • seen before, so our immune system, our army, are having a hard time figuring out

  • what to do. So usually what we have to do is we make something called antibodies.

  • So these are things that can grab on to the spikes that we see on the virus and

  • it'll get rid of the virus for you and that will actually bring you back to

  • good health. So therefore the elderly may have a

  • worse outcome and of course the young children, the babies, their immune

  • system is not so good either, so they may not make those antibodies as well. So

  • just remember your hands may be with virus. Virus cannot hurt you because it

  • can't get through the skin, but the moment I do this, now I've brought the

  • virus right to where it wants to go. So let's remember not to touch our hands to

  • our face. So let's say you think that you might have been on a plane or you might

  • have bumped into somebody that has it, what should you do? So the first thing is

  • to contact a healthcare worker to tell them that potentially you have it. If

  • you're feeling symptoms and you're going to go into a facility, call ahead. OK. So

  • whether you're calling the paramedics or whether you're calling the hospital or

  • your doctor, just mention that you were on a flight. If you don't have any

  • symptoms, then what we do is a little bit of a self-quarantine. In other words, we

  • can just keep you away from other people and so you don't go in to parties, don't

  • go with your friends, don't go into public transportation. So we can contain

  • it very easily by making sure that you do a self-confinement so to speak for

  • the let's say 7 to 14 days is the longest incubation time, so after that if

  • you're feeling well, then you don't have anything to worry about.

  • If we get the facts right, then we don't have to be overly worried, but we do the

  • right things so that we don't get the virus ourselves, and that we

  • don't pass it on to others. And if we look after each other in this way, this

  • virus will have nowhere to go. It needs us to move it, it needs us to

  • make copies for it, and if we don't help it, then the virus will stop. So we have

  • the power to do that, right now.

So we need to get the facts straight. How does this virus work, how does it

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