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  • gonna turn again now to Dr Joe Nash in here for Maur answers to your Corona virus questions.

  • We've got some great ones that are coming in from our viewers.

  • Dr.

  • Jen, we're going to start with the 1st 1 Is there any correlation between blood type and whether or not you get the virus or how sick you become?

  • That's a really interesting question.

  • There was a limited study done very early on in this outbreak that showed that people who had type a blood were significantly at greater risk of getting sick with covert 19 than people who had type O blood who were less likely.

  • Now it definitely needs more research.

  • It hasn't been peer reviewed, but if there is any truth to it, it does have implications for health care workers.

  • It's not really for the lay public, but in terms of stratify ing risk of health care workers.

  • It may be useful but really inconclusive right now.

  • All right, Our second question, this is a good one.

  • Does the virus migrate once it's on the skin?

  • The warning is to keep your hands away from your nose, mouth and eyes.

  • But what if you touch your cheek or your forehead so the virus doesn't crawl.

  • Okay, like like some parasites do.

  • But again, let's say it's on your cheek and you just brush your hand over your cheek.

  • And then two seconds later you touch your eye or your nose or your mouth.

  • That's how you can get infected.

  • So again, the contact transmission that hand washing is really, really important.

  • Once it's on your face, it's easy to move it to a place where it could then be, you know, virulent.

  • All right, here's our third question exact.

  • Does the latest pneumonia vaccination for seniors helped with symptoms?

  • Well, that new move Axe vaccine, which is for Numa Cockle pneumonia, is really important for people over the age of 65.

  • However, that does not protect you against this novel Corona virus.

  • What it may do is lower your risk of getting pneumonia from multiple pathogens.

  • Remember people who go to the hospital sick with pneumonia, they can have more than one type of pneumonia.

  • We hear that with the flu, you can have a viral pneumonia, then with a superimposed bacterial pneumonia.

  • So not a direct protection, but still important.

  • Nevertheless.

  • All right, engine.

  • We've been talking over the past few days about the nationwide blood shortage and encouraging people, but it's still safe to donate.

  • But this next question is interesting.

  • Are people giving blood, they ask, required to have a cove in 19 tests and await those results before donating?

  • They're not.

  • But the American Red Cross is taking really, really aggressive additional steps right now in the setting of the pandemic.

  • So they are checking people's temperatures.

  • There's no evidence that this covert 19 or novel Corona virus can be transmitted via blood, but they're taking a lot of extra precautions, and we desperately need more blood donation.

  • So people, if they're interested, can go online, see what testing center is near them and register online.

  • All right, that is great advice.

  • Now, I was just talking about this because this time of year, so many of us have allergies.

  • And so our next question is, and I get them every year, seasonally and right about this time of year, so question our next question is where we live.

  • Pollen and tree mold allergies are in full swing.

  • How can you tell if sneezing, coughing and sore throat are just allergies versus a case of covert 19.

  • The first thing is, Amy, no one knows you better than you.

  • So if something feels bizarre to you, that's when your radar index of suspicion should go up.

  • You should start paying attention maybe a little more closely.

  • The other thing is that Cove it 19 really has such a massive range of symptoms.

  • Many people have such mild symptoms.

  • They may have no symptoms, so they don't know they're infected.

  • The classic ones are are easy to spot fever, cough fatigue, some chest pain.

  • If it's severe in terms of respiratory issues, but the other common cold or allergy like symptoms, people can have those two.

  • And that's why all circles back to testing.

  • We need to be able to test so many people so we can get a grip, because remember, you can have two things at the same time.

  • You could have allergies and you could have Corona virus, right?

  • And I'm just curious.

  • Do we even know the answer to this?

  • Why is it so different from person to person?

  • Is that how most viruses act and react differently from human to human there?

  • We don't know because again.

  • There's so much about this virus that we're still learning.

  • It's not even really three months old yet, but in general we even see that with influenza.

  • Not everyone gets massively ill and bedridden for 7 to 10 days with flu.

  • Some people have more mild symptoms, so there's always a spectrum.

  • We call it a FINA type of a virus, and we're seeing a huge one with this one for sure.

  • All right, and speaking of test, our next question surrounds that.

  • Do the tests have to be taken up your nose, or are there other ways?

  • The good news is that there are other ways that we will be seeing very, very soon in days, two weeks.

  • But right now, the only test that's widely in circulation is a nasal swab.

  • And Amy, it needs to go all the way back there, so it's pretty uncomfortable, but you're gonna be seeing self swab ing in the nose.

  • They're sometimes in the hospital.

  • They do an aural for NGO swab down the throat, which always causes people to cough and gag.

  • But we're gonna be seeing finger pricks and eventually blood tests for serology to see if we have antibodies against this.

  • So we're gonna be seeing a lot of options in the realm of testing.

  • All right, over the next coming weeks.

  • Hopefully, as soon as as soon as the FDA approves these other methods, we need to see them, as we say in medicine, stat.

  • All right, Doctor Jin, as always.

  • Thank you so much.

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

  • Ashton.

  • Hi, everyone.

  • George Stephanopoulos here.

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  • Thanks for watching.

gonna turn again now to Dr Joe Nash in here for Maur answers to your Corona virus questions.

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