Stephen Curry speaks with Dr. Fauci on Instagram Live about the Coronavirus pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry hosted an Instagram Live, inviting Dr. Anthony Fauci (Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force) to speak about the issues at hand with the virus. There are so many misconceptions out there regarding the virus and one of the objectives of the chat was to stress the facts.
“This is serious business, we are not overreacting,” Fauci said during the Instagram Live sessions. “I’d like to get the people in the country to realize that we’re dealing with a serious problem…I want to get rid of that misconception that there’s extremes.”
According to worldometer.com, there are over 515,000 cases of the coronavirus and sadly, slightly over 23,000 people have died with the virus.
Dr. Fauci stressed the importance of social distancing and constantly washing your hands among the best practices. Though he explained that not every part of the United States should take the same approach with regard to lockdowns. “You treat New York City different than you treat Nebraska,” Fauci said.
When Should You go to the Hospital, Get Tested for Coronavirus?
Dr. Fauci recommends that most people who get sick should not go to the hospital, even if you have aches, fever or a cough.
“The first thing you do is stay at home. Don’t go to the emergency room, because then you might infect others. get on the phone with a healthcare provider…Get instructions from them on what to do,” Fauci said.
“If you are seriously ill, then you have to go there. But if you just have aches, pain, fever, stay where you are and contact a physician.”
Can You Get the Coronavirus a Second Time? What Does Recover Look Like?
More than 122,000 people have recovered from the virus, but what does that mean? Dr. Fauci cautioned that we don’t know much with regard to this strand of virus or how far out an infected person could be shedding the virus. However, there is a strong hope that it will operator like other viruses in the past, which is good news.
“If this acts like every virus that we’ve ever known, the chances are overwhelming that if you get infected, recover from infection, that you are not going get infected from the same virus,” Fauci said. “Which means that you can safely go out into the community and feel immune…you’ll be able to have what’s referred to as herd immunity. Enough people have recovered in the community. That gives the virus very little chance to spread rapidly.”
Pistons forward Christian Wood is among the 122,000+ people worldwide who have “fully recovered.” Wood, who was the only Pistons player known to have the virus, was cleared on Thursday after a long period of self-quarantine and an administered test. According to the World Health Organization, the median recovery time for mild cases of coronavirus is about two weeks. For critical or severe cases, it’s about three-to-six weeks.
Sports is just one of the many industries that have people impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The NBA suspended its season earlier this month in response to the virus.