My Story Magazine interviews Dr Hannah -Lisa Tetteh , a medical practitioner, a health advocate and health executive at Health Avail Medical Services on Covid 19 , the global pandemic caused by the corona virus.
Can you please share your thoughts with us concerning the Corona Virus pandemic What is Corona Virus.
When we talk about Corona viruses, we are referring to a large family of viruses known to cause a wide range of illness, from a common cold to more severe forms. The newest discovery is what was discovered in Wuhan China, 2019 and causes the Covid 19 disease.
Does everyone die from the disease, Covid 19? Who is more at risk.
The new Corona virus has most people suffering from mild to moderate forms of the disease, with a few suffering the severe forms. Those mostly at risk are those above 60 years, those with hypertension, diabetes, heart conditions, lung conditions and those with underlying medical conditions.
Does it have regional boundaries?
The virus has been known to transcend regional boundaries as it has been recorded across different regions and continents, according to the WHO.
What are the signs that shows that one has this virus and how does one get into contact with this .
The common signs and symptoms are fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. Others also experience a sore throat, nasal congestion, diarrhea and anosmia(loss of sense of smell).
How does it spread?
The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Are there measures to curb this virus.
Currently there is no vaccine or specific drug for treatment so we encourage all to stick to the preventive measures.
What are some of the preventive measures especially to the ordinary African.
Practice good hand hygiene by washing your hands with soap and water as often as you can and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub
as this kills viruses that may be on your hands. Do this using the right technique, shown below, not forgetting to wash in between your fingers.
Practice good respiratory hygiene by covering your mouth and nose with a tissue or a bent elbow and dispose of the tissue immediately.
Maintain social distancing. Try and keep at least 2 metres (6 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing, sneezing or showing respiratory symptoms. If you are too close, to someone, when they cough or sneeze they may release droplets from their nose or mouth, which may contain the COVID19 virus, which u can breathe in if the person coughing has the disease.
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with your hands because your hands can pick up viruses through touching of these surfaces and may transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth and thus into your body.
Seek medical care early, if you have fever, cough and difficulty in breathing.
Call a Healthcare facility in advance if you are at risk of exposure or have been exposed( most countries have contacts dedicated to Covid19) to prevent the spread of virus and also for the accurate information about the right steps to take.
Stay informed and follow advice given by your healthcare provider. Read from approved sources like the world health organization and health avail to keep you accurately informed.
What’s the effect of this virus to the growth of the economy.
The virus has had many negative effects on the economy. Starting from the health care system which needs more personnel, supplies and equipment in the case of a pandemic like this. Health care workers may need more equipment and supplies to work with and may be overworked as numbers increase. Some frontliners may get infected and taking care of their medical coverage as well as the requirement of new personnel poses financial issues for the Healthcare system.
Also, workers in other sectors are being asked to go on paid leave, to work from home or not to work at all, as some are bring laid off as social distancing measures are being employed. Employers are also not making enough money but still have to pay workers and this is leading to pay-cuts and other serious financial problems.
Some businesses have been created as they produce things needed in these covid19 times, like hand sanitizers, face masks etc, however most businesses, eg, restaurants are having to stop their operations because they lack customers to sustain them, thus are running at a loss.
Some prices of goods needed to fight this pandemic, eg, sanitizer, have been inflated and thus are difficult for people to purchase. This has made it expensive for some to practice these precautionary measures.
Generally the pandemic is negatively affecting the economy.
Since there is so much uncertainty, businesses are holding off on investments as well as imports and exports.
What have been your personal contributions to this fight?
This is a collective fight by all. I believe we can all help. In my all small way, I have been doing media educations about the virus and I am grateful to multimedia, media general and to all the platforms that have given me the opportunity to educate people on Covid19. Healthavail, also had a health talk on Covid 19 as well as a demonstration of the proper handwashing/ hand rub technique for the workers and children at the Osu Children’s home after which a donation of Veronica buckets, soaps, tissues, toilet rolls etc was done to aid in the fight of Covid19. These have been my contributions in addition to my medical practice so far and I believe we can all help in anyway we can. This is something that affects us all, therefore, we can all do something to keep ourselves and our communities safe.
Finally, practice the precautions, keep hope alive, be kind to each other and spread love, not fear and panic. By the grace of God, there would be better times ahead and we will pull through this
All will be well.
By MY STORY MAGAZINE
