well as the number of people diagnosed
with coronavirus in Australia continues
to rise so does the uncertainty around
it now we asked you what you wanted to
know about the disease the illness and
we've been inundated with questions and
here to answer them is professor Ramon
Shaban who is the clinical chair of
infection prevention and Disease Control
at Sydney University thank you so much
for taking the time to come and speak to
us of course professor there's a lot of
panic of this there's a lot of
information out there to sift through
for for many people and one of the
questions we want to get straight into
is the question of immunity this is the
a lot of you know a lot of the questions
that we got basically said if you get
corona virus do you then build immunity
and so you can't get current virus again
hmm
at this stage we're not exactly sure
we're very early on into this outbreak
but it would appear that this outbreak
this infection behaves like most other
respiratory viruses so we would
anticipate that people who have the
infection will develop some sort of
immune response another question we've
got in from Hugh is how long is this
outbreak going to last I mean is that
like asking how long is a piece of
string or do we have an indication we
would expect that this will go on for
some months over time as countries
experience more and more cases as we've
seen in Italy in South Korea the
infection will be all we'll sustained
within communities over some months to
come
sue has written into insu's from
Brisbane and she asks at what point do I
pull my immune compromised team out of
school and his heart time job already
we've seen his school some staffs and
students being asked herself isolate
because we've had a boy that was
infected so talk to us about this it's
very important that if anybody has any
other medical conditions that they first
talk to their doctor with this
particular case not all immune
conditions are the same so the first
point of call is ask a doctor seek
advice about their specific care plan
and then take action according to what
the doctor then does say so
this question is from Jane in Sydney she
said what happens if one family member
contracts the virus should other family
members stay in quarantine at home too
or should they maybe stay somewhere else
for a while yes the family will need to
make some sort of arrangement so often
it might be useful to place that person
into one of the bedrooms to limit
interaction within that household if
somebody in that household is unwell
they have other conditions they may like
to make other arrangements for the
period of incubation but it's important
that families do begin to plan now safe
episode so family planning for an
outbreak should occur now what would we
do if mum becomes owned well what we do
if you know day becomes unwell
if you know the firstborn son who's in
grade 9 at school becomes unwell how do
we care for him over the next two weeks
planning is vital at this point modern
time in terms of self isolation what
does that mean you know you you said
that if one family member is ill isolate
them in a particular room but what about
the rest of the family and you know
these these are really simple questions
like well what if we all share the same
air conditioning does that mean that
we're all going to be infected as well
yes and that's that goes back to your
family planning so family's household
should plan for these kinds of processes
you know and it will inevitably involve
making tempura arrangements to stay with
friends stay with other relatives in
that space the key to this is planning
the infection is here it's here to stay
for quite some time we're not going to
be able to contain it as we've heard
from many experts around the world and
so when infections do arise like this we
need to plan for their eventualities not
everyone is going to get this infection
but everyone has the same risks my
families can plan communities can plan
neighbors can plan what do we do if you
know the elderly friend who lives next
door who lives by you know by by herself
gets it how will we support her that's
vital any of these kinds of outbreaks
Alex from Perth his understanding is it
takes 15 minutes of face-to-face contact
to catch corona virus so his question is
can he head down to the local coffee
shop get himself self a coffee is he
going to be exposed if someone has
correct the short answer is no so that
15 minutes is a it's a guideline if alex
has coronavirus alex should stay home
follow advice Alex can go outside
his local courtyard but he's not advised
to go outside to cafes shopping centers
because that's where infections do in
fact spread Talia who's writing in from
Hobart and I think this is a very
important question here what are the
risks to pregnant women what will happen
if an expectant mother is infected
happened to similarly this is very early
on in this outbreak pregnant women
should also seek advice from the
treating physician from the treating
obstetrician because they may have other
conditions which warrant further
investigation as we've said all along
first seek medical advice for your own
specific circumstance yeah when you say
seek medical advice from you know
yesterday we were talking to a couple of
doctors basically said that gp's are
also quite concerned that they may catch
you know coronaviruses so it's when you
say seek advice would you advise people
to call ahead of time or just present
themselves yes there are a range of
mechanisms first is to call your local
GP people can ring the the 1-800 health
direct number which is a free call
across australia they can contact the
local hospital by phone there are a
range of measures which don't require
physical presentation to seek advice -
for one and to seek advice about what
they can or can't do prior to attending
their practice and that kind of in the
kind of way yeah Erin from Sydney is
also asked about how this might affect
pets and animals so if you've got the
coronavirus and you're isolating at home
should you send your pet somewhere else
it's unlikely that pets will in fact a
contract coronavirus and in actual fact
coronavirus is an animal based infection
originally it's as what we call a
zoonosis so we've got no evidence to
abilities to suspect that my dog or my
cat will catch her own device if I have
coronavirus this is one I don't know
where it's come from really what recipes
would you recommend when using toilet
paper get these questions that come
through so but you know we don't need to
stockpile toilet paper well that's it
yes what's important is that people take
good precautions to think about what
they might need for a 14 day period we
have home delivery services in Australia
we have various
food supply chains in Australia panic
buying does not help anybody and in fact
what it does do it can and does
compromise people who may need support
services and resources when they go to
the shop and they don't have them when
they're there so it requires some sense
of moderation we've also got some
questions about people coming in from
overseas so Jen is wondering why we
aren't quarantine all incoming travelers
for 14 days but we've also got a
question about the details of testing
because this person understands that the
US has had some issues with testing so
what about travelers coming in from it's
the decision to invoke travel bans on
countries it's best not a range of
factors but importantly one of those
factors is the strength of the
individual countries Public Health
System so economies we're in high-income
countries tend to have very strong
public health health systems and so we
rely upon the veracity of those systems
to detect infections in that kind of way
other countries do not and so in some
instances we have to invoke some travel
bans around those countries now you're a
huge advocate for trying to get a plan
in place particularly for families it's
absolutely vital that families
households think about options over what
them what about what to do if something
becomes unwell
what do you do if mum becomes in well
dad becomes unwell one of the children
becomes a mole who looks after the
shopping who looks after the
grandparents family planning is very
important so I'm suggesting to people
sit down with your families with your
households have a discussion think about
options as to who will do what over what
period of time in the coming weeks and
months ahead how do they know what to
include in that plan is there way that
they a way they can seek advice on
whether you know for example if you've
got it if you've got kids whether one of
them you know if one of them contracts
coronavirus there is an enormous range
of information available for households
families on a range of government
websites the federal government has a
range of fact sheets about what to do
when the each state and territory have
also similar fact sheets and advice and
of course you can wring the health
direct number there's a national number
to ring it's its toll toll-free to ask
questions about all these kinds of
issues absolutely one of the questions
that we got a little earlier too was a
question about well
do you self isolate you know and we're
talking about family planning here so
let's just say there's a child that's
contracted current a virus of family
members correct at coronavirus so
there's self isolating in the same house
or should they be moved to somewhere
else at a different house families will
be provided advice by the local public
health unit and they'll be asked to
consider it's best to rearrange the
household for a period of time in other
words can some folks stay with with
families with family friends or relative
and so it depends on the local local
circumstance but in a household unit if
somebody does have coronavirus disease
they should stay within you know one
room of the house sleep in one room of
the house others should not sleeping in
that same room and try to minimize their
interactions as best as what they can
but this this is where the whole issue
of close contacts it comes in as well a
lot of people are very concerned about
this and there's a lot of misinformation
about this you know earlier on we had
this question of well if I go to a
coffee shop and can I get coronavirus
from a barista
but you're more likely to get a
coronavirus from a family member because
that's close contacts all right correct
so so I go into a coffee shop to get a
coffee is a low risk activity because it
goes to a whole range of factors
including the length of time you spend
with others who may be infected whether
or not you shake hands touch them I
costs enough to risk to to have droplets
move but you know by the air so in
general terms it goes back to making
sure that we can break the chain of
infection and in other words use good
level of alcohol-based hand sanitizer if
you are unwell and you have some been
sent home on home on home quarantine for
coronavirus using a mask to limit the
spread of droplets is a really important
effective measure and so these are basic
measures that patients are advised by
public health units around the country
we've got a question in from Gavin and
he wants to know whether the virus
survives on surfaces and if so how long
roller coasters are not very Hardy in
other words they don't tend to survive
on a service for very long and they are
easily destroyed using really basic
commercially grade disinfectants from
any sort of supermarket so without those
disinfectants how long would it last
not very long an usual
homes so yeah I was if I was if if if
that also yeah okay alright miles has
written in about a question that's quite
close to my heart I take public
transport quite a lot as well and I
remember being on a bus yesterday just
thinking am I sitting here and
endangering myself by touching all these
surfaces that are here so mile says can
the virus be transmitted on planes and
buses between passengers firstly through
the surface and through the air corners
you know it's infection spread by
contact and droplet transmission so if
the infection is on a surface such as a
handrail or a seat or a trade table and
then you wipe that service and rub your
face or rub your eye
that's how infection does occur so if
you can break that chain by using a wipe
to decontaminate the surface before you
interact with it that's the way to go so
carrying a NOC code based hand rub is
important and the regular use of that
hand rub so that if whatever gets onto
your hands is destroyed will protect you
miles also wanted to know about that
14-day recommendation recommended
isolation period and whether that is
long enough are we sure yes so based on
the evidence that we have to date and
this is increasingly strong the
incubation period goes up to 14 days for
the vast majority of patients it's less
than that but it's our but the unlimited
certainly 14 days Richard wrote in to
ask why the panic buying Shirley
isolation for 14 days you don't need to
panic by yeah well we think that panic
buying is a symptom of perhaps the lack
of family planning around an outbreak
and so it's important that people take
measures to to deal with everyday life
activities such as stocking the house
with foodstuffs but if we have a famine
if you have a plan around what we can
get access to when that will alleviate
the need to perhaps panic by and to you
know stock our households with more
stuff than we might need for 14 days so
it goes back to your phone to family
planning so if somebody who does do the
majority of the shopping for the
household becomes unwell how do we then
organize to get foodstuffs or stock for
the house who will do that is a delivery
on home is that the neighbor so having
those kinds of discussions now are
really very important to thinking about
growing out how will we then get through
the weeks ahead if somebody does become
unwell we had a lot of questions on the
topic of immunity so if someone can get
coronavirus twice or perhaps if they've
had it once then are they safe and also
a question about whether the vote
whether we've seen the virus mutate in
any way mm-hmm it's very early on on the
outbreak to come to understand whether
or not somebody who has had the
infection has any strong level of
immunity and scientists around the world
are gathering evidence to answer that
exact question we believe in general
terms that this is they're having a lot
like any other respiratory virus and so
we expect that individuals who have had
the infection will develop an immune
response to that subsequent infection
when it comes to mutation
similarly scientists around the world
are looking at the virus very closely
and recent studies have suggested that
there's been no evidence of changes in
the genetic structure of the virus and
so we're taking samples from patients
who've been affected looking at them
genetically and there's been no sort of
evidence that suggests that there is a
mutation at this point we've talked a
lot about what happens if we get the
virus
what does recovery look like because we
have heard of cases where people have
recovered what does that look like it's
is it like recovering from the flu
absolutely it's just like the flu so in
terms of a clinical recovery well we
talked about recovery as being somebody
who has no longer has the symptoms for
at least 24 hours and these symptoms are
usually or typically fever sore throat
shortness of breath and cough so once
their symptoms have abated and they're
resolved and if there are a confirmed
patient of course and their tests come
back negative
together with a lack of symptoms just
that patients have recovered
professor Ramon Shaban we really
appreciate you coming in and answering
those things and I understand that the
professor will also be answering some
more questions on Twitter so on or on
social media so if you've got any more
keep them coming in and we'll try to get
to them in other weeks as well
you