Hi, I'm Dr. Scholz. Obviously, we're all nervous about the Covid virus and for prostate cancer
patients who tend to be more elderly, the concerns are a little greater. If people get
a pneumonia, it's more serious.
Think of the Covid-19 virus as nothing more than a common cold but with the potential
to progress into a really bad pneumonia. In most people, it starts like a cold and ends
like a cold. However, Covid-19 is different from most other cold viruses because it spreads
to the lungs more frequently and acts more aggressively when it gets there. Please realize
that not everyone who catches Covid-19 is at equal risk for pneumonia. The greatest
risk is in older people, smokers, people with immunodeficiencies, people with heart disease,
diabetics, alcoholics, or people with other serious health problems like emphysema, asthma,
liver disease, or kidney disease.
To put this into perspective, let's talk a little bit about the common cold because we
actually know quite a bit about the common cold and Covid-19 comes from the same viral
family as the common cold is an upper-respiratory-tract infection, a URI that affects the nose, throat,
sinuses, and larynx. Like other colds, Covid-19 can cause fever, cough, sore throat, body
aches, etc. The average adult gets two or three colds a year. Symptoms may include sore
throat, sneezing, runny nose, fevers, coughing, and recovery usually takes 1-3 weeks. Cold
viruses can be contracted through the air from people who are coughing or sneezing,
but the greater risk is by touching inanimate objects and surfaces—doorknobs, faucets,
light switches—that have been previously touched or coughed or sneezed on by someone
who is sick.
The Covid-19 cold virus can survive outside the body on inanimate surfaces for up to a
week, so if you touch an infected surface, you now have the virus sticking to your fingertips.
If those hands touch your eyes, your nose, or mouth the virus sticks to those mucus membranes.
It penetrates into the cells and starts the process of infection.
Covid-19 can't penetrate through your skin. It only enters the body through the wet surfaces
of your mouth, eyes, or nose. Let's talk a little bit about viral pneumonia. Remember,
Covid acts just like any other cold unless it drops down into the lungs. People who develop
pneumonia usually start with typical cold upper URI symptoms that I previously described.
Let me just stress one time that the coronavirus infection is just a plain old cold unless
it gets into the lungs and produces pneumonia. Not all types of pneumonia are equally serious.
Many cases don't even require hospitalization; however, those who are sick enough to go to
the hospital show high fevers, serious cough, shortness of breath, and sometimes pain when
they take a deep breath.
Dying from pneumonia is much less common than it used to be. Standard hospital support which
includes antibiotics, intensive care unites, trained respiratory care technicians, oxygen
support, and mechanical respirators all make a huge difference. I realize, of course, that
antibiotics can't treat the coronavirus directly; however, antibiotics do prevent bacterial
pneumonia which is a known serious complication of viral pneumonias.
So what is the actual mortality rate for the Covid-19 virus? We can get some sense of Covid-19's
danger by reviewing an inadvertent experiment performed on a large group of people on a
quarantined cruise ship, the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Out of approximately 3,700 passengers,
700 were infected, and 6 perished. Were these people representative of the rest of us average
Americans? Not exactly, as people on cruises tend to be older. However, we now know that
older people are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. So, this was an experiment performed
in a relatively more vulnerable population compared to the demographics in an average
American city. As it turns out, 6 people out of the 700 who were infected died. All 6 were
over 70 years old. So the estimated Covid-19 mortality rate comes in at around 1% for older
people. The risk for younger people is far lower.
How do you avoid getting Covid-19? Basically the same way you avoid any cold. After all,
Covid-19 is a cold virus. Let me describe my personal experience dodging colds in my
daily workplace. I'm a 65-year-old physician who works in an office seeing patients for
over 30 years. Normally, I greet and shake hands with at least 10-20 people a day. I
love my work and I love being around people, but my job is obviously high-risk for picking
up viruses and getting sick. Yet, even with all this daily human contact, I almost never
catch a cold. At most, maybe I come down with a cold every 3-4 years maybe. So, what's my
secret? I live in constant awareness that my hands and my entire surrounding environment
are covered with infectious viruses. I never touch my eyes, mouth, or nose without first
washing my hands. Keeping my hands off my face does the trick. Many of you are diligently
sterilizing your surrounding environment by wiping down all your counters, keyboards,
phones, doorknobs, and that may help a little bit; however, it's not going to help if you
keep touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Eventually, one of those sneaky viruses will get you.
I'm also not much of a believer in face masks unless it's a way just to remind you to keep
your hands from touching your face. Relatively few people catch colds by being coughed on.
More than 95% of the colds we get come from our own hands. Sure, if someone with a cold
sneezes or coughs near me, I take precautions. I temporarily cease inhaling and move away
so that I don't breathe the standing air that closely surrounds them. As a service to others,
when I have a cold I confess to anyone I'm greeting that I'm infected and I abstain from
shaking hands. When my patients have colds, they kindly warn me not to shake hands with
them as well. This is a common courtesy to extend when coping with the symptoms of a
cold or flu. Now, of course, we're entering into a brand new era with this new type of
cold that can progress into a pneumonia in some people. Handshakes are a thing of the
past. Obviously, anyone with active cold symptoms should be at home, isolated until the symptoms
go away. Like smoking cigarettes indoors, moving around in public with a cough or a
runny nose is unacceptable.
Is there a treatment for coronavirus? Presently, there is no direct treatment for the coronavirus,
however, it is well-known that zinc inhibits the propagation and spread of the cold viruses
from their starting place in our throat area to other areas of the body like the lungs.
To minimize that viral spread throughout the body, anyone who feels new onset of cold symptoms
should keep their mucous membranes (their mouth and throat) constantly bathed in zinc.
until the cold symptoms abate. Cold-EEZE and Zicam are a couple of the products that are
available over the counter at your local pharmacy. Just recently, I read some fascinating very
preliminary research about an antibiotic called hydroxychloroquine that enables zinc to enter
into infective cells more efficiently. initial studies seem to show faster resolution of
Covid symptoms when hydroxychloroquine and zinc are used together. I'm talking about
patients with pneumonia problems. If anybody you know develops a viral pneumonia, you might
want to mention to them or their families about the possibility of adding hydroxychloroquine
to the zinc. It's an inexpensive well-tolerated anti-biotic that is easily obtained. I have
one other tip that I'd like to share. Over and over, I see people with colds and stuffy
nose [sniffs] sniffing to prevent any of the secretions from running down their face. I
kind of want to grab them and tell them to stop doing this when they sniff their nasal
secretions inward. They're sucking the virus down into their lungs increasing the risk
of getting pneumonia. Use a tissue or a handkerchief for those runny noses but don't suck the infected
secretions down into the lungs.
So, in conclusion, colds are very contagious and as a result, they spread far and wide
very quickly. Cold epidemics usually only come to an end after most the general population
has been infected and a broad spread herd immunity develops. Do I believe that people
are going to be able to stop touching their faces under this new threat of Covid-19? I
suspect it's going to be hard for many people to change their ways and consistently avoid
touching their faces. However, I know through my own experience that I've learned over many
years, that if the discipline of the hands can be mastered, it really works. Personally,
I have no nervousness being around people or crowds because I know that I control my
destiny. I am the only one who can infect me. I hope this information will give you
a greater sense that you can control your destiny. It is very difficult to be disciplined.
I even wash my hands before I go to sleep because I don't know what they're going to
do after I go to bed at night, but I truly believe if you're careful in this regard that
you can prevent yourself from catching this condition.
Thanks for watching.