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16 questions about corona: “The cashier coughed in her elbow, am I infected now?”

Pulmonologist at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, Menno van der Eerden, and Widiane Harroe, pharmacist at BENU Carnissehuis in Rotterdam-Charlois, answer these and other questions about the corona virus.

Ms Doorkamp from Rotterdam has a question about the work on her home. Workers are painting and cleaning the window frames on behalf of the housing company. The windows have to open for this and they are working close to the window. Is she in danger now?

Pulmonologist Van der Eerden: “If they keep 1.5 to 2 meters away, it’s okay. I think you shouldn’t worry. As long as they don’t talk, you’ll be fine.”

Ben Lamers from Rotterdam-Pendrecht was in the supermarket on Thursday morning. The cashier coughed in her elbow several times. Can he be infected now?

“If she did that neatly in her elbow, you don’t run a risk,” explains Van der Eerden. “Then it stays there and you cannot get infected. If she had coughed in your face, it would have been a different story. That is why the advice applies: cough and sneeze in your elbow.”

There is confusion about what exactly ‘don’t go outside’ means. Arjan van Dijk from Rotterdam-Lombardijen wants to know if he can still go outside to take a bike ride.

Pulmonologist Menno van der Eerden: “Certainly you can. I go outside myself. I go cycling, I look for nature. Getting a breath of fresh air is a good idea, as long as you don’t get close to each other.”

Van Dijk: Does that also apply to my 86-year-old father?

“Yes. Why shouldn’t your father be able to go outside? You are only contagious when you have it,” says the pulmonologist. In that case you have to stay inside.

The Rotterdammer also wonders whether this corona crisis is much worse than the flu epidemic of a few years ago.

Van der Eerden: “We see images from other countries. Many patients have an oxygen deficiency. I have never seen that with normal flu. The danger of ordinary flu is that you often get an infection with it, bacterial or fungus. This corona virus only causes pneumonia, but it is much more severe than with influenza, which causes some people to have an oxygen deficiency and death. “

“Are I afraid it will get worse? We measure it well and we see it every day. It may be different tomorrow. It is a strange world. We’ll say one day and tomorrow something else.”

Van Dijk has one last question, about the weather: does that influence?

The lung doctor: “In Spain, for example, it is now twenty degrees with a nice sun, but there too people are dying from the corona virus and there is a crisis situation.”

There are wild stories about vaccines and medicines that would increase the chances of getting corona. Kees from Rotterdam has read something about ibuprofen.

The pulmonologist is firm about that: “Ibuprofen does not make it worse. That rumor comes from France and has already been rectified by all experts. So you don’t have to worry about that.”

There is a hard search for a drug against the coronavirus. Ronald from Rotterdam wonders whether chloroquine (anti-malaria drug

, ed.)

maybe it works.

Widiane Harroe, pharmacist: “Chloroquine is a drug that has been on the market for 86 years. There are researchers who have looked at it and it seems that it may help against the virus. In China, where the virus first broke out , it has already been applied to infected patients. That indicated that it worked, but it is not yet widely used in the Netherlands. “

“Why not? Because it has only been tested on a small scale and it is a new virus. I think that’s the reason.”

The lung specialist adds: “Chloroquine has been included in the RIVM’s advisory guideline. It was given in the Amphia Hospital in Brabant, but Erasmus MC says: we do not give it. Because there is no evidence that it works. also potential side effects on the liver and kidney. Then you have to monitor that again. It does not help, it does not harm does not go on here, so we have to be careful. ”

Mrs. Lubbing from Maassluis wants to know exactly how the investigation into an infection is being tested.

“Virologists perform a throat swab,” explains the pulmonologist. “From that they can tell if the same virus has been found in other people. Is there a cluster? How was it transferred? That made it possible to find out where the source was at carnival and in Italy.”

How long is the incubation period of corona, Oscar from Rotterdam wants to know.

Van der Eerden: “The incubation period is between four and fourteen days. In China, we saw that people became ill within four days. In the Netherlands, we continue for two weeks. It can start with a cough or the flu. Sometimes you get after five days more complaints, such as cough, mucus and fever. But it can also remain mild. The majority remain mild. “

“How long you are sick also varies. Count between five and seven days. But sometimes it is also three weeks. At least wait until you are completely complaint-free before you have contact with other people. If you cough you are contagious . “

When is a cough corona and when not?

According to the lung specialist, a cough is nothing, but with a few times a day, you are contagious. Then you should stay at home and you shouldn’t be in contact with people, he says.

Can you also sustain permanent damage?

That is possible, says Van der Eerden. “This happens to people who are on a ventilator and who are seriously ill. They have severe pneumonia and scar tissue in the lungs. That does not go away anymore. The lung contents decrease and those people can remain short of breath. Others have few residual symptoms.”

When do you need a ventilator?

“What we see is that if you have pneumonia you breathe faster. Then your oxygen level decreases, so you breathe even harder, because you still need oxygen. Then you get exhausted and the machine has to take over.”

“Before that you will already be in the hospital. You will only be admitted there if it falls below a certain value, if it becomes dangerous for the heart or other organs.”

Many questions also come in about risk groups. Stephen from Leiden, for example, had heart surgery last year and wants to know if he is now at extra risk.

“That is a difficult question,” says Van der Eerden. “The infections are 50/50. Half are perfectly healthy, the other half have an underlying disease. So there is a fifty percent chance of getting the virus. It also depends on what condition you are in. If your heart is functioning properly, I think it’s not that bad. ”

Mister Van Rijn (79 years old) has problems with his airways. He has COPD and wonders if he can still go shopping.

The pulmonologist says that this makes him extra vulnerable, so he has to be careful, but he can just go outside. “If you keep your distance. The prime minister said it again on Thursday evening. Groceries must be done, because we must continue to eat. If you have a family member who can do the shopping for you, that is preferable. The chance of contamination in the supermarket is present. You have to keep your distance. And wash your hands at home, because then you probably have touched a cart. If you follow those rules, the chance should be smaller. “

“If you have new complaints, you have to be careful. If you already have a cough and you have known complaints, it is okay, but it is better to stay indoors if you change.”

Mister Van Rijn is also a bit worried about his wife, who is coming from Curaçao next week. Should she be quarantined here?

“No,” says the pulmonologist. “If she’s fit and you know she hasn’t been in contact with infected people, she won’t have to be quarantined.”

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