Coronavirus – COVID19

We are at the start of a very serious pandemic that will result in a significant loss of life particularly for the elderly. COVID-19 is a new virus which means that we have no immunity to it at all. The virus is also highly infectious and we are expecting in the region of 70% of the population to become infected. The mortality rate is somewhere between 1% and 3% which means that the number of deaths will be in the hundreds of thousands in the UK. We also have this on a background of an NHS service that has suffered with decades of under funding and an insufficient number of hospital beds and intensive care beds. But, there are things that we can all do.

1. If you have cold like symptoms, a fever or a dry cough you MUST self isolate for a minimum of 7 days. Do not expose others to your germs.

2. Exhibit a degree of social responsibility. If you are young and fit you are unlikely to suffer significantly but if you transmit the virus to someone who is elderly it could have fatal consequences. We must therefore change our behaviours to protect those around us.

3. Handwashing is critical and get your kids to do the same.

If you have a HOTPOD® Child Health Monitoring Kit you can use this on adults too to monitor your vital signs. Learn to do this while you are well. At the very least make sure you have a thermometer to hand and ideally a saturation monitor too.

It is likely that the UK will go into lockdown at some point soon. So start to prepare and think about the elderly, lonely people in your community who we might need to help during the next 4 months. Community action will be vital and will bring out the best in everyone.