VANCOUVER -- As COVID-19 continues to spread worldwide, so do misconceptions about the virus.
CTV Morning Live sat down with family physician Dr. Rhonda Low to better understand COVID-19 and separate fact from fiction.
Below are some highlights of the six-minute interview, which have been edited for length and clarity. The full interview can be watched above.
Keri Adams: With spring break coming up, should families still travel?
Dr. Rhonda Low: It depends who's asking and where they're going to go. For sure we discourage anybody from going to those Level 3 countries that are listed as such by (Health Canada) and that would be of course China, Iran, Italy, South Korea and even Hong Kong is a Level 2.
But then I've got families who are saying to me "I'm going to Disneyland! The kids are so looking forward to it." Well if we think about Disneyland right now, and this is one week before spring break, your risk of going to Disneyland is relatively low.
Now it's relatively low in large institutions and amusement parks, even if they have a lot of international travellers because we still want to remind folks that your chance of getting coronavirus in the community is still relatively low and for the vast majority of folks it's a mild illness.
So it depends who you're taking with you. If you're taking grandma and grandpa who are over 60 who have underlying medical diseases, not a good idea. If you're going on a cruise, we're just saying to folks, please don't go on a cruise right now. But this is a fluid situation … and you should be prepared to make changes at the last moment.
Jason Pires: What is community transmission and why is there such a concern over it?
Low: It's all about case-finding and tracking all their contacts, and that's how you hope to contain a disease. If you're talking about community transmission, you're talking about folks who you don't really know where they might have picked it up.
The only difference with that is it just means that all of us needs to be way more vigilant.
Adams: How are people being monitored at home? How do we know they aren't running errands?
Low: There are two types of isolation. The first type is someone who thinks they may have been exposed but they're not sick. The second is someone who is in self-isolation because they've got symptoms and signs and they're unwell. I think most folks don't want to go out – they're too sick to go out.
But the folks who are self-quarantining, number one it's an honour system. But number two, we soon find that self-quarantining is pretty hard because if you've got a family to care for, we're actually saying to people make sure you're in your own bedroom, preferably your own bathroom with your own towels.
You're not eating with your family or you're interacting with them, you've got a mask on, you don't go out into the community, grocery shopping you have to ask folks to bring food to you, so that's what we're looking for. But it's all on the honour system.
Watch the full interview above.
