Selected Podcast
Coronavirus: What You Need to Know
Dr. Keith Moss gives an update on Coronavirus, what are the symptoms, who are at risk, what you can do to protect yourself, and what Riverside is doing to prepare for the coronavirus.
Featured Speaker:
Keith Moss, MD, MA, FACP
Dr. Keith Moss was appointed to his current position in 2015. In 2013, he was appointed Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer. After spending time in academia Dr. Moss received his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1999. He completed his residency at Rush University Medical Center in 2002. Prior to his current positions, he served Riverside as Chief Medical Advisor for Information Technology. He was recognized in 2016 and 2017 as one of the nation's “Hospital and Health System CMIOs to Know” by Becker’s Hospital Review. Dr. Moss continues to practice as a general internist in Bourbonnais, Illinois and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. Transcription:
Coronavirus: What You Need to Know
Introduction: Well Within Reach is brought to you by Riverside My Chart, your simple secure and confidential online health connection. With just a click Riverside My Chart lets you stay well connected to the same information your doctor sees. You can request prescription refills, pay your bills, schedule your next appointment, and more. Manage your care from your laptop, tablet or phone, whether for yourself, your kids, or the grandparents, My Chart makes your busy life just a little easier. Learn more and enroll today at Riversidemychart.org. Just another way to stay well connected from Riverside Healthcare.
Introduction: Riverside Healthcare puts the health and wellness information you need well within reach.
Carl Maronich: Joining us today on the podcast is Dr. Keith Moss. Dr. Moss is an Internist at Riverside, as well as the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Medical Information Officer for Riverside Healthcare. Dr. Moss, thanks for joining us today.
Dr. Moss: Thank you very much.
Host: And we have you here to talk about a very important topic, Coronavirus. It's getting a lot of attention these days. A lot is being uh, being talked about in the media about it. We wanted to get a real medical professional in to tell us all about and all the things we need to know and what people should be concerned about regarding Coronavirus. Let's start with what is Coronavirus?
Dr. Moss: Well, Coronavirus is a virus which is a small biological unit that infects humans and other animals. There's a variety of strains of Coronavirus, some of which just cause the common cold. However, there are some strains which caused much more serious symptoms. And the current COVID-19 version of the Coronavirus is certainly one of those things.
Host: Is COVID-19 the new element of Coronavirus, it's been around a long time?
Dr. Moss: It's a new strain of Coronavirus. So it's, there are a variety of these viruses. This just happens to be a particularly more what's called valiant strain or one that can cause more serious symptoms.
Host: And because it's newer, am I correct in what I've heard that not as much is known about it. Therefore that causes even more concern?
Dr. Moss: It does. However, we still, we are learning every day more and more about it. And I think people have a lot better handle on its transmission now and doing things to prevent it. There is no treatment for it right now except for what's called supportive care, which means that if you happen to get it, there's lots of things that people can do to help you with your breathing, to help you with making sure that you recover well from it.
Host: Yeah. So let's talk about symptoms which sounds like would be similar to the flu or other things as well.
Dr. Moss: The vast majority of people who get Coronavirus will get things very similar to a common cold maybe or you know, runny nose and cough, maybe a little bit of a temp, but generally do very well. So that that applies to probably 80 plus percent of people. There are a smaller subset of people who will get more serious symptoms that may need more care.
Host: Who is at most significant risk should they get Coronavirus?
Dr. Moss: Those who are more significant risk are the elderly and those with a lot of what are called comorbidities or multiple different diseases and those who are, have their immune system suppressed whatever reasons because of other illnesses. Those are the people who really are at the highest risk.
Host: Now with, with things that we've heard, your likelihood of contracting Coronavirus has to do a lot with travel as we've heard most recently. Talk a little bit about that and who should be concerned?
Dr. Moss: Well, as you know, Coronavirus started in the markets and Wuhan, China and that is where it began and it has spread, you know, throughout China from there and then those who have traveled to and from China, those with a lot of travel. Who have actually ended up back in their home countries have put those countries at risk and then therefore us at risk more. Those countries are China, of course, South Korea, Japan to some degree, Italy and Iran.
Host: Those are the countries right now as we're recording this that are part of that. That can change. So really people should be looking to the CDC websites, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for updated travel restriction information.
Dr. Moss: Exactly. The CDC website has a number of things on it which can help with making sure that you protect yourself well, but also gives you updates in terms of the spread of the disease and you know, where it is and what these travel restrictions will be.
Host: And let's talk a little about protecting oneself from this, talk a little about how people can protect themselves from this, and other similar types of illness.
Dr. Moss: Yeah. This is similar to protecting yourself from the flu from other respiratory illnesses that come every winter and that we see all the time and actually can an aggregate be even more concerning because after all, influenza has now killed over 16,000 people in America alone this season. So the most important things are if you are sick, stay home.
Host: The idea of the toughing it out, you know, going to work and just sucking it up, and living your life isn't the best advice is it?
Dr. Moss: Absolutely not. You should go home to recover. That's what you should do. And that does two things. Number one, it allows you to recover and avoid the stresses of work and it also allows you to not spread the virus to other people. And that again, it applies to Coronavirus just as well as it applies to your colds and to the flu.
Host: We hear a lot about masks and we see people wearing masks. Talk a little bit about how beneficial they are or aren't?
Dr. Moss: Masks as a rule don't tend to be very helpful. If you don't have any symptoms, they're not going to necessarily stop you from getting anything. And after about 20 minutes they become moist and that moisture actually can help trap these viruses. And so if you touch your mask and then touch something else, you're actually more likely to give someone else something than if you didn't have a mask on at all. It's when you have symptoms that people will put masks on you, mostly medical personnel to prevent you from spreading it to others. But you putting it on yourself when you have no symptoms and you feel fine, isn't really going to be that effective. You want to make sure that if you know someone's sick that you don't have close contact with them. And when I say that it's within six feet, and you know somebody is definitely sick, don't get near them unless you absolutely have to. And if you do, you know, try to protect yourself to some degree, hand-washing is also a critical portion of all of this. You need to keep your hands washed and not just to rinse them off, but to really wash them with soap and water or use hand sanitizer if you have any. Those both can be very helpful. In the washing of the hands, it should be for 20 seconds. People talk about singing happy birthday to you twice, but it's a song that I don't always like to sing now that I'm 55. So, but you know, the, the 22nd rule is what applies here. Also, you know, your face, because it's where the virus comes out basically comes out of your mouth and your nose and, and your eyes even, if you touch your face a lot and then touch other things that can transmit the virus very easily also. So try to avoid doing those things.
Host: Makes sense. When we talk about, you know, all this, what if someone thinks they may have contracted or could have been exposed to a Coronavirus? What are their best steps?
Dr. Moss: You know, I think the most important thing is most of the time this won't be Coronavirus. It will still be another of the more typical viruses like influenza or the common cold. There are only five known people as of today in Illinois with Coronavirus. So I think the most important thing is to understand if you've traveled to one of these areas in question, certainly you might be at more risk and you might want to contact your healthcare professional as time goes on, this may change though because there will be more places which will be have more of an outbreak. So I would keep to the CDC website. Riverside has its own website and we'll have updates on this stuff. If there's questions, I would always say contact your healthcare professional.
Host: You know, one of the things I know we're putting on the website is if you've traveled to these places and you're getting symptomatic, you should call the Illinois Department of Public Health and they are the ones who were kind of directing where you would go for testing. Is that right?
Dr. Moss: That's correct. They will do that. The most important thing is if you do get significant symptoms with significant fevers, you know, over especially over 101, cough, shortness of breath, those are the times when you're more likely to have a more serious illness and that is when you'd want to contact your healthcare professional. If you have mild symptoms, you may just want to go home and work on those things as if you had a cold.
Host: Now, one of the things that we've been talking about internally in the hospitals stressing to folks, not just to show up in their physician office or even at the hospital without preparation on the other end, so people they can, we can receive you and do the right things the moment that we receive you, is that correct?
Dr. Moss: Yeah. We want to make sure that if you have these symptoms and they could possibly be from Coronavirus, that we protect everybody in the community. That's really important because if you happen to be infected with this, we would want to put a mask on you when you present it to the emergency room or to an office and the reason for that is to avoid spreading it to all the personnel there.
Host: Yeah, so again, the, the directive would be to contact the Illinois Department of Public Health. Their phone number is on our website. They can direct you with regard to testing and give you instructions and then the proper protocol to follow wherever you should end up going.
Dr. Moss: Exactly.
Host: Okay. Very good. Anything else Dr. Moss, that we want to mention regarding Coronavirus, what the public should know?
Dr. Moss: I think the most important thing is to let us help you. Let the healthcare professionals help you. Let the CDC and other experts on this disease help you and don't give into fear. That's the most important thing I can tell people is don't be afraid of this. We are going to do whatever we can to make sure that we control this outbreak and you know, doing that I think is going to be, make things a lot easier.
Host: One of the best ways to combat fear is with information and all the information you would need can be found at the CDC website, which is cdc.gov.
Dr. Moss: Absolutely.
Host: Dr. Moss, thank you very much for coming in today.
Dr. Moss: Thank you.
Coronavirus: What You Need to Know
Introduction: Well Within Reach is brought to you by Riverside My Chart, your simple secure and confidential online health connection. With just a click Riverside My Chart lets you stay well connected to the same information your doctor sees. You can request prescription refills, pay your bills, schedule your next appointment, and more. Manage your care from your laptop, tablet or phone, whether for yourself, your kids, or the grandparents, My Chart makes your busy life just a little easier. Learn more and enroll today at Riversidemychart.org. Just another way to stay well connected from Riverside Healthcare.
Introduction: Riverside Healthcare puts the health and wellness information you need well within reach.
Carl Maronich: Joining us today on the podcast is Dr. Keith Moss. Dr. Moss is an Internist at Riverside, as well as the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Medical Information Officer for Riverside Healthcare. Dr. Moss, thanks for joining us today.
Dr. Moss: Thank you very much.
Host: And we have you here to talk about a very important topic, Coronavirus. It's getting a lot of attention these days. A lot is being uh, being talked about in the media about it. We wanted to get a real medical professional in to tell us all about and all the things we need to know and what people should be concerned about regarding Coronavirus. Let's start with what is Coronavirus?
Dr. Moss: Well, Coronavirus is a virus which is a small biological unit that infects humans and other animals. There's a variety of strains of Coronavirus, some of which just cause the common cold. However, there are some strains which caused much more serious symptoms. And the current COVID-19 version of the Coronavirus is certainly one of those things.
Host: Is COVID-19 the new element of Coronavirus, it's been around a long time?
Dr. Moss: It's a new strain of Coronavirus. So it's, there are a variety of these viruses. This just happens to be a particularly more what's called valiant strain or one that can cause more serious symptoms.
Host: And because it's newer, am I correct in what I've heard that not as much is known about it. Therefore that causes even more concern?
Dr. Moss: It does. However, we still, we are learning every day more and more about it. And I think people have a lot better handle on its transmission now and doing things to prevent it. There is no treatment for it right now except for what's called supportive care, which means that if you happen to get it, there's lots of things that people can do to help you with your breathing, to help you with making sure that you recover well from it.
Host: Yeah. So let's talk about symptoms which sounds like would be similar to the flu or other things as well.
Dr. Moss: The vast majority of people who get Coronavirus will get things very similar to a common cold maybe or you know, runny nose and cough, maybe a little bit of a temp, but generally do very well. So that that applies to probably 80 plus percent of people. There are a smaller subset of people who will get more serious symptoms that may need more care.
Host: Who is at most significant risk should they get Coronavirus?
Dr. Moss: Those who are more significant risk are the elderly and those with a lot of what are called comorbidities or multiple different diseases and those who are, have their immune system suppressed whatever reasons because of other illnesses. Those are the people who really are at the highest risk.
Host: Now with, with things that we've heard, your likelihood of contracting Coronavirus has to do a lot with travel as we've heard most recently. Talk a little bit about that and who should be concerned?
Dr. Moss: Well, as you know, Coronavirus started in the markets and Wuhan, China and that is where it began and it has spread, you know, throughout China from there and then those who have traveled to and from China, those with a lot of travel. Who have actually ended up back in their home countries have put those countries at risk and then therefore us at risk more. Those countries are China, of course, South Korea, Japan to some degree, Italy and Iran.
Host: Those are the countries right now as we're recording this that are part of that. That can change. So really people should be looking to the CDC websites, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for updated travel restriction information.
Dr. Moss: Exactly. The CDC website has a number of things on it which can help with making sure that you protect yourself well, but also gives you updates in terms of the spread of the disease and you know, where it is and what these travel restrictions will be.
Host: And let's talk a little about protecting oneself from this, talk a little about how people can protect themselves from this, and other similar types of illness.
Dr. Moss: Yeah. This is similar to protecting yourself from the flu from other respiratory illnesses that come every winter and that we see all the time and actually can an aggregate be even more concerning because after all, influenza has now killed over 16,000 people in America alone this season. So the most important things are if you are sick, stay home.
Host: The idea of the toughing it out, you know, going to work and just sucking it up, and living your life isn't the best advice is it?
Dr. Moss: Absolutely not. You should go home to recover. That's what you should do. And that does two things. Number one, it allows you to recover and avoid the stresses of work and it also allows you to not spread the virus to other people. And that again, it applies to Coronavirus just as well as it applies to your colds and to the flu.
Host: We hear a lot about masks and we see people wearing masks. Talk a little bit about how beneficial they are or aren't?
Dr. Moss: Masks as a rule don't tend to be very helpful. If you don't have any symptoms, they're not going to necessarily stop you from getting anything. And after about 20 minutes they become moist and that moisture actually can help trap these viruses. And so if you touch your mask and then touch something else, you're actually more likely to give someone else something than if you didn't have a mask on at all. It's when you have symptoms that people will put masks on you, mostly medical personnel to prevent you from spreading it to others. But you putting it on yourself when you have no symptoms and you feel fine, isn't really going to be that effective. You want to make sure that if you know someone's sick that you don't have close contact with them. And when I say that it's within six feet, and you know somebody is definitely sick, don't get near them unless you absolutely have to. And if you do, you know, try to protect yourself to some degree, hand-washing is also a critical portion of all of this. You need to keep your hands washed and not just to rinse them off, but to really wash them with soap and water or use hand sanitizer if you have any. Those both can be very helpful. In the washing of the hands, it should be for 20 seconds. People talk about singing happy birthday to you twice, but it's a song that I don't always like to sing now that I'm 55. So, but you know, the, the 22nd rule is what applies here. Also, you know, your face, because it's where the virus comes out basically comes out of your mouth and your nose and, and your eyes even, if you touch your face a lot and then touch other things that can transmit the virus very easily also. So try to avoid doing those things.
Host: Makes sense. When we talk about, you know, all this, what if someone thinks they may have contracted or could have been exposed to a Coronavirus? What are their best steps?
Dr. Moss: You know, I think the most important thing is most of the time this won't be Coronavirus. It will still be another of the more typical viruses like influenza or the common cold. There are only five known people as of today in Illinois with Coronavirus. So I think the most important thing is to understand if you've traveled to one of these areas in question, certainly you might be at more risk and you might want to contact your healthcare professional as time goes on, this may change though because there will be more places which will be have more of an outbreak. So I would keep to the CDC website. Riverside has its own website and we'll have updates on this stuff. If there's questions, I would always say contact your healthcare professional.
Host: You know, one of the things I know we're putting on the website is if you've traveled to these places and you're getting symptomatic, you should call the Illinois Department of Public Health and they are the ones who were kind of directing where you would go for testing. Is that right?
Dr. Moss: That's correct. They will do that. The most important thing is if you do get significant symptoms with significant fevers, you know, over especially over 101, cough, shortness of breath, those are the times when you're more likely to have a more serious illness and that is when you'd want to contact your healthcare professional. If you have mild symptoms, you may just want to go home and work on those things as if you had a cold.
Host: Now, one of the things that we've been talking about internally in the hospitals stressing to folks, not just to show up in their physician office or even at the hospital without preparation on the other end, so people they can, we can receive you and do the right things the moment that we receive you, is that correct?
Dr. Moss: Yeah. We want to make sure that if you have these symptoms and they could possibly be from Coronavirus, that we protect everybody in the community. That's really important because if you happen to be infected with this, we would want to put a mask on you when you present it to the emergency room or to an office and the reason for that is to avoid spreading it to all the personnel there.
Host: Yeah, so again, the, the directive would be to contact the Illinois Department of Public Health. Their phone number is on our website. They can direct you with regard to testing and give you instructions and then the proper protocol to follow wherever you should end up going.
Dr. Moss: Exactly.
Host: Okay. Very good. Anything else Dr. Moss, that we want to mention regarding Coronavirus, what the public should know?
Dr. Moss: I think the most important thing is to let us help you. Let the healthcare professionals help you. Let the CDC and other experts on this disease help you and don't give into fear. That's the most important thing I can tell people is don't be afraid of this. We are going to do whatever we can to make sure that we control this outbreak and you know, doing that I think is going to be, make things a lot easier.
Host: One of the best ways to combat fear is with information and all the information you would need can be found at the CDC website, which is cdc.gov.
Dr. Moss: Absolutely.
Host: Dr. Moss, thank you very much for coming in today.
Dr. Moss: Thank you.