Introduction: Better Health begins at Tidelands Health, dedicated to keeping the communities we serve healthy and active. That's why we're proud to present our podcast series Better Health Radio brought to you by Tidelands Health. Here's Bill Klaproth.

Bill Klaproth: This Tidelands health COVID-19 podcast recorded on March 25th, 2020. So what exactly is social distancing among the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis and what do you need to know to help limit the spread of COVID-19? Let's find out what Dr. Gerald Harmon, Vice President of Medical Affairs at Tideland's Health. First off, Dr. Harmon, thank you for your time. I know you're very busy. What exactly does social distancing mean?

Dr. Harmon: It means we need to put distance between ourselves and what we normally want to do interacting with others. We're by nature a socialized species, we really get bored being alone. We tend to want to interact with others, so you need to maintain some social distance. And in the essence of what we're talking about today, Bill, I mean don't touch each other. Give yourself a reasonable distance, six feet. And we think the science of that means that the germs won't spread more than six feet in a normal environment.

Host: So we all need to keep six feet of distance between us because this virus can be spread through the air. Is that correct?

Dr. Harmon: Apparently it will spread on a routine circumstances, routine conditions, six feet or less, or less than six feet. That's why that cushion is determined. Social distance also means not gathering in large groups, not just maintain the cute six-figure distance, but larger groups, it's going to be hard to maintain any distance because you're going to want to interact. You're going to want to talk you, your natural tendency is to bump into each other even accidentally. You want to shake hands. It's just an affection that we might have for each other. And that's, that's a learned behavior. We've encouraged that over decades and now we're asking us to change that paradigm.

Host: Right? And you know, that cuts out a lot of contact. So is it safe to go anywhere?

Dr. Harmon: Well, it's going to be necessary to go somewhere. So that's an oxymoron. You can't say it's safe to go nowhere. So they're going to be some requirements. You have to do. But you need to take safe actions when you go. If you have to go to the bank, if you have to go to the gas station. Most of the banks these days are asking us to only come to the drive up window. Most of the restaurants in our area are closed, or do take out only or delivery. And I noticed the gas stations are still self-service. So what you need to do there is to maintain some contact precautions, wear gloves, wipe down the gas tank handle, wipe it down, have a germ free antiseptic or an alcohol based hand sanitizer that you wipe your hands with you as soon as you get there using those places so that you don't accidentally touch your face, mouth or nose.

Host: Yup. That makes a lot of sense. And yeah, if you do have to touch something, make sure you have that hand sanitizer with you. So all reports and studies have shown us that social distancing does work. Is that correct?

Dr. Harmon: And that's not just a false paradigm. That's basically one of the discoveries we've made over previous pandemics throughout history, previous disease outbreaks. We know that if we can not allow touching, spread of the virus through contact and, or aerosol or airway transmission, then we can reduce the infectious spread and the spread of the disease. And the fewer people with the disease and or the germs, the fewer people substantially get exposed to it. It really makes a difference, especially in diseases where we don't have an immediate fix and or vaccine such as the Coronavirus that we're dealing with now.

Host: So what you're saying is then social distancing can help us keep from overburdening a hospital or a healthcare system?

Dr. Harmon: Well, yeah, that's exactly right. One of the threats for this particular disease or any disease for which we don't have an effective treatment other than time and patience is that we know that social distancing where we can reduce the number of infected people allows us to learn more about it, to get more weapons in our quiver as it were and allows us to not overwhelm unlimited access system. That the good part about living in the United States and in many parts of the world these days is we have good life expectancy. And we have that because we have good healthy activities, we behave better, we tend to take care of ourselves. We've reduced smoking. We're not doing so well on obesity, but we're trying to be more cognizant of cardiovascular disease and exercise and better diets. The problem is there's not enough healthcare situation to take care of 330 million sick Americans. So we're going to have to not overwhelm the healthcare services.

Host: Yes. And you flatten the curve as we've heard, because we don't want to overburden our hospital or healthcare system. So what if a person lives in a place that hasn't had a lot of cases of COVID-19, the Coronavirus? Do they really need to practice social distancing as well?

Dr. Harmon: You're talking exactly where I live. I live in the small rural part of South Carolina and we have been blessed with fairly low density of population. I get up in the morning to go to work and I might not see a person on the street for the first five miles of my journey, I go seven miles to my office or my hospital. I don't see anybody until I'm five miles into my journey. And then it's a handful. I get frustrated waiting a few seconds at a red light. So I don't see a lot. We're not a densely populated area. That doesn't mean they were immune to it. We only have a handful of positive cases right now. And you would think, well, it's okay. I don't have to follow these social distancing rules, but I do because it doesn't take a whole lot to start overburdening my small healthcare system here. We're not a large healthcare facility and it doesn't take a lot to overwhelm us with a handful of cases. So everybody needs to practice this type of disease suppression.

Host: And when you say everybody, that means younger people too, because younger people I think, seem to think, eh, I’m immune to this. I'm in my twenties, I'm healthy. I don't get sick much, but they too need to practice social distancing. Is that right?

Dr. Harmon: Indeed. All young people are Bulletproof by definition. You can't tell them otherwise. All right. I have been that way in my youth. I was absolutely bulletproof and I grew up in an era. Unfortunately, I'm dating myself, but we didn't have seatbelts and when they came up with these new things called seatbelts, I'm thinking, huh, I don't need one. But absolutely you learn after a while that these public safety messages are really there for a reason. They're not there just inhibit my activities, restrict my freedom. So yeah, the young people are not immune to it. The great news is the young people tend to get over it better, but they still can get very sick. In fact, I had many discussions over the last couple of days about the resistance of young people. Yet the fact is they still get it. They just tolerate it better.

Host: And that's important to point out. As young people think, Hey, I don't have to worry about this. But young people are definitely getting this and sometimes it can be very severe. But the point is young people to have to be concerned with this.

Dr. Harmon: Although they get ill, they have a lower mortality rate, meaning not as many of them die, not as many of them need hospitalization and or intensive care or even ventilation. So they are somewhat resistant to that. And that's probably why these younger people, even if they don't have to be hospitalized, they're still going to project the disease. They're going to cause a substantial spread of the disease. So they need to protect themselves to be part of the solution and not part of the carriers that might better to other people who might not do as well as they do.

Host: Yeah, that's a great way to put it. So Dr. Harmon, in addition to social distancing, what else should we do to protect ourselves from getting COVID-19 the Coronavirus?

Dr. Harmon: That's exactly right. You've got to think, well, Dr. Harmon, you tell me there is no treatment. You tell me there was no vaccine. You tell me not to have any fun, you're going to ask me to do a pretty dull life here, aren't you? Well, I'm going to tell you that one of the things we need to do is take care of ourselves. Outside of that. When I tell you to social distance, I don't mean to tell you to become a hermit inside without any consideration of others. I want you to exercise and you're going to say, well, I can't exercise in my home. If it's possible in a small less, densely populated areas such as where I live and some places, get outside, run, ride a bike, walk, maintain that social distance, do the best you can, but I'm not telling you not to exercise. You got to keep your health up so that your defenses are there in case you do get exposed to the virus.

Host: I think that's a great point. It's still okay to go outside. You can go for a walk, you can go for a run, you can go for a bike ride. You just have to maintain social distance. So if somebody is walking towards you on the sidewalk, just kind of spread apart. Keep that six feet wave, hi, how are you doing as you go by, right? That's how we should handle it.

Dr. Harmon: Yes. And that's not telling you to be distant from them in an emotional or a sociable way. Just means don't transmit, touch to touch skin to skin. And if they happen to cough within six feet and you've really asked for trouble, you never know. They may simply just sneeze. They may have an allergy and all my goodness. All of a sudden your um, your fight or flight mechanism kicks in. I've just been sneezed on. So avoid that situation. So don't have to be there.

Host: Right. That makes sense. Well, this has been very informative and very helpful. Dr. Harmon, thank you so much for your time today. We appreciate it and thank you for all your work on the front lines of this as it spreads across the country.

Dr. Harmon: Thank you, sir. Take care.

Host: That's Dr. Gerald Harmon, vice president of medical affairs at Tideland's Health, and stay up to date on the latest on the Coronavirus and find more details and helpful tips at Tidelandshealth.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Better Health Radio, I'm Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.