How Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) impacts you the business traveller.

Considering the first coronavirus case diagnosed in Toronto Canada, I felt it would be helpful to communicate with you to provide some data points, plus what you can do to protect yourself.

It’s my view that the epidemic in China has yet to peak and that there will likely be more cases outside of China, including Canada. This is a normal exponential curve phenomenon. Cases reported thus far in the U.S. and other countries were all connected to individuals who had recently traveled from Wuhan. The next wave will be those who infect others outside of the epicentre.

We all need to stay vigilant given the reality of global travel and the highly contagious person to person infection characteristic of this virus.

All of us who lived in Toronto during SARS in 2003 can recall how disruptive it was and it was quite frankly ‘scary’ especially for those of us who worked in hospitals at the time. At home, we had to decide if we should all sleep in separate beds and send the kids off to live with grandma for a while. I do believe that we are more prepared today as a global community.

• The communication systems have been created which didn’t exist at the time of SARS
• The public health departments and hospitals are more prepared with protocols and stocked up equipment in place
• DNA testing now allows us to identify the coronavirus within 24 hours

All these technologies make for an improved response today. We are not functioning in a ‘black box’ for weeks, when there was a time, we simply did not know who was really sick with the SARS virus and how the virus was behaving.

Here are a few more insights so you can do more proactive planning.

Here is what we know so far:

• A sudden surge of respiratory illnesses was first identified in Wuhan in December 2019, presentations greatly resembling viral pneumonia
• The virus identified appeared to be similar to SARS but seemed ‘less ‘deadly’. Signs and symptoms of this illness include fever, cough and difficulty breathing.
• Evidence so far indicates a human to human transmission for this nCoV virus with an incubation period of about 3–5 days
• Those with weakened immune systems and have a history of chronic conditions are at higher risk of complications, if infected.
• You’re more likely to get the ‘cold or seasonal flu’ especially if you’ve not taken this year’s effective flu shot. You might want to do so if you haven’t yet done so.
• This year’s flu shot will NOT protect you from getting this coronavirus infection
• The Pneumovax vaccine will NOT protect you from getting viral pneumonia, as it combats only specific types of bacterial pneumonias
• No antiviral treatment for coronavirus infection has been proven to be effective so far

Recommendations:

As of today, the risk level remains at Alert Level 3 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was issued on Tuesday.

Avoid Nonessential Travel to Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, for the Novel (new) Coronavirus.

I encourage all of you to consider postponing all travel to China at this time, given the uncertainty about how rapidly the virus is spreading, as well as the possibility of travel disruptions due to new areas in China that are under quarantine. Given it’s also Chinese New Year period, all business activities are also mostly shutdown.

Assuming we can all avoid travel to China, here’s my general guidelines (which should be truly followed year-round!):

• Avoid travelling when sick (traveling with a fever from an unrelated condition could result in increased screenings and other travel issues). Stay home and don’t go to work to infect others. Encourage those around you who are also sick to stay home, including your staff.
• Avoid close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections. Walk away from them.
• Practice good hygiene through frequent handwashing, especially after direct contact with sick people or their environment, and touching public items (such as being in trade shows). Use hand sanitizers.

Consider the following when travelling from home for business:

• Wear gloves — don’t touch things that are not your personal items — it’s easier in winter now
• Have your own hand sanitizer gel and use it OFTEN when in public
• Bring Lysol type wipes with you and use several of them to WIPE DOWN your entire airplane area including the table, touch screen, arm rest, head rest etc.
• BRING a face mask — you never know when you might sit near someone sick or you become sick to avoid getting the general cold, flu (low chance of getting the coronavirus)
• Yes, wipe down your hotel room, if you deem appropriate but especially the TV clicker and electronics you use in the room

Lifestyle:

• Get your sleep — 7–8 hours ideally
• Keep doing your exercise, if you are feeling well (don’t if you are sick with the cold)
• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, avoid too much sugar — good time to be ‘drier’ on the alcohol side of the leger
• Consider taking supplements that offer more immunity protection in addition to standard antioxidants with Zinc, B complex, and Elderberry
• We often recommend AHCC (potent anti-oxidant) which can be used to protect or rescue those who get frequent colds and flus

I trust the health community has learned big lessons from the SARS outbreak and we are far more prepared and organized to make sure it doesn’t spread in Canada. Take care, we should be fine this time around. Let’s hope.

Dr. Elaine Chin