Call for help, retired doctors and medical students come together to help fight COVID-19
The increasing number of coronavirus cases has medical professionals of all ages mobilizing to lend a helping hand. Several universities across the country are allowing their medical students to graduate early, while at the same time retirees are heading back to work. It's demonstrating the spirit of the times, showing that we really will get through this together.
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A former emergency room nurse in Michigan took to Facebook with a warning to all those who are wearing disposable gloves during the coronavirus pandemic: You are still at risk for infection.
In the viral Facebook video, which had some 1.3 million views as of Tuesday afternoon, Molly Lixey, who now works at an infusion clinic, shows viewers how easily possible coronavirus-causing germs can spread if one is not cautious, especially in public places like the grocery store.
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“I'm seeing a lot of people out in public wearing gloves right now. That's great. If you want to wear gloves, that's all fine and well, you absolutely can,” Lixey begins. “But I want to remind you of a little thing called cross-contamination.”
Lixey, pretending to be a grocery store shopper, then puts on a pair of disposable latex gloves, walking viewers through a common grocery store scenario. She first reaches for “toilet paper,” or what is represented by a paper plate in the video, showing viewers that the germs — or, in this case, paint — are now on her hands. She then reaches for a “phone,” represented by what appears to be a piece of cardboard, to answer a “text” — showing that the germs have now covered the device. She then scratches her nose, spreading germs there, and then touches her face, leaving more germs behind.
By the end, Lixey reminds viewers to dispose of the gloves in the trash can — not on the ground in the store’s parking lot, as some shoppers around the nation have been guilty of — and ends with a strong statement: “There's no point in wearing gloves if you're not going to wash your hands every time you touch something. There's no point, friends,” she says.
Cross-contamination can still be an issue even while wearing gloves. (iStock)
“Do whatever makes you feel safe, but there is some science here — and all of this fear is just manifesting into people being crazy, and they’re not acting very smart.
“Go ahead and wear your gloves,” she continues, “but don’t touch your face. Don’t touch your dirty phone.”
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The COVID-19-causing virus likely spreads when a sick person sneezes or coughs, releasing respiratory droplets that can then be inhaled by healthy people who are near them — hence why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends staying at least six feet away from another person while in public. But touching a contaminated surface and then touching your face, nose or eyes with dirty hands can also be a mode of transmission.