‘Just calm down’ local doctor urges amid Coronavirus outbreak
SALISBURY, Md. – On Tuesday, 47 ABC sat down with Dr. Walter Gianelle to answer all questions about the Coronavirus. We started off with one of the questions we’ve been seeing most: is the Coronavirus just like the flu?
“It is a flu virus, Coronavirus is a flu virus, so it is acting very much like the flu, the symptoms are respiratory and it’s congestion, fever, cough,” Dr. Gianelle said.
And, much like the flu, Dr. Gianelle says the Coronavirus is impacting the elderly and the immunocompromised the most.
“There are 3% who have died from it, that’s what the data shows, but they are the elderly population, those who have chronic comorbidities, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease,” Dr. Gianelle said.
We also asked Dr. Gianelle about where people can get tested, and he tells us pretty much any hospital or urgent care center. But just because you can get tested doesn’t mean you should.
“It’s for people who have respiratory symptoms, who have a fever, who do not have the flu or who do not have pneumonia, those are the people who need to be tested, because there’s a limited number of tests here on the Eastern Shore at this point,” he said.
Of course, we asked Dr. Gianelle what people can do to protect themselves and others.
“Just the standard, you know, basically good hand washing, if you’re sick, try and quarantine yourself, if you have to cough, cough into your elbow, not into your hand,” he advised.
And while everyone adjusts to a new way of life with quarantines and closures across the country, Dr. Gianelle is pleading with everyone not to panic.
“Just calm down, be smart, you know, use your protection, good hand washing, cough into your arm, understand that 97%, probably more like 98% of us are going to do just fine,” he urged.
Dr. Gianelle adds that Salisbury is still seeing a high number of Flu A and B cases and that those can sometimes be confused with Coronavirus. The best way to find out, is to get tested for the flu first if you have any symptoms.
