Public Auslan video about Coronavirus (COVID19) in Auslan – information about the virus and what to do.
Introduction:
Information provided is up to date on 2nd March 2020.
Video from Darlene Thornton.
Link to Auslan video about Coronavirus
Transcript
Coronavirus (COVID-19), explained by Darlene Thornton in Auslan on 2 March 2020.
There is a new virus emerged recently from China in a city named Wuhan, the first case was only last December, and the authorities tried to contain this virus without any luck.
Now coronavirus (known as CV for this transcript) is spread out around the world, affecting over 60 countries with about 3,000 deaths in total.
CV has its sign name – fist with open five on one end of the fist, and the handshape ‘five’ moves from left to right – this represent the corona, then change to ‘spread-out’ for the second part of the sign name as virus. This is the visual representative of the CV.
Since the news and social media like Facebook went crazy over the CV, which make people worried and starting to panic. Many are asking what to do to prevent from getting CV.
Before I explain what to do about CV, I want to explain the differences between CV and common cold or flu.
Common colds/flu – usually have body ache, tired, fever, runny nose, wet cough and phlegm to spit out.
CV – mostly with fever, sore throat, short of breath or hard to breath normal with dry cough.
If you’re not sure what your illness could be, it is best to stay home and call your doctor (through NRS or by a family member or friend) and explain. They will then instruct you what to do next. Please follow their instructions to make it easier for everyone.
CV is actually more risk for people aged around 70 years old and over, since their immunity system is usually compromised with other serious health conditions, such as heart or other.
Surprisingly, it’s not a big risk for children. For people between children and old people, it varies however usually mild. Unless they have other serious health conditions then this could make them sicker.
It is important to remember that CV is a very new virus, so medical people and scientists are still trying to work out how it works and how to stop it. The information about CV will be changing a lot for next weeks or months, so it is best to go to your state Health website (such as WA Health, NSW Health, QLD Health, etc) to check any latest information on CV.
Now on about how reduce the risk of getting CV yourself.
The main thing is to keep good hygiene – wash your hands all the time!
It is recommended that we use running warm water with soap, wet hands then turn tap off and put soap on hands. Rub, wash and ensure you’ve checked space between fingers and nails. After about 10 to 20 seconds of washing your hands, put under running warm water to rinse, then dry your hands properly with either clean towel or paper towel. You can use air dryer but be sure that your hands are dry when you’re done. CV can live on surface (of your skin or on handle, door, table, etc, for 10 minutes before it dies off. Yes, 10 minutes!
Can you imagine where your hands touch for the last 20 minutes – when you go to shops, touching doors, handles, trolley, bags, or money! That is a lot of opportunities for CV to travel around fast.
CV actually prefer to be cold and wet, not warm/hot and dry…
You can use hand sanitisers, but they are not 100% reliable like soap and water. It is better to use hand sanitiser if you’re not near anywhere to wash your hands. If you have one, please check that it has 60% or over alcohol in it.
About the face masks, it is not that great. Because of the gaps between mask and face, CV can travel around it.
CV is an airborne virus, meaning it travels through air by the droplets – when you sneeze, the droplets of your sneeze shoot out and hang in air for a while. That’s how CV travels.
So, when you sneeze, please do it in your elbow if there are no tissues nearby. When you use tissues, please put them in bins straightaway.
It is good idea to stand away from anyone between 1 to 3 metres apart.
About the face masks, it is ok if you’re sick yourself and doesn’t want to spread it around, or if you already have other serious health problem and wants to reduce the risk. Just remember that they are not the best thing to prevent 100% from CV.
One important thing to remember – about CV being able to live for 10 minutes on surface. This means you need to stop yourself from touching your face until you have washed your hands. CV will travel fast from anywhere on your face into your mouth or nose.
CV spreads through breathing which goes into lungs then make you very sick. So, it is important to try to keep hands clean, don’t touch your face and remember to keep space from others.
If you are feeling sick and you are not sure if it is cold or CV, please call your doctor to check and do what they tell you to do. Do not go to medical centre before letting them know as they need to prepare to see you in case you may have CV.
Be sensible, and be careful with your health and follow the instructions from government and health department about CV. The main goal for the government is to contain and stop CV from spreading around in Australia.
Last note – don’t be racist, it is not Chinese’s fault that CV developed. CV doesn’t care who or where you are from, it just wanted to live in your lungs to make you sick.
I hope this info helps you to know what to do about CV.