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What Did This Won't Hurt a Bit Say About Steroids and COVID-19?

On a March 2020 episode of This Won't Hurt a Bit, Dr. Mel Herbert and Dr. Jessica Mason said daily steroid use means a person is immunosuppressed and at higher risk from COVID-19. They had also looked at steroids as treatment for people who already had the virus, and at that point steroids looked harmful, so they generally would not use them for the illness. Worse cases tracked with heart failure, earlier heart attacks, high blood pressure, and diabetes. They called the virus deadlier and more contagious than seasonal flu or H1N1, less deadly than Ebola but easier to catch, and less deadly than SARS but more able to spread. The comparison they used was the 1918 flu.

Transcript

What do you want to know about Covid-19? ·

This Won't Hurt a Bit

More from this episode

  1. What Is Covid 19It is the disease caused by this particular Corona virus. Covid-19 stands for Corona virus Disease 2019.
  2. What Other Coronaviruses Are ThereThere are about four viruses in that family of coronaviruses that causes the common cold.
  3. How Do You Get SARS-CoV-2Most people would get it through their nose and throat. So somebody is sick, and they sneeze or cough, and all that virus gets fired into the air.
  4. What Is Fecal-oral TransmissionFecal-oral transmission is a real thing, and that's how a lot of diseases get transmitted because someone goes to poop, and then a tiny microscopic amount of…
  5. Could Someone Cough and Pass the Virus Onto MeYeah, that's exactly the concern, and that's why right now the recommendation is social distancing. Stay away from people.
  6. When Should We Get Tested for Covid19If you do not have symptoms, you should not go testing. There's nothing to test.
  7. Why Are We Holding Off on Testing EveryoneWhile the tests are not yet widely available, we want to preserve the tests for healthcare workers who need them first.
  8. What Is Killing Covid-19 PatientsViral pneumonia is the most common reason why patients are dying from this virus. Respiratory failure ( ARDS ) is a really hard problem to fix.
  9. What Are the Good News About Covid19Young people can get very sick from it, but it looks like this virus is most deadly to the elderly.
  10. What Is Social DistancingAn attempt to stay away from mass gatherings and lots of people so we can limit the spread and the rate of the spread of the virus.
  11. What Does That Mean to 'flatten the Curve' of InfectionInstead of getting a really sharp influx of newly infected patients, we are trying to slow down the spread in a more predictable, manageable way.

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