How to consult a doctor during the lockdown? Everyone nowadays has to practice social distancing due to pandemic. Hospitals are overloaded with the patients and its so much chaos already. Since people should avoid going outside, at the same time they are worried about how can they consult with the doctor during a lockdown. Why is consultation important? Many people need to visit their doctor frequently. For example, a person suffering from heart disease has to be under the follow up of their concerned doctor. Or a person suffering from chronic kidney disease needs to consult with a doctor often. Some people need to get dose adjustments done in their prescriptions. While some patients need to get their tests done frequently. Doctors keep on changing the drugs as per patients’ needs. For all these purposes, people have to visit their clinicians to manage their disease and symptoms. Why are people unable to go to hospitals? Due to the lockdown, there is no public transport available through which one can go to the hospital. Because of this reason, people are facing issues in consulting with the doctor during a lockdown. People are getting anxious and this is also increasing panic and anxiety among people. Going to the hospital itself is so risky thing nowadays. People are trying their best to avoid the hospital’s exposure due to pandemic because they are a hub of infections. If a person is hypertensive, asthmatic, or immunocompromised, it makes them susceptible to catching an infection. People already have any health problem or suffering from a disease should avoid their exposure to clinics and hospitals much as they can. What is the solution? If you are one of those who needs to consult with their doctor often. Or if you already have heart disease, hypertension or asthma, etc and you are under follow up of the doctor. Do not worry if you require consultation with your doctor during a lockdown. We are here with a solution on which almost the whole world is relying right now. The solution to your problem is telemedicine. You can easily consult with your doctor during lockdown via telemedicine. What is telemedicine? Telemedicine is the platform for patients to interact with the doctor through a video conference. It helps the doctors to prescribe, diagnose, educate, and monitor the patient. With the help of telemedicine, the doctor asks relevant questions to the patient about the disease. The doctor and the patient can discuss the signs and symptoms of disease along with a detailed history. The doctor can then make a further decision about how to proceed further. Either the doctor needs to adjust the dose. Or the patient needs to get a blood test. Moreover, they can make a decision of calling the patient to the hospital if the patient’s health is critical. The patient can get the expert’s advice with the help of telemedicine. Benefits of telemedicine Heavy load on hospitals The hospitals can not manage the heavy volume of patients in this state of panic, but they can manage it with the help of telemedicine applications. Through telemedicine, you can help in preventing infections because it helps reduce people’s exposure to each other. Telemedicine reduces the physical contact of the patient to the doctors and other patients. This helps in containing the pandemic. High-risk patients Due to the pandemic, you should minimize your visits to any overcrowded place. Hospitals waiting for areas are already busy and so overcrowded that if you are even healthy, you can catch an infection. If you are a high-risk patient, you should avoid it. Remote consultation by the doctor, therefore, reduces the risk of getting exposed and infected. Lack of transportation during the lockdown Due to lockdown, there is no public transport outside. It is too hard for people to reach their doctors during a lockdown. So telemedicine can also help in this regard. You can virtually visit your doctor from the comfort of your home. Time-saving You need to wait for the doctors in a long queue. You can easily consult with your doctor virtually. This helps in saving time, as well as energy. You need not go out and expose yourself to the public. This saves the time of transportation and waiting in the queue. Conclusion Through the InstaCare telemedicine application, you can easily consult with expert doctors on your fingertips. You need not go out and expose yourself to other people. With the help of InstaCare, you can even consult with your doctor during a lockdown, while staying at home and healthy. By consulting virtually with a doctor, you can get the expert’s advice without any hassle. Do not rely on telemedicine if someone near you is in critical condition. Rush to the hospital if they need help from the doctors. Like if someone is bleeding badly or cannot breathe etc, then you should never rely on telemedicine applications. Telemedicine is a source to help people who are stable and out of danger.
How Can Older People Stay Safe From This Pandemic? Older adults and people seem to be at higher risk. We can make sure that older people stay safe. But people with severe diseases like cancer, heart, lungs, and diabetes are at higher risk. They can develop more complications from the infectious disease. Because 8 out of 10 deaths in the US have been in 65 years and older. Here are some stats: Estimated percent requiring hospitalization 31-70% of adults 85 years old and older 31-59% of adults 65-84 years old Estimated percent requiring admission to an intensive care unit 6-29% of adults 85 years old and older 11-31% of adults 65-84 years old Estimated percent who died 10-27% of adults 85 years old and older 4-11% of adults 65-84 years old However, the fatality rate of people over 80 years from this pandemic is almost 15% from China. Older people do not have a robust immune system to cope with this pandemic. This pandemic is impacting the global population in drastic ways. In many countries, it is difficult for older people to stay safe and they are facing severe threats and challenges at this time. On the other hand, all age groups are at risk of exposure to the virus. However, older people can develop a severe illness if they contract due to the psychological changes that come with aging and potential health conditions. During this time of isolation, we should treat all older people treated with high respect and dignity so they stay safe. Likewise, support for older people’s families, their near ones, and their caregivers are an essential part of the countries’ comprehensive response to the pandemic. Care of Diet and Medicine During times of isolation and quarantine, older people need safe access to nutritious food, necessary supplies, money, medicine to support their physical health, and social care. Older people should have access to accurate information. So, they should be told how to stay physically and mentally fit during this pandemic and what to do if they fall sick. They are often dependent on communities and carers to maintain their daily routine. The care of mental health during troubled times is also a key consideration. Social Challenges To keep your grandparents or parents safe because you can not visit them. However, this does not mean to isolate them socially. Physical distancing is not social isolation. The older people might have isolation or mobility challenges. As a result, they might not know what to do. In many societies, seniors are most lively to live in poverty. Therefore, this makes it difficult for them to get food, and they can not even take care of them. To stay at home might be difficult. This is not asked to change their behavior forever, but just for three to four months. When you look at the curve of Wuhan and Hubei, It’s only been three months. So stay at home for three months, and it will be alright. There are some simple steps that you can do to keep them safe and fit during this pandemic. Family Get Together You can plan family gatherings not physically but virtually. This will help them to cope with their loneliness. Research shows that older people are more likely to talk with their grandchildren. Precautions in Checkups Whether it is routine checkup or emergency, take all precautionary measures. Call a doctor at home for a regular checkup for table condition or electoral procedure. Consult with a doctor before any move. You can use telehealth services like Instacre is providing free guidelines related to the pandemic and infectious virus. Encourage Activities If they are still doing their exercise and following their diet and health care routine, appreciate and encourage them. Ask them to practice all types of training like strength and flexibility etc. Plan ways if they fall sick “Expect good and prepare for the worst” thing applies here because they fall ill. This will enhance the delivery of emergency health care to them instead of unable to understand what happens. On the other hand, if you did not think about it, then it will create panic and even cause significant loss. Create a list of organizations For this, create a list of organizations that can properly guide you on what to do in that situation. For this purpose, the government of Pakistan created a helpline for the guidance of individuals. You can call on 1166 to ask for more details about the disease. Instacare is providing free counseling on this high time for serving the community. You can call on 092-317-9797-297 for guidance from medical experts. In short, there are many ways through which we can prevent them. We can engage them and keep them mentally and physically fit when this pandemic will over; they can easily follow their previous routine. Meanwhile, they need our attention and support. Loved ones check in with older adults about their support networks, and help them find ways to stay connected to these groups and routines. Some religious and civic organizations may already have a plan in place for reaching out to older adults in their community. If so, make sure that the older adults know that too, and help them connect with whatever services may be available to protect them.
How much progress has been done on Coronavirus vaccine? Coronavirus vaccine is an arduous, million-dollar task nowadays when the coronavirus has become a global health crisis, killed thousands of people, and spreading throughout the world at an alarming rate, Considering the whole situation of pandemic created by the coronavirus, it puts huge pressure on scholars, researchers, and scientists, to create an effective vaccine for this disease. In the rest of the article, we’ll explore the top four pharmaceutical research going on in the world. These are: Novavax Corona Vaccine Experiment Moderna’s mRNA-1273 Regeneron’s REGN 3048-3051 INOVIO’s INO-4800 NOVAVAX CORONAVIRUS VACCINE EXPERIMENT Novavax is trying a new technique to create the coronavirus vaccine as a recombinant vaccine. In this, the genetic code for the protein spike on the surface of SARS-COV-2 is extracted, which is responsible to cause an immune reaction in humans. Then they pass over this genetic coding to bacterium or yeast that produces a large quantity of protein. Along with it, Boston company, CureVac, and Moderna are also trying to produce coronavirus vaccines out of messenger RNA. Up to date, there is no approved vaccine that is produced by the genetic material of RNA or DNA. MODERNA’S mRNA-1273 CORONAVIRUS VACCINE EXPERIMENT Moderna Inc. Of Cambridge, has started the phase I human clinical trial testing mRNA -1273 to produce the vaccine. The researchers are conducting this research to invent the vaccine in Washington, currently going through the first phase of the trial. In phase I trial, the researchers have tested 45 healthy human beings, adults aged between 18-55 for over 6 weeks. The subjects received the injection on day 1 and day 29 and will be monitored for 12 months after the second shot. Phase I focuses on the safety of the vaccine and to know if it is producing the immune response in humans. Later phases will focus more on its effectiveness against preventing the infection. This coronavirus vaccine differs from the traditional vaccines because they use the virus itself, while this vaccine uses the genetic sequence from messenger RNA of COVID-19. REGENERON’S REGN 3048-3051 VACCINE EXPERIMENT Regeneron’s pharmaceutical of Tarrytown, New York, is trying to produce a vaccine that will provide passive immunity to the people. It will work on the principle of directly injecting the preformed antibodies. The scientists of this pharmaceutical are working by modifying the immune system of mice to produce the vaccine. They have altered the mice’s immune system to that of humans, exposed them to the coronavirus and infected them. Then they have separated and isolated these antibodies. They have also isolated the antibodies produced by the people who have recovered from coronavirus. They will combine both antibodies and will formulate it as a vaccine. The advantage of combining both the antibodies to produce the vaccine is, that it will remain effective even if the virus mutates. This vaccine targets the spike protein present on the surface of the virus. This spike protein binds the virus to the host cell and causes an immune reaction. The Regeneron’s vaccine will target to block the spike protein interaction with the host cell, eventually neutralizing the virus. The doctors can also use this vaccine also as a drug for treating coronavirus, but according to the company, they will use it as a preventive measure for healthy people. INOVIO’S INO-4800 VACCINE EXPERIMENT Inovio’s pharmaceutical of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, is also approaching to produce the vaccine with the same technique of Moderna’s. Their approach is to insert DNA plasmids directly into the cells. They have optimized the plasmids and reorganized them by computer sequencing technique. The plasmids will replicate inside the human body and strengthen the natural human immune response. The company has already conducted its research on animals for the vaccine. They are hoping to start the trials on humans by April 2020, which will involve 30 healthy people. CONCLUSION The health care professionals are working day and night to design a vaccine. Experts say it will still take a year or more to create it. We have to be patient about the vaccine because scientists can not design these overnight. To market the coronavirus vaccine, scientists have to make sure it is safe and effective. The pharmaceutical companies are trying their best to invent a potent vaccine. We will soon get the way out for fighting against this contagious virus. Stay positive and protected! In case you feel any signs of coronavirus in you, get a certified doctor’s opinion through InstaCare Telemedicine; remotely, safely, and instantly.
