USFK Commander Urges Good Hygiene to Prevent Spread of Coronavirus
This is all pretty much common sense advice from the USFK commander that everyone should be following whether there is a coronavirus or not:
USFK commander Gen. Robert Abrams said good hygiene practices and minimum contact with anybody who has returned from mainland China in the past two weeks or is exhibiting cold or flu-like symptoms are the best prevention measures.
Anybody who detects symptoms themselves should go to the doctor and stay home, he said in a statement on the website.
“More importantly, do not go to work or school. Stay at your home or in the barracks while you are recovery,” he said. “We must do our best to prevent the spread or it will have a significant impact on our ‘Fight Tonight’ readiness!”
He also promised the situation was being monitored “very closely, around the clock.”
“We currently assess a low threat or risk to our USFK formations and installations,” he said. “We will keep you informed as the situation develops and if our assessment changes.”
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
I have a wee bit of a rant, in response to the new FDA warnings about hand sanitizer’s “unproven claims”. If I hadn’t read the inquiries of several people amounting to something like, “gee….I guess if I can’t find a sink it’s better to use nothing?” I’d just dismiss it. But I now think the FDA is doing actual harm. Or perhaps the media is doing harm.
Alcohol does fight bacteria and viruses. Anything over 60 percent alcohol is helpful, and the average hand sanitizer contains about 70 percent. Obviously, if you’re actively playing with ebola feces a little bottle of hand sanitizer isn’t going to do much for you, but overall hand sanitizer is far better than doing nothing, if a sink is not available. There are many, many medical journal publications to back this up. Hand sanitizer has led to a decrease in nosocomial infection rates (including MRSA in NICU wards).
That said, soap and water (and scrubbing) is best. If you have sputum/boogers on your hands, just covering them in purell isn’t going to kill the infectious agents, you’ve got to scrub the crud off.
Funny, in Korea both px’s and commisarries are “sold out” of hand sanitizer, disappeared off the shelves when the first case was annonced in Korea. Sign says wont be restocked till 4 Feb. Talk about a money making opportunity for some px & commissary employees…
Wouldn’t be surprised if all the masks were gone too.
Even the local Korean stores outside the Hump have been out of stock too. The Panda store just got some in yesterday. 7000kw ($5.88 USD) for an off-brand little 100ml bottle.