‘Can you get coronavirus from food? Can you get it twice?’: The most googled questions about the disease (and the answers)

• As coronavirus continues to spread across the U.S. many are googling questions
• Some are questioning if they can catch the disease, such as from pets or food
• Other questions look at the symptoms of the virus and if you can catch it twice

As the coronavirus spreads, so too does misinformation about the disease. 

Google has revealed the top questions that people are asking about the epidemic. 

Here are some of the top questions along with their answers: 

The most common search for the disease on Google is ‘Can you get coronavirus?’

What are the symptoms of coronavirus vs the flu?

Coronavirus may include: fever, cough, shortness of breath. Symptoms may appear between 2 to 14 days after exposure.

Flu may include: fever or feeling feverish / chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle of body, muscle of body aches, headaches, fatigue, vomiting or diarrhea, aches. Influenza often comes on suddenly. Symptoms for coronavirus and flu may start off mild but both illnesses can be deadly.

What should I stock up on in case of an outbreak?

Supply chain experts say there’s no need to stockpile beyond the recommended 14-day emergency supply of food and necessities.

But here are some basic supplies to keep at home for any emergency: A gallon of water per person per day, plus a little extra if you have pets. Canned and dry foods. Your favorite foods like chips or chocolate may be comforting too. Soap, hand sanitizers, laundry detergent. Toilet paper and diapers if needed. A 30-day supply of prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs you use regularly. It also helps to have some entertainment like books, cards and board games.

There have so far been 14 deaths and 238 cases of coronavirus across the United States 

Is coronavirus worse that the flu?

Coronavirus has a higher mortality rate than flu. More than 3% of COVID-19 patients die vs. less than 1% for fly as of early March. Those numbers will change as coronavirus spreads and more cases are detected. Millions of people get the flu each year. Coronavirus is less common in children according to the CDC.

Most infections are in adults. Children and seniors are at high risk for the flu.

Do masks actually work?

There is no benefit to wearing a mask right now, unless you are sick yourself and showing symptoms of the virus. The mask itself can become contaminated and serve as a source of infection, actually doing more harm than good.

The CDC also doesn’t recommend to the general public using face masks as a method of protection from coronavirus or other respiratory illnesses.

You should only wear a mask if a healthcare professional recommends it. A face mask should be used by people who have COVID-19 and are showing symptoms. This is to protect others from the risk of getting infected. Masks are not recommended for general protection if you are not ill. Health care professionals treating and dealing regularly with those affected must wear protective masks, specifically N95 medical respirator masks.

If you do use a mask, throw it away after one use. They cannot be reused.

The CDC also says people in the general population don’t need to wear respirators which are selling out in many places.

The CDC also doesn’t recommend to the general public using face masks as a method of protection from coronavirus or other respiratory illnesses

Does the flu vaccine protect against the coronavirus?

‘It’s a different kind of virus,’ says Brandon Brown, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of California.  ‘Take human papillomavirus for example. There’s a bunch of types of HPV, and you can get infected by multiple types, so if you get one, it’s not protective against others. That’s kind of a similar way to think about it with the flu and coronavirus, because they’re both so different types of viruses that it’s not expected that just because you’ve had the flu vaccine or you’ve had the flu, that you’d be protected against the other virus.’

Who gets sick from the coronavirus and why?

‘The people that are getting the sickest from coronavirus are adults over age 65,’ says Brown to Mother Jones. ‘This is a little bit different than the flu, because the flu reaches that population but also children under the age of 2, also pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions.’

There’s been no report of any transmission from domestic animals to humans in the US

Can you get the coronavirus from a cat or a dog?

‘A lot of the viruses that we know including a lot of the coronaviruses, originated in animals. It could be bats, pigs, chickens, depending on the virus. But there’s been no report of any transmission from our domestic animals to humans in this country,’ Brown says. 

CDC does not have any evidence to suggest that animals or animal products imported from China pose a risk for spreading COVID-19 in the United States.  

Can you get coronavirus from a package?

‘The virus can survive on various surfaces. It tends to live better when it’s on colder surfaces. Viruses on surfaces could remain infectious anywhere from two hours to nine days. Since the virus can live on surfaces for a longer period of time, is to practice proper hand washing,’ says Dr Brown. 

‘In an office setting, if someone has touched a surface and they’re visibly sick, and they’re sneezing or coughing, and we touch that surface—it could be a doorknob, it could be a desk—and then we proceed to touch our eyes, nose, or mouth, this is another way that the virus can be transmitted. So it’s not only about things that people are worried about, but it’s about our everyday lives as well. The one way that we can protect ourselves from that is with proper hand washing.’

Can you get the coronavirus from food?

‘This is a possibility if the person who is preparing the food, transporting the food, or sharing the food is infectious. In terms of the food originating from an animal that is sick and then getting someone else sick who’s eating the animal, I don’t think that’s as common, because the virus can persist for two to nine days in the optimal conditions, which is cold conditions, and usually a lot of the food that we’re eating that other people are preparing is warm food,’ Brown suggests.

The CDC notes: ‘It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.’ 

Given that the virus thrives in cold environments, is it likely to fizzle out as warm weather approaches?

The CDC states: ‘It is not yet known whether weather and temperature impact the spread of the virus. Some other viruses, like the common cold and flu, spread more during cold weather months but that does not mean it is impossible to become sick with these viruses during other months. At this time, it is not known whether the spread will decrease when weather becomes warmer. There is much more to learn about the transmissibility, severity, and other features associated with COVID-19 and investigations are ongoing. 

Can you get the coronavirus twice?

‘We would imagine that after being infected with the coronavirus, you would be less likely to be infected again. We could look at something like the flu virus as an example to learn about that. We know so little about COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, that we don’t know exactly if there’s a bunch of subtypes, like there are for the flu, and if it’s possible to be infected by two different subtypes.’

Can you get the coronavirus from sex?

‘There is no indication that coronavirus is sexually transmitted but, if we are in close contact with someone who has symptoms of flu or coronavirus (coughing, sneezing, runny nose, fever, headache) as we might be during sex, the likelihood of transmission for non-sexual reasons would be high.’

Is a comparison to the Spanish Flu relevant in the US, in the developing world, or not at all?

‘No. The Spanish Flu infected upwards of 500 million people and killed 50 million people. We’re seeing the total deaths now seeming to move up slowly for the coronavirus as more people are recovering, and it’s kind of tending to slow down. Fifty million people in the world is a lot. We learned a lot about the Spanish flu. We learned a lot from H1N1, we learned a lot from SARS and Ebola, so hopefully we’ve learned our lesson from all these other outbreaks that have happened prior to the coronavirus. We know that the fatality rate for the current novel coronavirus is around 2 percent, just among the cases that we’re seeing. And this might be an overestimation. We also know that the fatality rate for the flu is .01 percent, or around there. So I would say that, if we want to compare coronavirus to something, we should probably compare it to the flu,’ says Brown, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Riverside.

WHO says you can kill viruses on your hands by washing them thoroughly and regularly with soap and water – or with an alcohol-based hand rub

Will washing my hands help and is it safe to shake someone else’s?

In short, yes. WHO says you can kill viruses on your hands by washing them thoroughly and regularly with soap and water – or with an alcohol-based hand rub. You should be washing your hands even when they are not visibly dirty and especially after coughing or sneezing. 

Will spraying my body with alcohol or chlorine help? Can hand dryers kill the virus?

One of the more bizarre – and potentially dangerous – myths surrounding the virus is that alcohol and chlorine can kill it. But the WHO has warned that such steps will have no impact on viruses that have already entered your body. In fact, spraying yourself with such substances can damage your mucous membranes such as your eyes and mouth. As for hand dryers, there is no evidence to suggest they are effective in killing the virus. However, warm air dryers – or paper towels – should be used to dry your hands after you have washed them thoroughly.

Should I rinse my nose with saline and eat garlic?

While there is some evidence that shows regularly rinsing your nose with saline can help you recover quicker from the common cold, the same cannot be said for the coronavirus. The WHO said rinsing your nose has not been shown to prevent respiratory problems. Meanwhile, despite garlic having some antimicrobial properties, there is no evidence from the current outbreak which shows it can protect people from the virus.

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