FOX 2 - Public distancing and washing your hands could be the difference between this outbreak impacting us for months or longer.
Dr. Adam Rosh stopped by FOX 2 to talk about what we need to know about the coronavirus.
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Social distancing and limiting exposure is key amid COVID-19 says doctor
"Essentially the time for groups of people is eliminated right now. We need to avoid that until we figure out what is actually happening."
"Right now we all have opportunities to make a difference," Rosh said. "The difference that we need to make is what we do right now, what we do in the next hour and the next day, and what we do is going to determine whether this disease progresses for another two weeks, two months, or two years.
"It's ultimately going to determine how many people live and how many people die."
The key is social distancing, limiting groups of people
"The main thing that we can all do, is what is called social distancing. I like to use the phrase 'physical distancing.' Be mindful of where you are and your surroundings. Clearly we need to stay away from any groups of people.
"Now you're going to be spending much more time in your house, spending time away from people and why we're doing that, is because we need to limit transmission of the COVID virus. Physical distancing takes away the idea we can still talk to loved ones and we can still go out and get a loaf of bread from the store. But when you do that, be mindful.
"When you go out to the store, come back, you wash your hands, put sanitizer on your hands. You are not congregating around people.
"Essentially the time for groups of people is eliminated right now. We need to avoid that until we figure out what is actually happening."
FOX 2: "You hear people say groups of 100, others say smaller groups. The point is to limit transmission, does that mean this weekend people have plans to have a couple over for dinner. Do you avoid doing that if you can?"
"There's no question you need to avoid that. We are in a public health emergency. In fact, this is the greatest public health emergency that I think our country and world has seen since 1918. If we don't act right now, then our pain will be prolonged, but if we do act, then we are going to come out of this much quicker."
Dr. Adam Rosh
FOX 2: "When people compare America and Italy, is it apples and oranges?"
"Absolutely not. In fact, we may end up in that path," he said. "So right now, our decisions, what we do, we will either end up like a South Korea that has not necessarily contained the entire virus but slowed down the spread of the virus, or we will end up like an Italy or an Iran, that they were late to the party. And by being late to the party and that included testing everyone and that included social or physical isolation and separation, then we're going to end up like them.
"Right now we could be doing something and I can tell you this, modeling has shown that for every day that we go without putting in the appropriate measures, the number of infections is going to increase by 40 percent."
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