The main way to avoid contracting the coronavirus is to avoid contact with other people. This is clearly difficult, even impossible in most cases. However, one can cut down on contacts, avoiding anything not essential or necessary. Doing that will lower the risk and mitigate the person-to-person spread. That gives time for the virus to die out.

I’m not a doctor. This is not medical advice. It’s common sense advice.

Note also that the virus can live in the air for several hours and on surfaces for several days.

Self-quarantine from seemingly-healthy or uninfected people works to stem the spread of the virus because it takes days before illness may start and because this gives time for our natural immune responses to kick in.

This is my understanding at this time, such as it is. Self-quarantine is my advice. This is especially relevant for those of us advanced in age or who have medical conditions that weaken our bodies. I believe that right now the virus is silently spreading rapidly far and wide or already has done so, but this is just beginning to be seen in the number of tabulated cases.

Government-ordered shutdowns are imposed quarantines. However, this virus is a case where our own initiative is, as in most cases, far more important than anything government does. What we each do adds up. Cancelled events at the initiative of sponsors augment self-quarantine. Classes cancelled, travel postponed, social gatherings curtailed — all such work to slow the spread of the virus.

The Best of Michael S. Rozeff