If you’re an adult service provider (or anyone else for that matter), then there is a good chance you’ve asked yourself at least one of the following questions:
Don’t worry! These are all valid questions given that personal safety is paramount to everyone. Whilst there is nothing to formally suggest that this virus is transmitted through sex, what we do know (at this stage) is that that COVID-19 is present in respiratory secretions which include droplets that exit a person’s mouth from coughing or sneezing.
So in order to keep you as informed as possible, we’ve put together this short blog piece on what to look out for and what measures you can put in place to help yourself.
For those that are not exactly sure what the coronaviruses is – the Coronavirus disease or COVID-19 is a new zoonotic strain that was discovered in 2019 and has not been previously identified in humans with reports identifying it has been transmitted from an animal. It’s essentially a large family of viruses that cause illness starting from the common cold to more stark diseases including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV).
The symptoms of the coronavirus (and things to look out for) are similar to that of a common cold or flu which means it can include:
However symptoms vary from person to person. Some may not become ill at all whilst other may get very sick.
From the various reports about the virus, the people of most at risk in Australia are those who:
In addition to the above, it is appears that the people most at risk of infection are people with compromised immune systems (people with cancer), elderly people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people (given higher rates of chronic illness), people of chronic medical conditions or people in potential shared accommodation.
Therefore be sure to screen your clients by telephone (if possible) with questions which may include:
Most importantly, remain calm. Whilst we understand that there is no current treatment for coronavirus, health professionals around the world are working toward eradicating this virus. The worst thing we can do is behave erratically (i.e. buy up a years’ supply of toilet paper) and hurt someone else. So please everyone, let’s get through this together!