A lecture, a textbook, an illness like no other: Inside a Melbourne COVID cluster

A lecture, a textbook, an illness like no other: Inside a Melbourne COVID cluster
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/a-lecture-a-textbook-an-illness-like-no-other-inside-a-melbourne-covid-cluster-20200416-p54kgo.html

Do not take things for granted! This article serves as a reminder that it only takes one infected person to spread the virus to many others.

Am I being paranoid about the pandemic? Not at all. Prevention is always better than regrets for life. If possible, drive your own car instead of taking a taxi or Uber, change your clothing if you are in contact with strangers at shopping centres, wash your hands with soap, and wear a mask when out of the house.

While 1.5m is the recommended distance from another person, it is better to be further away. It has been demonstrated than droplets propelled from coughing can be four metres away.

Please take care, and stay safe.

Thank you from reading.

A lecture, a textbook, an illness like no other: Inside a Melbourne COVID cluster

The science of soap – here’s how it kills the coronavirus

The science of soap – here’s how it kills the coronavirus
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/12/science-soap-kills-coronavirus-alcohol-based-disinfectants

A science student from Malaysia asked me about soap and its effectiveness in killing the coronavirus.

Here you are, the article explains how soap “kills” the coronavirus more cheaply and effectively. You really don’t need the sanitiser unless you are not within reach of soap.

Coronavirus consists of three key building blocks: ribonucleic acid (RNA), proteins and lipids.

When you touch a surface with a virus particle on it, it will stick to your skin and hence get transferred on to your hands.

Washing the virus off with water alone might work, but soap in soapy water contains fat-like substances known as amphiphiles, some of them structurally simialr to the lipids of the virus membrane, will loosen the bond between the virus and the skin as well as the bond that holds the proteins, lipids and RNA in the virus together.

Thank you for reading.

The science of soap – here’s how it kills the coronavirus