Cornavirus treatment is focused on supportive care, such as providing fluids, oxygen, and ventilatory support for really ill people. There is also early data showing that “Remdesivir”, an antiviral drug previously used against Ebola can be helpful, and it’s being tested in large-scale clinical trials in the US and China. Unfortunately, there’s no vaccine currently available to protect against COVID-19, having said that, there are some being researched including one that is in clinical trials and will likely be ready by 2021.
So, the main goal is to avoid person-to-person transmission, in areas with community transmission, anyone with mild symptoms regardless of whether they have been diagnosed as having COVID-19 or not should wear a mask and they should self-quarantine within their home, if those symptoms worsen, they should call their clinic or use telemedicine to talk to a clinician. For people with symptoms that live with others or even with pets, they should self-quarantine in a separate room and use a separate bathroom if possible and they should avoid sharing household items like bedding or eating utensils. In fact, there has been a confirmed case of human-to-dog transmission, where COVID-19 went from a person to their pet dog. However, the dog didn’t get sick, and there’s no evidence that pets can spread this disease or become sick, so it’s not necessary to take measures against companion animals.
Finally, anyone with symptoms including children and younger adults should not attend school, work, or any other in-person gathering, and should avoid travel. Now for individuals that don’t have symptoms but are at higher risk like those over age 60, and people with a chronic disease, the recommendation is that they also self-quarantine to avoid the chance of getting sick. Self-quarantining requires keeping a few week’s supplies of your medications, groceries, & household items as well as having an emergency contact person.
Coronaviruses don’t usually spread over long distances in the air, but they can get flung from one person to another on tiny droplets of saliva when someone’s coughing or sneezing. In addition, some strains of coronavirus can survive on surfaces for over a day. With that in mind, if you’re a healthy person living in a non-outbreak area, the recommendation is to avoid travel to disease outbreak areas, generally, stay away from crowded places and stay at least 6 feet or 2 meters away from anyone with symptoms.