Bethel Park officials hold coronavirus seminar

Wash your hands, avoid large groups, stop touching your face, but don’t panic.
That’s the message Dr. Timothy Campbell had for community members at a coronavirus seminar March 12 in Bethel Park.
Campbell is a physician who routinely responds to national disasters as part of his role as a responder with a federal Disaster Medical Assistance Team. He was recently deployed to respond to the outbreak of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.
“I want to walk people back from the edge,” Campbell said. “This illness will affect all of us, but this is not the zombie apocalypse.”
There were no reported cases of COVID-19 in Allegheny County as of Friday afternoon, but Campbell said he expects it will be here soon. Since the disease has not been seen in Western Pennsylvania yet, Bethel Park officials decided to hold the coronavirus seminar to inform the public about how best to protect themselves.
Officials did take extra steps to disinfect the meeting room where the seminar was held.
“As you walked in here, you may have detected a faint odor of bleach,” said Laurence Christian, Bethel Park municipal manager.
Campbell, who also serves as a Bethel Park councilman, urged people to take common-sense measures to protect themselves and to slow the spread of the disease.
Frequent hand washing might be the most important way to stop the spread. Campbell reminded community members to use warm water, soap and to scrub for about 20 seconds.
It’s also a good idea stay about six feet from other people and in order to maintain that social distance, Campbell said people may want to avoid large gatherings whenever possible.
“If you don’t have to travel, don’t do it,” he said.
Wiping down surfaces once a day with a diluted solution of water and bleach or peroxide can also help.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses such as the common cold. Campbell said 20% of common colds in the United States are caused by various coronaviruses.
However, some coronaviruses can cause more severe illnesses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 800 people around 2003, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), which killed more than 400 people around 2012.
COVID-19 is a new strain that was not previously seen in humans until it was reported in Wuhan, China, in December.
Scientists are still trying to learn more about COVID-19 and a vaccine has not yet been developed. However, scientists believe the virus is spread like other colds, through droplets produced from infected people whenever they cough or sneeze.
The droplets land on surfaces and uninfected people can get the virus on their hands whenever they touch the infected surfaces. Those people can then catch the virus whenever they touch their faces.
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, dry cough and shortness of breath.
The symptoms are mild for most people who contract the disease, but those with underlying health issues and the elderly are particularly vulnerable.
“We will have to change our behaviors to some degree,” Campbell said.
“But we are going to weather this crisis. Don’t listen to fear mongering.”