Dr. Greene
Coronavirus Update
It’s been six weeks since our resident pediatrician and co-founder of Bambini Furtuna, Dr. Alan Greene first answered parents' most pressing concerns about the Coronavirus. It’s fair to say a lot has changed since then. Now, from the efficacy of homemade masks to screen time and immunity, Dr. Greene addresses a few key questions that keep coming up again and again.
- Written By
- Dr. Alan Greene
Are homemade masks safe enough for us to use?
Absolutely homemade masks help some, but they are not all created equal. It matters both the material that you use and how many layers of it there are. A simple bandana mask with this one layer is not very effective. Even a double layer bandana mask is like an N16 and only takes out 16% of the particles. So the materials that work the best are vacuum cleaner bags and really high thread-count pillowcases, like 600 or higher. And the more layers that you do, the better. The very best masks tested were made by quilters. The quilting fabric tends to be really good at blocking particles going through. So a quick way you can tell if you're making a mask for yourself—there's a lot of videos online for how to do it—but there's not a lot of videos about how to tell how well they work. And the best thing to do is just take whatever fabric you're thinking about using and stand in front of a mirror and blow through it. If you can easily fog the mirror, the water droplets are getting through. And I've found that if I take my tee shirt (which is already two layers) and fold it over twice (so it is eight layers thick), I can still fog the mirror almost as well as I could without it. But I took my hand towel a little bit ago, folded it so it is eight layers and I can breathe through it, but I can't fog a mirror through it. So that’s a quick and easy test.
How worried should I be about increased screen time?
So in normal times, when I think about screen time, I think about four different categories. There’s not a clear-cut difference, they overlap, but they're different in focus. One of them is passive screen time where you're sitting and watching something. One of them is interactive screen time where you are playing a game or doing something that's engaging you to be involved. One is creativity where you're creating something. You're writing online or you're painting or you're making videos or whatever, and one is connection, like FaceTime or Zoom. Usually, I suggest for kids to aim for an hour of passive time and an hour of interactive time, and communication as much as seems good, where they're still doing the other things they need to be doing: homework and active play and connecting with the family. During this COVID time, I think it's very reasonable to actually have a conversation with kids and say, we’re going to double the limits now because so much else that you would be doing is off the table and I want you to connect. So maybe two hours of passively watching something, watching a movie or whatever, maybe two hours of interactive playing, and then I think connecting with friends is great. Teens and preteens really need to be social. They really need to connect with each other.
Still, I wouldn't go so far as to say unlimited. You want them to be connecting with family. You want them to be spending some time reading, time doing some kind of crafts. You want them to be physically active. If it's possible to get outdoors where you are, you want to do that. So I would make sure that there are other things happening in life other than just screen time and video games with friends.
And what about making your own hand sanitizer?
A lot of people who are asking if they can use isopropyl 70% alcohol to make hand sanitizer and the answer is yes. Alcohol between 50 and 70% does work well. You can actually mix it with Aloe Vera gel, which is not sold out in as many places, and then you have hand sanitizer. But it's worth mentioning that soap works even better. There is no replacement for thoroughly washing all surfaces of the hands with soap and water. It destroys the membrane outside the virus so that it cannot get into your cells and it works very, very well.
Should I be worried about catching the virus through food or fruits and vegetables bought at the grocery store?
So far, and there are about 3 million cases so far, nobody's been able to demonstrate transmission through food. It does not live long on food and typically if you get sick, it's from inhaling, not from swallowing.
Because the acid bath in the stomach tends to do a pretty good job of destroying the virus by itself, I'm not terribly worried about food. I am a little bit worried about the packaging that the virus could be on there, so I would wash my hands after touching the packaging. But the food itself, I'm much less concerned about, not a major way for people to get it.
Is it still safe to breastfeed if you get coronavirus?
We know that with most viruses, including influenza, it's better for kids to nurse even if their mother has it because it gives them more protection than the risk of getting exposed. With COVID-19, the virus has not been found in breast milk, at least so far. It looks like the biggest risk to moms spreading it to baby is those droplets that fog the mirror. Mom wearing a mask and washing hands before picking up the baby is the most important thing when it comes to prevention. So the current recommendation is not to forbid breastfeeding.
How does stress impact immunity and how can I minimize it?
More and more data shows that stress can decrease our ability to fight things off. And this is a time when there is a lot of stress— financial stress, and COVID-19 stress and taking-care-of-kids-who-are-bored stress. We need to find ways to relieve that.
Calm and peaceful parents inspire calm and peaceful kids. The first step is to reduce your own stress.
I'm a big fan of meditation. And there are several apps for to help make this easy. I like one in particular called Waking Up. It's a course in meditation that is free right now in the app store during the time period of COVID. There are a number of these apps that are quite good. Headspace and Calm are also popular. I like Waking Up a lot.
I am also a big fan of hot baths with Epsom salts for relaxing. There's been some really interesting work, by the way, showing that hot baths, saunas, and cold plunges and cold showers, do seem to have direct impact against COVID. So it could be good for stress as well as potentially for the disease. I'm also a fan of exercise, whatever form that takes. This is a great time for yoga, for making sure that you have good physical exercise every day.
For more from Dr. Greene on the COVID-19 Crisis, tune into Episode 6 of Mom Driven, Doctor Aligned: We’re In This Together: COVID-19 Q&A With Hey Mama.
Absolutely homemade masks help some, but they are not all created equal. It matters both the material that you use and how many layers of it there are. A simple bandana mask with this one layer is not very effective. Even a double layer bandana mask is like an N16 and only takes out 16% of the particles. So the materials that work the best are vacuum cleaner bags and really high thread-count pillowcases, like 600 or higher. And the more layers that you do, the better. The very best masks tested were made by quilters. The quilting fabric tends to be really good at blocking particles going through. So a quick way you can tell if you're making a mask for yourself—there's a lot of videos online for how to do it—but there's not a lot of videos about how to tell how well they work. And the best thing to do is just take whatever fabric you're thinking about using and stand in front of a mirror and blow through it. If you can easily fog the mirror, the water droplets are getting through. And I've found that if I take my tee shirt (which is already two layers) and fold it over twice (so it is eight layers thick), I can still fog the mirror almost as well as I could without it. But I took my hand towel a little bit ago, folded it so it is eight layers and I can breathe through it, but I can't fog a mirror through it. So that’s a quick and easy test.
How worried should I be about increased screen time?
So in normal times, when I think about screen time, I think about four different categories. There’s not a clear-cut difference, they overlap, but they're different in focus. One of them is passive screen time where you're sitting and watching something. One of them is interactive screen time where you are playing a game or doing something that's engaging you to be involved. One is creativity where you're creating something. You're writing online or you're painting or you're making videos or whatever, and one is connection, like FaceTime or Zoom. Usually, I suggest for kids to aim for an hour of passive time and an hour of interactive time, and communication as much as seems good, where they're still doing the other things they need to be doing: homework and active play and connecting with the family. During this COVID time, I think it's very reasonable to actually have a conversation with kids and say, we’re going to double the limits now because so much else that you would be doing is off the table and I want you to connect. So maybe two hours of passively watching something, watching a movie or whatever, maybe two hours of interactive playing, and then I think connecting with friends is great. Teens and preteens really need to be social. They really need to connect with each other.
Still, I wouldn't go so far as to say unlimited. You want them to be connecting with family. You want them to be spending some time reading, time doing some kind of crafts. You want them to be physically active. If it's possible to get outdoors where you are, you want to do that. So I would make sure that there are other things happening in life other than just screen time and video games with friends.
And what about making your own hand sanitizer?
A lot of people who are asking if they can use isopropyl 70% alcohol to make hand sanitizer and the answer is yes. Alcohol between 50 and 70% does work well. You can actually mix it with Aloe Vera gel, which is not sold out in as many places, and then you have hand sanitizer. But it's worth mentioning that soap works even better. There is no replacement for thoroughly washing all surfaces of the hands with soap and water. It destroys the membrane outside the virus so that it cannot get into your cells and it works very, very well.
Should I be worried about catching the virus through food or fruits and vegetables bought at the grocery store?
So far, and there are about 3 million cases so far, nobody's been able to demonstrate transmission through food. It does not live long on food and typically if you get sick, it's from inhaling, not from swallowing.
Because the acid bath in the stomach tends to do a pretty good job of destroying the virus by itself, I'm not terribly worried about food. I am a little bit worried about the packaging that the virus could be on there, so I would wash my hands after touching the packaging. But the food itself, I'm much less concerned about, not a major way for people to get it.
Is it still safe to breastfeed if you get coronavirus?
We know that with most viruses, including influenza, it's better for kids to nurse even if their mother has it because it gives them more protection than the risk of getting exposed. With COVID-19, the virus has not been found in breast milk, at least so far. It looks like the biggest risk to moms spreading it to baby is those droplets that fog the mirror. Mom wearing a mask and washing hands before picking up the baby is the most important thing when it comes to prevention. So the current recommendation is not to forbid breastfeeding.
How does stress impact immunity and how can I minimize it?
More and more data shows that stress can decrease our ability to fight things off. And this is a time when there is a lot of stress— financial stress, and COVID-19 stress and taking-care-of-kids-who-are-bored stress. We need to find ways to relieve that.
Calm and peaceful parents inspire calm and peaceful kids. The first step is to reduce your own stress.
I'm a big fan of meditation. And there are several apps for to help make this easy. I like one in particular called Waking Up. It's a course in meditation that is free right now in the app store during the time period of COVID. There are a number of these apps that are quite good. Headspace and Calm are also popular. I like Waking Up a lot.
I am also a big fan of hot baths with Epsom salts for relaxing. There's been some really interesting work, by the way, showing that hot baths, saunas, and cold plunges and cold showers, do seem to have direct impact against COVID. So it could be good for stress as well as potentially for the disease. I'm also a fan of exercise, whatever form that takes. This is a great time for yoga, for making sure that you have good physical exercise every day.
For more from Dr. Greene on the COVID-19 Crisis, tune into Episode 6 of Mom Driven, Doctor Aligned: We’re In This Together: COVID-19 Q&A With Hey Mama.