Coronavirus COVID-19: Why Your Headache Care Has Changed

Why Coronavirus COVID-19 is changing how you get your headache care. Big time!

People living with headaches - that's short for all types of headache including migraines of any kind (migraine with aura, migraine without aura, or any other type of migraine headaches), cluster headache, hemicrania, trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia, and others - rely on strong relationships with their care teams. The coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic means we have to change how we keep those relationships strong.

The major reason why we have to change is because COVID-19 is a brand new infectious disease and we have never had it before. It can spread like wildfire. Examples include how smallpox, brought by European settlers, decimated native populations in the New World. Honeybees and cave bats face similar problems.

The coronavirus will spread until we reach herd immunity. We can get to herd immunity in 2 ways: either enough people catch the disease and survive (hopefully becoming immune) or we develop a vaccine. For the COVID-19 virus, experts have said that we may need 50 to 70 percent of the population to be immune to achieve herd immunity. Since we don't have a vaccine, that would mean that 50 to 70% of us have to catch COVID and survive.

Around 95% of people who get coronavirus will be only slightly sick, and many won't even know they are infected. But around 5 to 10 % of us will get seriously ill, potentially needing a ventilator and ICU care to survive.

If we all get sick at once, the 5 to 10% of us who need ICU care will outnumber the number of ventilators (breathing machines), ICU beds and ICU caregivers. Without those resources, those people will die. That could be hundreds of thousands of deaths.

If we slow down the spread of COVID, the total number of people who get sick is still the same, but that number is spread over many months, so there will probably be enough resources to give the seriously ill the care that can help them survive. This is called flattening the curve. An example of flattening the curve is rush hour. If everyone leaves work at once, the roads (the resources) get jammed. If people stagger their work ours, the resources don't get overwhelmed.

There are a number of ways to flatten the curve. For a disease that can have no symptoms for several weeks, there's no way to just tell sick people to stay at home. One way would be to have an unlimited supply of really accurate and fast tests for COVID-19 coupled by a robust contact-tracing system. People could get tested frequently, stay at home if they test positive, and the people they were in contact with could be tested and so on. South Korea used a version of this system. Another strategy is to have an unlimited supply of effective personal protective equipment (PPE). If everyone wore virus-proof PPE, they could go about their normal business and still have a low risk of spreading the disease. If you don't have enough tests or enough PPE, then the other strategy is social distancing. If enough people (like more than 80%) stay in one place, whether or not they are sick or well, we slow down the spread of the disease.

Since we don't have enough tests or PPE, social distancing is the most important thing that any one person can do to save the lives of others and maybe even their own life.

Social Distancing Tips for People who are Sick
Stay at home unless you need a doctor
If you need to see a doctor, call ahead for instructions
Cover mouth and nose, sneezes and coughs with a mask, bandana or scarf
Wash hands regularly and thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds
Isolate yourself from others in your home
If you need to share a bathroom, clean it down between uses
Turn off central air circulation if you can

Social Distancing Tips for People who are not Sick
Stay at home, save a life
Cover mouth and nose with a mask, bandana, or scarf
Maintain a 6 foot separation from other people
Avoid sharing the same space for longer than a minute
Wash hands regularly and thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds

The Headache Channel - Helping people living with headache live better. headache-channel.com

The Headache Channel is for information and entertainment purposes only. If you need medical advice, please see your physician.