Webinar: Answering All Your COVID-19-Related Questions

Colleen Williams
Thu, 11 Jun 2020 09:00:20 +0000
COVID-19, covid-19

As the COVID-19 health crisis continues to affect virtually every country across the globe, it’s raised a lot of questions about what to do and how to adapt to living and running a business during a pandemic. During our March 31st webinar, we held a live Q&A with Dr. John Whyte, chief medical officer of WebMD and Katherine Wich-Sugden, in house counsel for Internet Brands and Henry Schein, who answered your COVID-19 questions.

Q: How do we run our business during this pandemic?

First and foremost, clients need to know where you are and how to reach you. Making sure your website and contact information is up to date is key, and so is keeping your clients in the loop about how the pandemic could affect the timeline of their case. Communicate with them about what can be done about their situation out of court.

Q: How safe is it to go to the courthouse?

The same rules that apply at a hospital apply at the courthouse. Those who do come in should practice social distancing, be wearing a face mask or other protective equipment such as gloves in order to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. That being said, teleconferencing, phone calls and other virtual means of discussing a case should hopefully reduce the need to physically go to the courthouse.

Q: Is there a way to confirm whether or not you have the virus without the test?

While there are common symptoms of COVID-19, such as a cough, shortness of breath and a fever, it’s important to remember that these are also symptoms of other illnesses like the common cold and even allergies. Therefore the only true way to know you have the virus is to get tested. Even still, if you are experiencing these symptoms, minus shortness of breath, it’s likely that your doctor will recommend staying home and monitoring your symptoms instead of going to a hospital to get tested

Q: What is the risk of reinfection if you’ve already been sick?

There is some data from China that suggests those who have already been sick are not at risk of getting sick again because they have developed the necessary antibodies, but more data should hopefully become available in the coming weeks.

Q: If we are trying to avoid getting sick, should we consider using medication like hydroxychloroquine?

The data on how effective these drugs have been at treating the coronavirus is inconsistent. Tests are still being done in order to provide a clearer picture of exactly how these drugs can help. The FDA has granted emergency use of this medication, but again, the decision to take hydroxychloroquine is one that should only be made after consulting with your doctor and examining the severity of your symptoms.