Hey folks, take a breather on virus scare

Word of a run on disposable and re-useable masks in local stores due to coronavirus fears has prompted concerns of shortages, which prompted the Coeur d’Alene Press to investigate whether respiratory masks were available in the area.

Turns out, they are.

But first, let’s trace the origin of this story back to its source. A local recently posted on Facebook how she checked herself into Kootenai Urgent Care in Hayden and complained no masks were available. A separate Facebook thread emerged Wednesday that described a request to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to debrief the Idaho State Legislature on a pending coronavirus problem. The response from Panhandle Health District was reportedly mild in its show of alarm.

Technically known as the 2019 novel Coronavirus, it first appeared in an exotic market in Wuhan, China in December. Monday’s updated numbers puts the death toll at 427 worldwide — the vast majority falling within the Chinese mainland — out of a total of more than 20,600 cases.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control reports a total of 12 Americans who have tested positive for the coronavirus. One of them lives in Washington state and was treated and released into home quarantine in Everett.

Numbers aside, the coronavirus feels close to home because it presents with symptoms ordinarily recognizable this time of year. Fever, cough and shortness of breath are all tell-tale signs of the disease at the center of the pandemic, but they are also standard symptoms of influenza. Making matters worse, this year’s flu strain is particularly nasty, leading to prolonged illnesses that require hardier-than-usual treatments.

Which leads to the masks.

“Kootenai Health is not currently experiencing a mask shortage,” Kootenai Health communications specialist Andrea Nagel told The Press, “although we are continually navigating supply challenges as the nation reacts to supply demands or the spread of diseases such as the common cold or flu, or atypical diseases such as the Coronavirus currently landing on the coast. Kootenai typically keeps a one-to-two-month supply, just in case we see a surge of cases.”

Katherine Hoyer, public information officer for Panhandle Health, said her organization keeps masks available for patients but doesn’t hand out masks to all who enter its Atlas Road doors. She said the problem with any potential run on masks wouldn’t really be about an outbreak or a rough flu season, but about people misusing masks in the first place.

“People should know who should be wearing a mask right now,” Hoyer said. “The only people who should be wearing a mask right now are people who are ill already, so they’re not spreading their germs. A healthy person wearing a mask isn’t preventing themselves from becoming ill.”

Hoyer said her office has received calls about the coronavirus.

“The threat to Idaho residents isn’t the coronavirus,” she said. “The threat from the coronavirus is relatively low, compared to the flu, as of now.”

Regardless of the cause or the logic behind their decisions, some people are buying masks to protect themselves.

“We have plenty of masks,” Dan Markowski, general manager of Medicine Man Pharmacy in Post Falls, told The Press. “We still have plenty in stock. We’re selling them at a normal rate. We’re ordering new ones and selling them at a normal rate. There hasn’t been a shortage on our end.”

Two of the three Walmarts in Kootenai County reported having some form of respiratory protective masks in stock. So did the Walgreens in Hayden, three Medicine Man pharmacies that were contacted, the Super 1 Foods in Hayden, the Safeway off Government Way and the Target off U.S. 95. Only three shops reported they had no masks in stock, and one of those three — the Walmart near Cabela’s at Stateline — said that might have been an inventory management issue rather than a run.

If anything, Markowski said, he’s seen more masks than expected.

“The nice thing is, when people are coming in to fill a prescription, they just came from the doctor,” he said. “So they’re already coming in wearing masks they got at the hospital.”

The habit of overwearing masks, Hoyer reiterated, can actually end up causing more harm than good.

“One thing to keep in mind is if you’re using that same mask over and over again, you could just be reinfecting yourself,” she said. “You could just be exposing yourselves to germs unnecessarily. So even if you’re not sick, you’re exposing yourself to germs and increasing your chances of becoming sick.”

Hoyer’s advice to survive influenza is the same she said she gives to handle any number of pandemics, real or otherwise.

“Wash your hands.”