Dr. Oz answers viewers' coronavirus questions: Should older people still watch grandkids?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dr. Mehmet Oz answered questions related to the coronavirus outbreak on “Fox & Friends” on Monday, including if older people should continue to watch their grandchildren as COVID-19 spreads around the world.
A couple, ages 76 and 70, noted that they typically care for their two grandchildren, ages 3 and 1, and asked if they can continue to watch them.
Dr. Oz answered, “I would really want you to reconsider what you are committed to.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He noted that it will likely take six to eight weeks to get back to normal, based on China’s experience with the outbreak. The novel coronavirus is believed to have originated in Wuhan, China, according to officials.
Dr. Oz said that, for at least six weeks, “kids have to be taken care of by their patients,” adding that he realizes “it creates huge obstacles.”
He acknowledged that children can contract the novel coronavirus and cited a case from the United Kingdom where a newborn reportedly has the infection.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CORONAVIRUS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
“We have a newborn that has the infection so we know kids get it, but they just don’t get symptomatic that much and they definitely don’t die,” Dr. Oz said on Monday, adding that there hasn’t been a single case of a child under 10 dying from the novel coronavirus.
“They won’t know they are putting you at risk and those kids are everywhere. So you have to distance yourself from children and if you are in a high-risk group, 70 and 76 are in that category, you got to be thoughtful, especially if you have a chronic underlying problem like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes,” Dr. Oz said on Monday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As of Monday, at least 3,700 coronavirus cases have been reported in the U.S., with 64 deaths, according to data compiled by Fox News.
Dr. Oz noted that as the weather gets warmer “the virus particles plump up” and “they don't travel as far.”
He noted that “they don’t live as long on surfaces” where they “can last for 48 hours.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“So stay in warm climates if you are already there,” he encouraged.
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“And the rest of us, I think over the course of six to eight weeks we can get back in the water again, we will relieve some of these restrictions,” he added.