Coronavirus Part 3 - More Tips For You and What to Say to Your Children

Hi again Everyone,

I hope I’m not overwhelming you with updates on how to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, but I keep getting more and more questions and also keep finding resources that I think make sense and that I believe would be helpful to share with all of you. I was especially eager to share some tips on helping your children deal with all of this. Rather than reprint the entire articles here I thought it best if I provide you the links so you can find them yourself. And I want to give a thank you to several people who have sent me some of the links I’m providing below.

Getting the Actual Risk in Perspective

Here is what an infectious disease doctor from Harvard Medical School (Dr . Paul Sax) had to say about the coronavirus and our actual risk and how to best respond:

Infectious Disease Doctor: What Does (And Doesn't) Scare Me About The Coronavirus

And some of his conclusions were:

“3 Important Reasons For Optimism

If that list seems like a lot to worry about, let me mention a few things I’m not worried about — and that even give me hope.

1. We know the disease is mild in most people who get it. At least 80%, most likely more, won’t have an illness bad enough to warrant hospitalization. We’ll have a better idea once testing is more broadly applied, but it would not surprise me if the widely cited case fatality rate of 1-2% is eventually less than half that.

2. Children seem particularly protected from severe coronavirus disease. Many of the sniffles and colds kids experience are due to existing milder coronavirus strains, possibly giving them partial immunity to this more serious new threat.

3. There has been extraordinary global cooperation from doctors, scientists and public health officials. In most cases, this has included remarkable sharing of clinical data and research. It is wonderful to see the medical community responding in such a unified voice, all of us trying to solve this new problem.”

Tips on Dealing With the Virus if You Have OCD

This article I think is one of the most comprehensive regarding OCD and the virus:

How to Deal With Coronavirus If You Have OCD or Anxiety

And some of the main points in this article are:

1. Follow official guidelines, but don’t go above and beyond

2. Don’t be glued to the news

3. Accept that there is going to be uncertainty

A second article written by some well known anxiety/OCD experts makes some of the same points.

Managing OCD about Coronavirus - OCD Treatment & Therapy

What to Say to Your Children About the Virus

An area of considerable concern to my clients who have children is how to best help their children understand and respond to this outbreak. Here is an article/comic from NPR (and thanks to my client CM for passing it along) with some excellent suggestions for what to tell your children:

What Kids Want To Know About Coronavirus: An Original Comic : Goats and Soda

And a second article with some good suggestions:

Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus

Some of the main points are:

1) Don’t be afraid to discuss the coronavirus

2) Be developmentally appropriate

3) Take your cues from your child

4) Deal with your own anxiety

5) Be reassuring

6) Focus on what you’re doing to stay safe

7) Stick to routine

8) Keep talking

I hope you find the above articles helpful and let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Dr Bob