Loren Miller is a physician researcher at the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. His specialty is infectious diseases. The Journal spoke with him shortly after Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency. At the time, there were seven known COVID-19 cases in the county. As of press time, that number had doubled. Miller emphasized that this is a fluid situation. Speak to your health care provider for the most up- to-date guidance.
Jewish Journal: What are you doing differently, if anything?
Loren Miller: Probably the most important lesson is [to] keep your hands below your neck. With these viruses, you don’t know who’s contagious. Anything you touch, any surface you touch, could be contaminated with all sorts of viruses: cold viruses that cause colds and flus, bacteria, coronavirus. We know that the way you acquire these — one of the most common ways — is that your hands touch a contaminated surface and then you touch what we call your mucous membranes, which would be your eyes, nose or mouth. We know that people commonly, inadvertently, touch these parts of their bodies all the time. If you get used to keeping your hands below your neck, you can avoid touching those and acquiring all sorts of viruses, including COVID-19.
