MACON, Ga. — To help answer your questions with facts, we're taking some of your COVID-19 questions to Macon pediatrician Dr. Lance Slade, who has been following the virus closely.
Gabriele Harper wrote in and wants to know if the virus can be spread by mosquitoes or ticks.
"Zika virus is probably the one that's most recently seen with mosquitoes about four years ago at this time, so we have not seen anything that shows the spread of that. It's always been respiratory droplets, which is sneezing, you know, that type of thing," said Slade.
The CDC says those droplets from another person's cough or sneeze can land in your mouth or nose or possibly inhaled in your lungs.
A question we've gotten from a number of viewers is should we all be wearing masks? Will they help? Who should be wearing them?
Slade said both President Trump and the CDC recommend wearing a mask.
"The cloth-type mask. Not necessarily N95s. To prevent not so much us catching it, but us from giving it, and so I think that's the challenge is that it protects us from giving it to someone else."
We also got a question from William Leslie who wants to know as the weather continues to warm up, will that decrease the chance of getting COVID-19?
"So far we have not seen anything to speak to that. I think you know... wondering about different temperatures and climates since it's in other countries that are warmer, they have not shown to lessen that in those locations at this point, so I think we still don't know," said Slade.
The CDC says some other viruses, like the flu, spread more during cold weather months, but that does not mean it is impossible to get sick during warmer months.
How long does it typically take for symptoms to start showing up in a person?
"So there's still some question to that," said Slade. "We've seen as many as five days or it could be as long as 14 days after exposure before you can have it."
He said one challenge we face is that people who don't have symptoms yet can unknowingly spread the virus to others.
We've also gotten a lot of messages from viewers asking if chlorine can kill the virus or if it's safe to swim right now.
Slade said at this point, it looks like pools are safe.
"If someone had COVID and someone else is swimming in it, I think that's a question we don't know, like if they're spitting in in the pool and someone else is around them, I think that has not been tested to see what kind of space or duration we have from there," he said. "We want to do life, but just don't be super close. So yeah, swim in the pool but be far enough away."
The CDC also said there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread through pools, and it's important to maintain proper maintenance and disinfection to kill any germs or bacteria.
Keep sending us your COVID-19 related questions and we will continue taking them to the experts to get answers as we focus on facts, not fears.
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