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Coronavirus on Smart Talk Monday; Public Health Nurses integral to virus battle and COVID-19, fact vs. fiction

Brenda Carll, a former state public health nurse in Venango County, fought for years against attempts by Pennsylvania governors of both parties to slash community health funding.

 Robert Frank / For the Inquirer

Brenda Carll, a former state public health nurse in Venango County, fought for years against attempts by Pennsylvania governors of both parties to slash community health funding.

Public health nurses are often under-appreciated for their role as first responders. Their job in the community is to educate and serve at-risk populations, with a focus on disease prevention.

Their responsibilities in the community have put them front and center in the battle to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But limited staffing and past budget cuts have made it harder for public health nurses to do their jobs.

Spotlight PA reporter Aneri Pattani investigated the impact this is having on tracking the spread and what public health nurses are expected to do. Pattani joins Smart Talk on Monday to share her findings.

Scientists around the globe are working at a frenetic pace to try and understand, treat and prevent the coronavirus; a novel, or new, virus with few treatment options.

Even though it is a new virus to medical researchers, it does have some similarities to other viruses. Symptomatically, COVID-19 can be mistaken for the flu; both cause fever, cough, and body aches. Both viruses are transmitted from person to person through droplets in the air from an infected person. That is essentially where the similarities between the viruses end. 

Where facts are missing, there is plenty of speculation about COVID-19 all over the internet. With limited, and developing, factual information known about the virus, it is often hard to discern between what is truth and what is fiction. 

Appearing on Smart Talk Monday to sort through both is Professor Tammy Tobin, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biology at Susquehanna University. For individuals seeking web information, Dr. Tobin mentioned several websites that contain information about COVID-19: the Federal Drug Administration, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. 

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