{"id":2469,"date":"2020-03-06T14:44:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T03:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/?p=2469"},"modified":"2020-03-16T10:51:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T23:51:34","slug":"responding-to-the-covid19-outbreak-take-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2020\/03\/06\/responding-to-the-covid19-outbreak-take-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Responding to the COVID19 outbreak (take 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Advice for massage therapists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

by Rebecca Barnett<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Please note that, since the release of this article, AMT has escalated its advice to members. The advice below is no longer current. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When I originally started drafting this update, I was planning to write a nice authoritative, third person advice just like the one we published on this blog at the end of January.<\/a> Then I went to the supermarket for a routine shop \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the bright side I now know that, when\nthe zombie apocalypse comes, the entire planet will be gorging on pasta, rice\nand beans while they wipe their suddenly exploding arses 628 times a day with\nincreasingly rationed supplies of TP. TP will soon top oil, gold and silver in\nthe global commodities market. Meanwhile a small nation state of paleo people\nwill slowly emerge victorious, waving their carb contempt and constipation like\na flag. Must eat brains? No problem. And who needs toilet paper when you can\nwipe your bum with bacon? (I am currently buying shares in bum gun\nmanufacturing companies regardless). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This spate of panic buying shows two fairly\ndepressing things: people don\u2019t react to news in a rational manner and the\npublic health messaging about COVID19 is failing miserably. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I am going to use this blog to argue one main point which I hope gets some traction among the massage therapists who are a bit panicked about how to respond to COVID19 and those seeking guidance, direction and maybe a little bit of (qualified) reassurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s just start with the slightly scary sounding bottom line \u2013 actual infectious disease and epidemiological experts are predicting that most of us are likely to get COVID19 sometime over the next few years<\/a>. Most of us are also going to survive. The current containment policies being rolled out within Australia appear to primarily be aimed at buying the health system enough time to adequately prepare for a worst case scenario of patients requiring critical care in an already overloaded public health system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s an awful lot that the experts and authorities don\u2019t know yet and can\u2019t predict because it is early days for COVID19. I suppose this uncertainty is the thing that freaks people out and drives irrational responses. However, the main risk that massage therapists face is proximity \u2013 you\u2019re working more closely with clients than the recommended distance of 1.5 metres from infected people so you\u2019re a bit more exposed to the risk of infection. However, if you are already following established policies and procedures for infection control and hygiene<\/em><\/strong>, you are unlikely to become more of a vector for disease transmission than anyone else in the general community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I am going to go out on a limb and say that, as a massage therapist in clinical practice, the single most important thing you can do right now \u2013 apart from following the standards that are already expected of you anyway and the advice we issued back on January 30<\/a> \u2013 is to become a vector for good public health information with your clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rinse and repeat<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Here was the list of actions we recommended\nin late January. These should still be at the core of your response:<\/p>\n\n\n\n