Quick and efficient health care can mean the difference between life and death for some COVID-19 patients. When the virus began to sweep the nation in March, C Spire and the University of Mississippi Medical Center knew what they had to do to help Mississippians.

In response to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, C Spire has redirected the C Spire Health telemedicine app exclusively to aid the University of Mississippi Medical Center in diagnosing and triaging possible cases of COVID-19.

Seeking medical care can make us feel vulnerable in more ways than one. We let our family doctors see us at our worst, so we can get back to feeling our best quickly. There’s no question that seeing a familiar face in our weakest moments is a comforting feeling.

But there are times when seeing a medical professional in-person isn’t ideal. When you need treatment for seasonal allergies, a sinus infection or nausea and the waiting room is crowded with flu patients, putting as much space between yourself and contagious illnesses is simply smart self-care.

Sometimes your medical needs don’t require you to visit a doctor in their office. Runny noses, cough, fever and much more can be treated over a mobile phone.

Nearly three-quarters of all doctor and urgent care visits could be handled safely and effectively via telehealth solutions without visiting a clinic, according to a 2015 American Medical Association study.

With telemedicine, you can have a video chat with a nurse practitioner or another qualified medical professional to diagnose and treat an array of illnesses.

As the outbreak of COVID-19, commonly referred to as the coronavirus, spreads across the country, anyone can take basic steps to help avoid infection, just as they should with seasonal influenza.

University of Mississippi Medical Center infectious diseases experts and the World Health Organization (WHO) advise frequent hand-washing as a first line of defense. Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with soap and water as directed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or with a hand sanitizer containing at least 60 percent alcohol to kill viruses that may be on your hands.

Chances are good that at some point, you’ve had some sort of coronavirus.

Chances are slim, however, that those living in Mississippi are at risk for the novel coronavirus strain making news headlines, a new coronavirus that’s the cause of a worldwide outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in late 2019 in Wuhan City in China’s Hubei Province.