10 Things We Learned From Infectious Disease Expert Michael Osterholm On Joe Rogan Experience

Rogan mentioned how he saw people walking around with masks on (as I'm sure you have to) and wearing gloves etc. in order to protect themselves. Would this actually help contain the spread or stop them getting infected?

Well, Osterholm pretty much labelled that as 'largely' nonsense. The reason for this being that the primary mechanism for transmission is the respiratory route - or in other words, just breathing.

So, by wearing a surgical mask (a mask designed to stop a surgeon's saliva/germs or other fluids getting into the person their operating on) which still allows air into your system or wearing latex gloves 24/7, you're not actually doing much to stop the virus getting into your system.

Obviously washing your hands and maintaining a high level of personal hygiene is still going to be beneficial to you, but it won't prevent you catching this virus. Having a strong immune system - by ensuring you have a healthy diet and are keeping fit - will help you combat an internal infection more than any surgical mask or set of gloves.

Limiting contact with people will reduced the risk of you breathing in the virus. Yet, it must also be noted that people over the age of 55 who are suffering from underlying health conditions - i.e. obesity - are more at risk of serious illness or fatality if they are infected. So, it would probably be wise for people who fall into those brackets to really exercise these precautions.

Just as a tidbit, Rogan asked if using a sauna could kill harmful bacteria. To which Osterholm replied that the hot air you breathe in from a sauna is very much cooled down by the rest of the air left in your lungs, so the idea of it burning away the bacteria was a bit silly.