Will I get coronavirus now?

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I had an appointment at the hospital today but got lost, and ended up walking into a separate department that was supposed to be where the isolation units are. It said about the coronavirus all over the walls and doors, and the hallway was so clean and shiny that I felt like I was surrounded by glass or ice, and it smelt of strong disinfectant. I didn't touch anything, because the doors were automatic, and I only stood in the hallway or lobby and when I realised I was in the wrong part of the building I quickly ran out again, but I breathed in there.

Although the coronavirus hasn't got to my city in Essex yet, I'm still paranoid, because of the way it's spread so easily and how the world is going over the top about it. Does walking into the lobby of an isolation unit mean I'm going to pick up the coronavirus? Or are there other reasons patients can be isolated too?

There are lots of reasons patients get isolated. I've been in isolation a few times, (at least) once because of an ordinary but strong flu virus and once because of an unknown but not so serious virus. If you have something that can infect people and needs hospital treatment, you're likely to end up in isolation. Unless it has been mentioned that your town has had coronavirus infections, it is extremely unlikely there were any patients with it there. And even if there was, it's not known to pass to people from air. Touching something that a sick person has can infect you, but with taking care of basic hygiene the chances of infection fall dramatically. So no, it's extremely unlikely you would've caught it from the hospital. So unlikely that you could just as well say impossible.

Yes there are many other reasons, any infectious disease one could mention or patients with diminished immune systems: I was in an isolation unit when I was about eight due to stomach pain they couldn’t find the cause of as a precaution.

It’s highly unlikely you’ve got it from a few breaths of disinfectant heavy air in a corridor, particularly if there’s no-one with that disease on the ward.

The corridor will be maintained in that “glassy” fashion to prevent cross-infection between the patients in the ward: so those were most likely the most germ-free breaths you’ve taken in your life.

I had a fright when I saw the notices at my GPs a couple of weeks ago, but no, all over nothing: not a single case in Herefordshire.

Phew, thanks guys for reassuring me. I get anxious easily and I just needed that bit of reassurance.
It's the way the media is really going over the top with it, the constant news reports about it and the way it's seen like it's worse than the black plague or something.
I thought it was airborne though, otherwise why do people wear masks?
Anything is frightening when it's airborne, because no amount of hand washing will stop you breathing in contamination.

I like this.

^ hoped you would!

I keep my news intake to one checkup of a moderate broadsheet newspaper every 2-3 days... anything more and I start getting anxiety from it: easy to fall into.

Good question... well, if someone sneezes or coughs close to you, you're less likely to get infected with anything they have if you have a mask. While the bacteria doesn't come to you through air and long distances, if someone with the infection is coughing or sneezing near you, you might breath in the bacteria. Or at least this is how it usually works; I'm not sure if Corona can spread this way. At some point I read it can't, that a direct contact is needed, but I'm not sure anymore. But just passing through a room someone with the infection has been in won't infect you.

Also a mask definitely helps if someone already has the virus (or a flu) since it'll help them to not spread the it.

No.

The way a lot of people catch a cold or the flu is because they used a door knob or handle, that someone contagious just used after coughing or sneezing into their hand.

And didn't wash that hand before eating or something. Good hand hygiene helps a lot.

It's not always easy to avoid these germs 100%. When I worked in a care home and the norovirus was going around, I avoided it very carefully by being very hygienic; luckily the wing I was cleaning wasn't affected but I still made sure I was protected, by wearing gloves, wearing a mask, frequently changing my gloves and washing my hands thoroughly between changing gloves, wearing a plastic apron over my clothes, and spraying all door handles with the right chemical and cleaning every bathroom with the right chemicals, mopping the floors using bleach, and anything else you can think of. And I washed my hands thoroughly before eating lunch. And I STILL caught the damn bug.

^ True, but it will lower the chances.