How to Avoid COVID-19

Watching the news these days is scary. Between pandemics, the flu season, antivaxers, etc, protecting your family can feel impossible. How do you know what information is true and what is overblown? What can you do to keep your family from getting sick? And how do you keep the illness from hitting the whole family when one member gets sick?

Given that everyone is freaking out about COVID-19, I thought I would post some resources to help everyone get real, vetted information.

Get Information From the Source

Everyone and their brother is writing articles speculating how bad corono virus is, but is their information accurate? Are they just fear-mongering? How scared should you be?

Before freaking out about any health crisis, check the WHO website (COVID-19) to see the actual source material. The WHO website will have statistics on how quickly a virus spreads, the actual symptoms and when to go to the doctor, as well as tips to keep the virus from spreading. They also keep maps of areas of concern.

Make sure you check any information that might make you nervous before you get nervous. If there is a pandemic, check regularly because they update often.

Stock Up On The Right Supplies

Ditch the hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizer does not help stop the spread of bugs. And masks are only helpful to stop the sick person from transmitting specific viruses to those around them. Let me repeat: you only need a mask if you are the one who is sick! They will not protect you from getting sick.

So what should you stock up on?

During flu season you should always plan to have about 2 weeks of food in your house. If you get sick tomorrow, do you have the day-to-day necessities on hand so you don’t have to run to the store while sick? Those items are what you should stock up on. Food, toiletries, toilet paper, and basic medications (cough drops anyone?) are all you need.

The only exception to this rule is if you get your food delivered. In that case, you can keep less food on hand, but you need to make sure the delivery people deliver to the front stoop without entering the building or coming in contact with you.

But you don’t need to stock up on everything under the sun. Keep it simple.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

It is easier to not get sick than to recover from illness. Some simple habits will help keep your family healthy.

Everyday Habits

First, wash your hands and teach your children to wash their hands. Use warm water and scrub for 20 seconds. You can use an egg timer or an hour glass to help young children actually scrub for 20 seconds. And you don’t need to use antibacterial soap. Regular soap and water will do just as well without breeding super-bugs.

Bathe at night. When you get home for the night, bathe the kids and take a shower. Get the germs off so you don’t sleep in a bunch of germs. This will help reduce the risk of getting a disease if you were exposed while out.

Do not share cups, glasses, food, or drink. This can be really difficult if you have a small baby, but try to keep to it as best you can. Also, don’t share towels, toothbrushes, or other self care items.

Finally, do your best not to touch your face. This is definitely the most difficult piece of advice. On average we touch our face 44 times an hour and half of those are touching our mouths, noses, and eyes. Most viruses are transmitted when we touch something that has been infected and then touch our face. Do your best to not touch your face, especially when in a public environment.

At Home

Keep the house, especially high use areas like bathrooms and kitchens, clean. Try to clean and disinfect high use surfaces in your home at least once a week. If you have a baby, these high use surfaces could include the floor and any toys the baby plays with often. Disinfecting can be easy: just use white vinegar and warm water.

Wash anything that touches mouths every day. Sippy cups, teethers, glasses, bowls, dishes, spoons, etc. If it touches someone’s mouth, wash it. Bacteria can breed on the surfaces and increase the probability of getting sick. This is especially true if someone in the household is already sick.

Air out the house. Switching the air out can clear out any pathogens in the air so they don’t linger. I recommend opening the windows at least once a day for as long as you can. Ideally, open the windows in the morning and then again in the evening.

Don’t Panic

When it comes to pandemics, flu seasons, or other disasters; the worst thing we can do is panic. Don’t panic. Take the time to get accurate information, and then prepare accordingly. If you are ever worried, call your healthcare professional. They will direct you on where to go if you are sick, and they will have more specific advise on how to keep your family safe.

What do you do to stay safe and healthy? Let me know in the comments below.

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