Avoiding Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection

 

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Avoid Getting Sick With COVID-19

Now that you know a bit more about what a coronavirus is and what’s different about the Coronavirus-2019, how do you avoid getting infected? Are you guaranteed to infect other people if you’re infected? Should you avoid open spaces with lots of people? Follow these tips to avoid catching COVID-19.

 

1. Avoid Contact With Infected People

The most important thing your can do is to avoid close contact with those who are infected with COVID-19 is one of the best ways to stay healthy. Even though the World Health Organization (WHO) says that Coronavirus-2019 is not as infectious as influenza (the flu), it’s still necessary to take precautions to prevent infections (World Health Organization).

For some people like health care workers and doctors, this can be impossible and all necessary precautions should be taken by these medical professionals.

 

2. Wash Your Hands Frequently

This might be some of the oldest advice in the book but it is still a great preventative measure. Frequent hand-washing with warm water and soap can ensure that you aren’t transferring the infection around to other people, objects, or yourself. Click here to learn how to make your own hand sanitizer.

3. Avoid Touching Your Face

One of the easiest ways that infection can spread is when people touch their face after touching an infected surface, namely their eyes, nose, and mouth. Open orifices like these allow germs, viruses, and bacteria to quickly get inside the body and then spread infection.

Your skin, on the other hand, provides a protective barrier against most infections so long as you don’t have an open wound. This is why you should avoid touching your face unless you’ve just washed your hands.

 

4. Clean Common Surfaces Often

If you have a family, making sure you clean off the dinner table with disinfectant is a great way to avoid spreading any infections. Schools should clean desks and office spaces should ensure that the break room or rest area is wiped down often.

 

 

What If You’re Already Sick With COVID-19?

If you’re already sick with the coronavirus (or really any other contagious infection), there are a number of things you can do to stop the spread of the disease. Of course, start with the above listed items and keep following those to help prevent the spread.

Remember that the only way to know for sure if you have COVID-19 is to go to a health care professional and take a screening test for it.

1. Stay Home!

The best way to prevent the spread of any infectious disease is to stay home from work or school when you’re sick. Taking a few days off to recover is much better than infecting a number of other people and proliferating the spread of COVID-19.

2. Cover Your Cough or Sneeze

If you need to cough or sneeze, be sure to cover your mouth to prevent the spread of infection. Like the flu, it is thought that COVID-19 spreads through infected bodily fluids like mucus or saliva. If you must go out in public, try to keep all of your bodily fluids to yourself.

3. Wear a Mask

Although the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) don’t recommend wearing a face mask if you aren’t sick, they do if you are confirmed to have COVID-19. “Facemasks should be used by people who show symptoms of COVID-19 to help prevent the spread of the disease to others” (CDC).