A massive shock took the world after the COVID19 surfaced and quickly moved from being an epidemic to becoming a pandemic. Since it is such a new phenomenon, the reaction of the world was confusing. Everyone is still figuring out how to contain it and react to it, which contributes to the uncertainty of the people. The pandemic’s permanent solution will only be a vaccine that not only cures but avoids the future contraction of the virus. Till then, the world can only take measures to prevent getting in contact with anyone possessing the virus.
The recommendations from organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) has been to keep a distance from other humans. Since the virus has up to two weeks of the incubation period, the symptoms do not appear, making it difficult to ascertain who has the virus. By the time symptoms appear and test reports come out, the person has already been in contact with many other humans aiding the spread of the virus. The only way to avoid it all is social distancing, but experts have also directed people to improve their hygiene. In this article, we will talk about all the steps one can take to avoid the virus and make people’s lives healthier overall.
General hygiene
Before discussing any COVID19-specific hygiene practices, we should first consider all the exercises that improve our health and environment. Generally, you should always ensure that the dust settles nowhere in your house, including furniture, as they can create adverse allergies among people. People usually use a vacuum cleaner’s services to clean their furniture and scrub their floors with anti-bacterial soaps regularly. It will do most of the job, but occasionally your rug or carpet might need professional help. Carpets and rugs are a natural choice in many US states, such as Washington, since they look exceptionally chic. If you are a resident of Washington State, you might want to keep in touch with any carpet cleaning service in Spokane Valley since you would often need it to keep up with the hygiene. Moreover, never use any utensils straight from the cabinets without cleaning them first. Now that we have established some basic guidelines, we can focus more on COVID19-specific hygiene practices.
Personal hygiene
Personal hygiene is among the best way to avoid contracting the deadly virus, and most of these hygiene practices are WHO’s recommendations. It would help if you never touched your face as the virus travels through any of your body opening like mouth and nose. It is possible that you got into contact with the virus through a person or touched an infected surface and rubbed the face, which would only allow it to spread. Similarly, while you should be wary of contracting the virus, you should also avoid spreading, in case you have, and you don’t know yet. Doctors recommend that whenever you sneeze, you should do it inside your elbow to contain the germs spread. The same applies to cough, and if you use a tissue to clean the mucus, you should dispose of it immediately.
Social distancing and Washing
The governments usually apply the lockdown to the whole communities to avoid people getting in contact with each other. Even if you do get into a situation, there is nothing to worry about if you manage to keep a distance of more than 3 meters from people, especially who are coughing/sneezing. Despite all the precautions, one might get into situations where your hands touch other surfaces. The best way is to wash your hands for at least 20-30 seconds with soap as it ensures that the virus loses its integrity. There are many places where washing your hands might not be possible so that a hand sanitizer might come handy. However, you should ensure that the hand sanitizer has at least 60% alcohol by volume. You could also wear surgical gloves to avoid any such contact, and it is obvious now that you should be wearing a mask at all times.
Disinfect the surfaces
Though we talked about general cleaning, for COVID19, you should also disinfect the surfaces at your house that you regularly interact with. Many cleaning products can do the job for you, while in some countries, the government makes recommendations and you should follow them. Don’t forget to follow the instructions of using cleaning products such as wearing gloves and allowing enough ventilation, so you do not inhale too much of the fumes.
Stay at home
Another hygiene practice is to manage all the chores at home, which you previously did outside. Laundry is one such scenario, as going to the laundry places might increase your interaction with people. It would help if you regularly wash your clothes and sheets to minimize the possibility of spreading the virus. Use detergents and warm water, and also allow the laundry to dry completely before use, as it will effectively kill the virus from the clothes. And off course, do not forget to wash your hands thoroughly after this process. It would help if you disinfected any package coming from outside, such as a courier or food delivery, before usage.
Key Takeaways
COVID19 has taken a toll on almost every aspect of our lives, and it is changing our lifestyles immensely. It would be wise to follow the experts’ guidelines to avoid contracting the virus as much as possible. Hygiene is always the key for better health, and COVID19 is no exception to this rule of thumb. We all know about social distancing and wearing masks, but we should also ensure that we disinfect the surfaces and any items that arrive from the outside. With these baby steps, we hope that we will eventually get over this virus and get back to a healthy life.
