The WHO has released a series of recommendations for the current COVID-19 “Coronavirus” pandemic.
You know me…
…I don’t just blindly accept what governments and the “powers that are” tell me.
These, however, are very sensible.
More importantly, I think having some simple rules they can follow helps give people guidance during a trying time like this one.
So…
Let’s All “Do The Five” During The Pandemic
1. Wash Your Hands
Washing your hands with soap and water (not hand sanitizer) is the most effective way to physically remove germs from your hands.
Frequent hand washing is therefore one of the best ways to help prevent infection.
It’s not a guarantee, but good hygiene is always the front line defense for this type of problem.
2. Cough Into Your Elbow
When I was a kid, they taught us to cough into our hands.
This helps you not to cough on other people… but it covers your hands in germs, and then you spread those to whatever you touch.
Kids today are taught to cough into their elbows, because of course you don’t use your elbow to touch anything (and especially not your “elbow pit”).
Break yourself of the habit of coughing into your hand, and learn to do this instead.
3. Don’t touch your face.
For me, this is the hardest one.
We simply don’t think of how often we touch our faces.
If you have germs on your hands, touching your face and especially rubbing your eyes can help transmit infection INTO YOU.
Learn to focus on this and keep your hands in your pockets if you can’t stop nervously touching things.
4. Stay 1 meter (3 feet/1 yard) from everyone.
This is part of the “social distancing” that everyone is talking about.
The closer you are to strangers, the greater the chance they can transmit infection to you.
Stay at least a meter (1 yard, or 3 feet) away from everyone else in public.
Don’t let them touch you and don’t get any closer than that.
Especially for those in big cities, this will be harder for some than others.
Just treat it as the goal to work toward, and do your best.
5. Stay home if you’re sick.
If you’re not feeling well, chances are good (in terms of probability) that you DON’T have COVID-19.
The thing is, if you go to the hospital at the first sign of mild illness, you run the risk of helping clog up emergency rooms during the pandemic…
…while also exposing yourself to the illness.
If your symptoms are mild, stay home and monitor yourself closely.
Avoid contact with absolutely everyone to the extent that you can.
Understand that you are now a risk — and don’t take it personally when people don’t want to be around you.
If your symptoms start to get worse, THAT is the time to get medical attention.
Do NOT, however, just march into the emergency room exposing everyone else to the potential illness.
Instead, contact your local health provider and get instructions as far as how you should proceed to get assistance with a possible infection.
They’ll be able to tell you the protocol they’re following for suspected cases… so you can minimize contact with others.
That’s it.
That’s 5 simple rules.
Let’s all do our best to follow them as the starting point for coping with pandemic.
