Covid-19 is primarily a respiratory infection, and it's spread via respiratory droplets: The stuff that comes out of people's mouths and nose when they sneeze or cough.
How does it get from person to person? Well, humans are dumb lil primates and love to touch their faces a whole bunch. The virus that causes covid-19 hitches a ride on your hands to make it to your mouth, nose, or eyes, and from there it can get to work.
This is why you hear public health officials telling you not to touch your face. If you really, really have to, take a paper towel or other clean disposable wipe and use that. It's probably best to wash your hands and face at the end of the day before you go whole hog on itching everything you've desperately wanted to itch.
How does the virus get on your hands if you're not sick already? Three main ways: 1. somebody who's sick coughs or sneezes on you directly. The droplets that spread from this hit the ground after about 2m/6ft. This is why public health officials recommend standing at least that distance from other people when you can.
2. somebody who's sick coughs or sneezes on a surface that you then touch. This is why the recommendations also call for regular cleaning of "high-touch" surfaces like public tables or door handles. If you have to touch something and you don't think you'll be able to clean your hands for a while, you can use a disposable napkin or clean tissue.
Now, please note that the main thing here that can be done to limit this risk to others is for those who are sick to wear masks: they catch the respiratory droplets that come out of your mouth and nose. Wearing a mask to protect against getting sick does not work.
(Corollary: if that's true, why do healthcare workers wear masks so much? To protect you from catching anything they may have. They have a higher likelihood of coming in contact with those who are sick. so if they unknowingly end up as a carrier of something infectious, they're trying to keep you safe.)
So, this brings me around to proper handwashing technique: they say wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, but if you follow the proper techniques to thoroughly wash ever surface of your hands, you won't need to worry about counting it out:
Going through the list of steps laid out in videos like these will take you about 20 seconds, and give you a thorough wash. The one addition I've seen some healthcare workers do is to also specifically make sure to wash the heels of your palms.
And a quality of life thing regarding washing: If your hands are feeling dry and awful from a lot of washing, consider a hydrating lotion. There are dermatologist-recommended, scent-free and hypoallergenic options available: I use Lubriderm, though depending on where you are there may be other brands.
Now! If you come down with covid-19 and are asked to self-quarantine, figure out a room in your apartment or home that no one else will have to use for the duration. If you have more than one bathroom, ideally you should pick a room close to one of them and exclusively use that.
You are not 100% cloistered while you are in quarantine! You can go out into common areas as necessary, but it's best if you wear a mask if you have one. If you have other people living with you, it's best if they cook and leave meals outside your door, then thoroughly wash your dishes and laundry.
The biggest thing to keep yourself healthy in a public-facing job is up at the top: limit physical contact, wash your hands regularly, and don't touch your face.
If you live alone, if you're quarantined you should try not to go out unless you're going to a scheduled medical appointment. If you don't have enough food in the house to make it through 14 days, don't panic! You can still order out/get delivery groceries/ask friends to bring you shopping or food, just let them know to leave it outside your door.
All the prevention recommendations count double for those who are vulnerable to complications from covid-19: smokers, those over the age of 60, and those with chronic lung disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
If you or someone you're in regular contact with falls under these risk groups, you'll especially benefit from following public health recommendations.
But even if you don't fall in these categories and don't feel sick, please be careful! One mixed blessing about covid-19 is that a lot of people (potentially around 50% of those infected as per the Diamond Princess cohort) never display symptoms. This means that healthy people can still act as carriers, if the virus begins circulating in your neighborhood.
And if you feel sick, please call ahead to your doctor or the hospital to let them know so they can take precautions when you go in. My state just had a confirmed case at a walk-in clinic, which is now closing until they can do a deep-clean.
in descending order of prevalence, symptoms are: fever, dry cough, fatigue, mucus in the lungs, shortness of breath, muscle or joint pain, sore throat, headache, chills, nausea or vomiting, nasal congestion,or diarrhea.
my husband's doctor's office proactively contacted all their patients to say if they had any symptoms matching the covid-19 list, to call and they would do a phone screen rather than expose anyone at the office
If you start experiencing any difficulty breathing, report it. Again, this is advice you should follow even when we're not dealing with a novel disease.
If you have any two of the symptoms, you should stay home until at least 48 hours after symptoms resolve. This is what my office already pretty much mandates for the flu every year.
If you have an asshole employer that doesn't give paid sick leave (hello fellow wanderers of the american hellscape), please do what you can to get them to not be assholes. There's currently a push by democrats in the US congress to mandate paid sick leave, but we don't know if that will get through.
Also, through all of this, remember: one of the problems of diseases like this is the limited amount of resources available to medical workers. If you have mild symptoms, you will likely be told to quarantine at home. This leaves doctors and nurses with more time to care for those who are experiencing serious symptoms.
Also! For those who are vulnerable, there is a pneumonia vaccine! Pneumonia is a bacterial respiratory infection that is a potential complication of both the flu and covid-19. Recommendations on who should get the vaccine differ from country to country, but those over 60 can benefit a lot from it.
Also, if you're looking for more information directly from health experts following this topic, please check to make sure the sources have verified credentials. One place a lot of common questions have already been answered is here:
And one more note for keeping yourself safe: Currently there's no home treatments or cures for covid-19, but there are a bunch of hucksters out there trying to sell fake treatments. They put a hard sell on these things, but there's no proof backing them up.
1. somebody who's sick coughs or sneezes on you directly. The droplets that spread from this hit the ground after about 2m/6ft. This is why public health officials recommend standing at least that distance from other people when you can.