The collision of urbanization, population growth and the rapid movement of people and goods across borders is heightening global pandemic…
Most people do not concern themselves too much with the annual and normal spread of cold and flu viruses we are accustomed to in our modern society.
Unless it is a really bad year for the flu, the average person’s anxiety regarding the spread of disease between people is negligible, but for many years the common cold raised about as much fear in my family as the coronavirus or ebola does for most.
When I surveyed our global network of Hyper IgM patients about their level of anxiety with the spread of COVID-19, I found the results surprising.
Most parents, while somewhat worried, had been living in fear of all viruses for so long that their daily lives already had all the restrictions in place to deal with this new threat.
I’ve spent years avoiding all viruses – from the mildest common cold to the flu and other strains of coronavirus. Today, I will share my secrets with you.
Here are a few easy things you can do to protect yourselves and your loved ones during the coronavirus outbreak:
1. Practice effective hand-washing.
I cannot emphasize this enough.
The majority of illnesses are spread because of poor hand-washing hygiene.
According to Columbia University Medical Center pediatrician Edith Bracho-Sanchez, hand-washing can decrease transmission of viruses anywhere from 30 to 50%.
For most people, poor hand-washing has no effect, as one’s immune system protects you on a daily basis.
In fact, many rightly believe it is good for kids and adults to be exposed to germs and viruses to train and strengthen their immune system.
Most people do not wash their hands properly or frequently enough.
For me though, it was the number one way to keep my kids safe. Personally, I have never observed another person wash their hands correctly after using a public restroom.
To find out the best way to wash your hands, check out this quick refresher from the World Health Organization here.
2. Try not to touch your face.
Viruses and bacteria mostly do not make it past your body’s first line of defense — the skin.
The skin that covers most of your body also does a great job of keeping it safe.
The main ways these pathogens make it in is actually through the gaps in the skin — eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
This is why in their coronavirus prevention and treatment guidelines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages people to avoid touching their face.
Most people who have a cold or the flu probably did not catch it from another person randomly coughing or sneezing directly into their faces (although to be fair, it does happen in NYC subways!).
They more likely got sick from touching a surface with cold and flu viruses and then touching their face.
In a 2015 observational study of medical students at the University of New South Wales, researchers found that each of the 26 observed students touched their face 23 times an hour on average.
I had to train myself to completely stop touching my face. It is one of the hardest things I have ever done, and impossible to achieve in totality.
But with a lot of work and self-control, I managed to significantly minimize how many times I touched my face unnecessarily. (Also, added benefit: no pimples!)
3. Don’t touch things you don’t have to touch.
It is amazing how many of us just touch things for the sake of it.
Between countertops, subway poles, doorknobs, keyboards, phones, ATM machines, taxi doors and more, we are constantly touching surfaces that others (including people who have active viruses) have touched recently.
Germs can live on surfaces for days. Short of staying in one’s home, there is no way of avoiding these surfaces altogether.
But being conscious and aware of these surfaces, minimizing touching of those surfaces, and hand washing or using hand sanitizer immediately afterward will help reduce the risk of picking up someone else’s germs.
Also, don’t get me started on handshakes and high-fives.
Just wave hello for goodness sake.
4. Keep your home as free of germs as you can.
People do not realize how germy common surfaces in the house can get.
Make sure to Clorox or disinfect surfaces like your phone, keyboard, faucets, doorknobs, remotes, light switches, fridge and microwave doors, and countertops on a daily basis.
We relied on Clorox and Lysol wipes for our daily sanitizing routine.
Hand towels and kitchen sponges are other sources of bacteria in the home. Consider switching these out often, and moving towards disposable hand towels to minimize the risk of infection.
If you still wear shoes in your home, this might be a good time to try a no-shoe policy.
Shoes track in all sorts of germs into the house, so unless you are cleaning your floors multiple times a day, keep those germs at bay by leaving your shoes by the door.
With all these precautions, we managed to keep our very susceptible and immune-deficient kids very safe.
In fact, they are one of the few kids I have seen who had two bone marrow transplants and did not “reactivate” any of the common viruses that most kids would have had by the time they are 5, like cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) or Adenovirus.
Unlike most kids of their age, they never caught them in the first place.
5. Keep hand sanitizer with you.
For years, we walked around with Purell in our pockets and Wet Ones Sanitizing wipes in our bag.
For all those times we had to touch surfaces and could not wash our hands after we used Purell or the wipes which are very effective and are a good alternative for hand-washing (though not as good).
The CDC recommends using an alcohol-based sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol.
With these (relatively) small changes to your daily routine and hygiene protocols, you can significantly reduce the risk of getting sick during the cold and flu season, and hopefully, also avoid catching the COVID-19 as it spreads globally.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. Healthy Supplies Shop is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of healthy supplies shop and we do not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.