Precautionary Measures During COVID -19 Pandemic

Introduction:

By now, hopefully, we all have understood the seriousness of this pandemic, and so we should have a stock of our daily needs and home requirements. If you do not think of your safety or if you are overconfident that you can manage going out without getting infected, then think about your family as you can be a carrier of the virus to your home. So, if you want to do something for your family, then just stay at home and be safe.

What Are the Precautionary Measures to Be Followed During This Pandemic?

It is necessary to stock up with essential things at once without going out frequently. The precautions we should take while going out and returning home from outside for obtaining key essentials are-

Make a List of Essential Things:

First, make a list of essential things that you will need for a whole week, be it vegetables or milk or groceries. You should have plan B. In case you did not get any of these essential things, you should search for a substitute. For example, if you do not get fresh milk, go for milk powder or even tetra-pack milk as a substitute in an emergency situation to reduce or minimize the number of times you step out of the house.

Home Delivery Systems:

See for facilities that are available, such as home delivery systems. Nowadays, most of the grocery marts have opened up their home delivery services, so make a list of things that you do not get at your doorsteps and step out for those things only.

At the Time of Receiving Delivery:

• Do not allow a delivery person to enter your home.

• Maintain a distance of 1 meter with the delivery person.

• Ask him to put delivery packages on the floor.

• Reduce unnecessary contact with papers and pen, if required, then use your own pen for signature.

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Use Buddy System:

• Ask for help if someone else is there at home. Use a separate scissor for cutting and opening packages. Keep this scissor as a dedicated scissor for opening outside packages and keep this in an isolated area after every use.

• Ask your buddy to open the outer package of the item and ask to touch only the inner cover and take the product inside and dispose of the outer package outside the home. Veggies should be washed thoroughly and dried before use. Milk bags should be washed thoroughly and then opened for boiling.

• Ask your buddy to close the door. After this first thing, go inside the bathroom and wash your hand and face with soap before touching anyone or anything else. It will be better if you drink a hot beverage like tea, coffee, or water.

Spend Less Time Outside the Home:

• Whenever you need to step out for a few items or for some essential work, you should prefer going to nearby shops.

• While purchasing items and doing other work, you should plan and do it in a single visit. Only one member of the family, who is fit and preferably below 60, should go out.

• If assistance is necessary for purchasing items, then use a wheeled bag or carry-on bag, but company or assistance for shopping should be strictly avoided.

Different Ways to Protect Us:

• Preferably wear a full-length dress, closed shoes, cap and most important thing is a mask.

• Mask should be comfortable, and it should not be touched or adjusted frequently.

• Social distancing, the mask (covering nose + mouth), and no handshakes are mandatory things wherever you go.

• The use of watches, finger rings, and belts should be restricted.

• The mobile wallet should be covered in disposable coverings so as to discard outer covering after coming back and before entering the home. Preferably use cashless mode for payment.

• When you are out, do not touch your phone often. The use of cordless or headphones is preferable when in public places so as to prevent contamination.

Avoid Using, Touching, or Traveling With the Public:

• Preferably one should use a private vehicle.

• Public transport should be avoided, including crowded places.

• Avoid using public toilets.

• One should use a non-dominant hand or elbow or forearm or foot to push open or press at the sites such as doorbells, door handles, lift buttons, etc., if touching is unavoidable.

• Wherever possible, avoid frequently touching other things.

What Are the Things to Be Taken Care of on Returning Home?

The things to be taken care of on returning home are,

Isolation:

One should keep themselves isolated till we wash our hands and face with soap. We should not touch our home premises with our hands. So press the doorbell button with an elbow, or one can use a small wooden stick or piece of paper to press, and after that, it should be disposed of.

Disinfect the Items Which We Took Out:

All shopping items, your mobile, wallet keys, and all should be kept near the main door, and they should not be touched by any other family member till they get disinfected.

Protocols on Reaching Home:

• You do not touch the door to close. Let somebody else close the door. After that, one should preferably take a bath or, if not possible, thoroughly wash their hands, face, and feet with soap before touching anything or anyone.

• Clothes that you wear outside should be kept aside and, if possible, washed immediately and separately from other clothes. The use of disinfectant is preferred for clothes.

• As we all know that Coronavirus is a respiratory virus, one should take steam inhalation after coming from outside for 3-4 minutes. After that, drink tea, coffee, or lukewarm water.

What Are the Safety Measures to Be Followed Inside the Home?

1. The use of hand sanitizers, coughing manners, sneezing manners, minimum touching to face and especially to nose and mouth.

2. Kids or babies, the elderly, and persons with compromised immune status should preferably stay in a relatively isolated area.

3. House should be clean and fresh. A humid environment is favorable for the growth of bacteria and viruses. House should be aerated, and cross ventilation should be there.

4. If using air conditioners, make sure that there is good filtration and exchange of air.

5. Preferably, the domestic helper should be avoided, but if it is unavoidable and any outside person is coming for domestic help, then make sure they should do hand sanitization before entering home and should wear a proper mask. Preferably hand gloves should be given to them and disposed of while going out of the home. Social distancing with domestic helpers is preferable.

6. The use of newspapers and magazines should be avoided.

7. Avoid eating outside food. Eat vegetarian and fully cooked homemade food.

Conclusion:

Remember that prevention and taking precautions are way better than cure. So be sensible and responsible to reduce exposure to the virus. With all these measures we cannot assure that we can totally avoid exposure, but surely we can reduce it.

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