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COVID-19 What You Need to Know How does the Coronoavirus compare to the Spanish Flu? Cleaning your home duirng coronavirus Here’s how to kill it
Basic Protective Measures
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Finding a Vaccine
CONTENTS 4 COVID-19 What You Need to Know
15 How des the Coronavirus compare to the
6 Basic Protective Measures Against the New
Spanish Flu?
Corona Virus
17 Cleaning Your Home during Coronavirus -
8 How to Clean Your Phone to Help Protect
Heres how to kill it.
Against Coronavirus
20 Tips to stay healthy while stuck at home
9 Answers to your most common questions
22 Keeping mentially and physically fit during
10 Be positive and proactive
isolation.
What do we know about the virus now? The Covid-19 virus is a member of the coronavirus family that made the jump from animals to humans late last year. Many of those initially infected either worked or frequently shopped in the Huanan seafood wholesale market in the centre of the Chinese city of Wuhan. Unusually for a virus that has made the jump from one species to another, it appears to transmit effectively in humans – current estimates show that without strong containment measures the average person who catches Covid-19 will pass it on to two others. The virus also appears to have a higher mortality rate than common illnesses such as seasonal flu. The combination of coronavirus’s ability to spread and cause serious illness has prompted many countries, including the UK, to introduce or plan extensive public health measures aimed at containing and limiting the impact of the epidemic. How can I stop myself and others from getting infected? Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and do this often, including when you get home or into work. Use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available. Avoid touching your face. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or the crook of your elbow (not your hand) and put used tissues straight in the bin. Avoid close contact with people who are showing possible symptoms. Follow NHS guidance on self-isolation and travel. How can you tell the difference between flu and Covid-19? The coronavirus outbreak hit amid flu season
in the northern hemisphere and even doctors can struggle to distinguish between the two – the overlap in symptoms probably contributed to slow detection of community infections in some countries, including Italy. Typical flu symptoms, which normally come on quickly, include a high fever, sore throat, muscle aches, headaches, shivers, runny or stuffy nose, fatigue and, more occasionally, vomiting and diarrhoea. Doctors are still working to understand the full scope of symptoms and severity for Covid-19, but early studies of patients taken to hospital found nearly all of them developed a fever and dry cough, and many had fatigue and muscle aches. Pneumonia (lung infection) is common in coronavirus patients, even outside the most severe cases, and this can lead to breathing difficulties. A runny nose and sore throat are far less common, reported by just 5% of patients. The only real confirmation of having Covid-19 is taking a test though. What should I do if I have symptoms? If you have symptoms or think you might have been exposed to the virus when travelling or through other contacts, call the NHS 111 service or visit the online service, or contact the equivalent service in your country. Do not go to a GP, pharmacy or hospital. If I get coronavirus, how sick will I get? A large study in China found that about 80% of confirmed cases had fairly mild symptoms (defined as no significant infection in the lungs). About 15% had severe symptoms that caused significant shortness of breath, low blood oxygen or other lung problems, and
Can it be caught on public transport, how is it different from the flu, and how sick will I get respiratory failure, septic shock or multiple organ problems. However, it is possible that a larger number of very mild cases are going under the radar, and so this breakdown in severity could change over time as wider screening takes place. Older people and those with respiratory problems, heart disease or diabetes are at greater risk. What is the mortality rate of the new coronavirus? It is probably about or a bit less than 1%. Much higher figures have been flying about, but the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, is one of those who believes it will prove to be 1% or lower. The World Health Organization’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, talked of 3.4%, but his figure was calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the number of officially confirmed cases. We know there are many more mild cases that do not get to hospital and are not being counted, which would bring the mortality rate significantly down. Deaths are highest in the elderly, with very low rates among younger people, although medical staff who treat patients and get exposed to a lot of virus are thought to be more at risk. But even among the over-80s, 90% will recover. Can you get infected on public transport? Most infections happen in families, where people live at close quarters. You need to be within one to two metres of somebody to be infected by viral-loaded water droplets from their coughs or when they are speaking. That is less likely on public transport. However, it would be possible to pick up the virus on your hands from a surface that somebody with the infection had touched. The virus can linger for up to 9 days on a hard surface, such as the hand rail in the tube – though less time on a soft surface. That is why the advice is to wash your hands regularly and avoid touching your face, to prevent the virus getting into your nose, mouth or eyes.
?
Is there a cure for Covid-19? Not at the moment, but drugs that are known to work against some viruses are being trialled in China, where there are thousands of patients, and new trials are starting in the US and other countries. Large numbers are needed to find out whether they work in a few people or a lot of people or nobody at all. The most hopeful are Kaletra, which is a combination of two anti-HIV drugs, and remdesivir, which was tried but failed in Ebola patients in west Africa in 2013 and 2016. Some Chinese doctors are also trying chloroquine, an antimalarial drug, which is off-patent, therefore cheap and highly available, and would be very useful in low-income countries. The first results are expected in mid-March and should indicate if the drugs will at least help those who are most severely ill. A miracle cure is not expected. When will we get a vaccine? Efforts to develop an effective vaccine for Covid-19 have been quick compared with historical epidemics, such as Ebola. A number of teams are already testing vaccine candidates in animals and preparing to carry out small trials in people. The US company, Moderna Therapeutics, is already recruiting and hopes to enrol 45 volunteers between 18 and 55 and launch the trial by the end of April. Phase one trials like this look at whether the vaccine triggers an immune response and whether the given dose causes adverse effects and could be completed quite quickly. However, the subsequent phases, which will involve thousands of volunteers and will look more closely at efficacy, will take longer and obtaining a commercially available vaccine within a year would be extremely quick. The government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said he did not think a working vaccine to protect people from the coronavirus would be produced in time for the current outbreak, but that a timeframe of a year or 18 months “was not unreasonable to assume”.
B a si c pr otecti v e me a sures ag a inst t he ne w coronav i rus Stay aware of the latest information on the COVID-19 outbreak, available on the WHO website and through your national and local public health authority. COVID-19 is still affecting mostly people in China with some outbreaks in other countries. Most people who become infected experience mild illness and recover, but it can be more severe for others. Take care of your health and protect others by doing the following:
Wash your hands frequently
Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Why? Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.
Maintain social distancing
Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. Why? When someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth
Why? Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.
Practice respiratory hygiene
Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately. Why? Droplets spread virus. By following good respiratory hygiene you protect the people around you from viruses such as cold, flu and COVID-19. If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical care early
Stay home if you feel unwell.
If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority. Why? National and local authorities will have the most up to date information on the situation in your area. Calling in advance will allow your health care provider to quickly direct you to the right health facility. This will also protect you and help prevent spread of viruses and other infections.
PROT E CTI ON M E ASURES FO R PE RSON S WHO AR E I N O R HAVE RECENTLY VIS IT E D (pa st 14 days) AREA S WH E RE C OVID -19 S PREA DI NG Follow the guidance outlined above. Stay at home if you begin to feel unwell, even with mild symptoms such as headache and slight runny nose, until you recover. Why? Avoiding contact with others and visits to medical facilities will allow these facilities to operate more effectively and help protect you and others from possible COVID-19 and other viruses. If you develop fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical advice promptly as this may be due to a respiratory infection or other serious condition. Call in advance and tell your provider of any recent travel or contact with travelers. Why? Calling in advance will allow your health care provider to quickly direct you to the right health facility. This will also help to prevent possible spread of COVID-19 and other viruses.
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR PHONE TO HELP PROTECT AGAINST CORONAVIRUS It’s one thing to stop touching your face. It’s another to stop touching the things that touch your face. The coronavirus is here, and it’s showing no signs of letting up. One of the best ways to protect yourself is to keep your hands clean and off your face, but it’s hard to maintain constant vigilance. Keeping your phone sanitized is another smart way to keep germs off your fingertips. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers your phone a “high-touch surface,” which could make it a carrier of the virus. But cleaning your phone thoroughly, I mean is not as straightforward as it might seem. There are all sorts of nooks and crannies, delicate glass and intricate protective cases. 1. The Don’ts … Any sort of moisture can interfere with your phone’s function. Apple recommends that people avoid using spray cleaners or heavyduty products. No bleach, no aerosol sprays. You need your phone to work, even if you want it clean. Also, and this probably goes without saying, don’t dunk your phone into any sort of liquid, anti-bacterial or otherwise. It won’t end well for either of you. 2. The Dos … A gentle wipe with a product that has 70 percent isopropyl alcohol will do just fine. Apple recommends Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, and the C.D.C. says household disinfectants registered by the Environmental Protection Agency are effective. Wear disposable gloves to clean, the C.D.C. recommends, and wash your hands thoroughly after you’re done. Like your phone, reusable gloves might harbor virus particles, rendering them effectively useless.
And don’t forget your phone case. Wipe it down, in and out, through and through. Let it dry before reassembling it. You might also consider changing a bit of your behavior. AT&T suggests sharing photos through texts, instead of passing the phone around, and using devices like headphones and technology like Bluetooth to keep your phone away from your face. Why? This might be the best thing you can do all day. This outbreak is fast-moving and research is, by nature, slow to catch up. As a result, the C.D.C. does not yet know exactly how long the virus can cling to a surface, but evidence suggests it could be “hours to days.” And phones are, well, gross. A 2017 study published in the journal Germs found a host of bacteria, viruses and pathogens on 27 phones owned by teenagers. The scientists wrote that they “hypothesize that this may play a role in the spread of infectious agents in the community.” Safe is always better than sorry. Amelia Nierenberg is a reporter on the Food desk. @ AJNierenberg
the Coronavirus Outbreak
Answers to your most common questions What is a coronavirus? It is a novel virus named for the crownlike spikes that protrude from its surface. The coronavirus can infect both animals and people and can cause a range of respiratory illnesses from the common cold to lung lesions and pneumonia.
How do I keep myself and others safe? Washing your hands frequently is the most important thing you can do, along with staying at home when you’re sick and avoiding touching your face. How can I prepare for a possible outbreak? Keep a 30-day supply of essential medicines. Get a flu shot. Have essential household items on hand. Have a support system in place for elderly family members.
How contagious is the virus? It seems to spread very easily from person to person, especially in homes, hospitals and other confined spaces. The pathogen can travel through the air, enveloped in tiny respiratory What if I’m traveling? droplets that are produced when a sick person The Australian Government and other breathes, talks, coughs or sneezes. Governments around the word have issued a global health advisory telling citizens to Where has the virus spread? “reconsider travel” to all countries because of The virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, the worldwide effects of the coronavirus. This is has sickened more than 154,800 in at least Government directive is unprecedented. 130 countries and more than 5,700 have died. The spread has slowed in China but is gaining How long will it take to develop a treatment or speed in Europe and the United States. World vaccine? Health Organization officials said the outbreak Several drugs are being tested, and some initial qualifies as a pandemic. findings are expected soon. A vaccine to stop the spread is still at least a year away.Scientists What symptoms should I look out for? in Brisbane are at the forefront of vaccine Symptoms, which can take between two to development and the trials have been positive. 14 days to appear, include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Milder cases may resemble the flu or a bad cold, but people may be able to pass on the virus even before they develop symptoms.
BE POSITIVE AND PROACTIVE
Modeler s Struggle to Pre dict the Future of the COVID-19 Pandemic Disease ex perts have largely focused on how we g ot to wh ere we are now with coronavirus inf ections . I mp rov ed data collection and sha ring can enhance p rojections of what ’s to come. David Adam Mar 12, 2020
While politicians and the public obsess about how and when the coronavirus pandemic will peak, the scientists able to make such projections are struggling to get a grip on what’s happening right now. “Sorry, not doing any interviews at the moment so that we can fully focus on our local and regional response,” one leading US epidemiologist wrote in an email when contacted by The Scientist. Like any other models, the projections of how the outbreak will unfold, how many people will become infected, and how many will die, are only as reliable as the scientific information they rest on. And most modelers’ efforts so far have focused on improving these data, rather than making premature predictions. “Most of the work that modelers have done recently or in the first part of the epidemic hasn’t really been coming up with models and predictions, which is I think how most people think of it,” says John Edmunds, who works in the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “Most of the work has really been around characterizing the epidemiology, trying to estimate key parameters. I don’t really class that as modeling but it tends to be the modelers that do it.” These variables include key numbers such as the disease incubation period, how quickly the virus spreads through the population, and, perhaps most contentiously, the casefatality ratio. This sounds simple: it’s the proportion of infected people who die. But working it out is much trickier than it looks. “The non-specialists do this all the time and they always get it wrong,” Edmunds says. “If you just divide the total numbers of deaths by the total numbers of cases, you’re going to get the wrong answer.”
Earlier this month, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, dismayed disease modelers when he said COVID-19 (the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus) had killed 3.4 percent of reported cases, and that this was more severe than seasonal flu, which has a death rate of around 0.1 percent. Such a simple calculation does not account for the two to three weeks it usually takes someone who catches the virus to die, for example. And it assumes that reported cases are an accurate reflection of how many people are infected, when the true number will be much higher and the true mortality rate much lower.
We ca n slow it do wn by c a ncel i n g a ll t hese e v ents, w h ic h we com pletely sho u ld do. B u t it’s st i ll goi n g to s p re ad to most p l aces.
—Maciej Boni, Penn State University
Edmunds calls this kind of work “outbreak analytics” rather than true modeling, and he says the results of various specialist groups around the world are starting to converge on COVID-19’s true case-fatality ratio, which seems to be about 1 percent. Once such numbers are pinned down, then modelers can move onto what’s called “situational awareness,” Edmunds explains. Much of that work looks backward, asking how many cases there might have been in a specific location a few weeks ago and using that information to work out how it could have spread since.
Deaths are the most useful data points for these analyses. For example, if modelers assume a case-fatality ratio of 1 percent, and that it usually takes 15 days for an infected person to die, then they know a death reported today in a specific region means that 100 people were likely infected there 15 days ago. Add in the time it takes cases to double—Edmunds says it seems to take five days—then modelers can estimate that over those 15 days the number of cases swelled to 800. So, for every death in a region, that means about 800 others are already infected, most of whom will not have been identified. This pattern was verified in Italy, Edmunds says, which as of today has reported 12,462 cases and 827 deaths. When officials tested people living near where someone had died from the disease, in many cases they found hundreds of others were already carrying the virus.
proceeds and everytime more data comes out, like every day or every week, we refit the model and then we redo our projections.”
Earlier this month, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Maciej Boni, a biologist at Penn State University who has studied the spread of influenza in the tropics, says this high number of undetected cases means the spread of the virus can’t be tracked from the numbers of confirmed infections. “At this point, the spread is a moot point,” says Boni. “We can slow it down by canceling all these events, which we completely should do. But it’s still going to spread to most places.”
Backed by better information, models could help determine policies to control spread, he adds. “If those models do have any validity, then you can perturb them or pressure test them against various sorts of interventions, whether it’s making people move less or cutting down contact by a certain percentage.”
Left unchecked, infectious outbreaks typically plateau and then start to decline when the disease runs out of available hosts. But it’s almost impossible to make any sensible projection right now about when that will be, Boni says, or about how many people will ultimately be affected. Modelers can try, but to do so they need much better information, such as how many people infected show natural immunity. Most of these forward-looking “scenario planning” models currently assume everyone on the planet is susceptible, Edmunds says. Only better surveillance and data, in particular, from serum tests that would indicate whether people have been exposed to the virus whether or not they developed symptoms, will make those calculations more realistic. “At the moment, we’ve got no data to tie that model down. But as the epidemic
To build better models, some disease experts argue that the world needs to improve the way such data are handled and made available. In an editorial published this week in Science Translational Medicine, Scott Layne, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health, and his colleagues propose a new data bank be created in which researchers can share results on, for example, how much virus is shed by infected people and when that starts. “We’re all in the process of collecting that information. What this effort would do is, as that data comes in, it would point to it and help to organize it,” Layne tells The Scientist.
According to Reuters, Chinese officials say the restrictions on travel they put in place have pushed the epidemic to peak in China. Zhong Nanshan, the Chinese government’s senior medical adviser, claimed at a press conference this week that if other nations follow China’s lead, then the pandemic could be tamed within months. “My advice is calling for all countries to follow WHO instructions and intervene on a national scale,” he says. “If all countries could get mobilized, it could be over by June.” David Adam is a UK-based freelance journalist. Email him at davidneiladam@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @ davidneiladam.
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How does coronavirus co mpare to Spanish flu? COVID-19 ha s imp ortant differences to the 1918 outbreak As experts try to get a handle on how the coronavirus outbreak might play out, they are making comparisons to past outbreaks like SARS, MERS and swine flu.
“It left its mark on world history,” says University of Melbourne professor James McCaw, a disease expert who mathematically modelled the biology and transmission of the disease.
Some credible experts are even likening the COVID-19 outbreak to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
“It killed 40 to 100 million people across the world in a very short period of time”
The WA head of the Australian Medical Association, Andrew Miller, recently said: “The truth is, we probably haven’t seen a virus like this one since 1918, with the Spanish flu.” And the Government’s health sector emergency response plan for coronavirus outlines several scenarios, the worst of which says, “the level of impact may be similar to that of the 1918 H1N1 ‘Spanish flu’”. It’s a grim comparison… Doctors commonly refer to the Spanish flu outbreak as “the greatest medical holocaust in history”. At the end of World War I, about 500 million people were infected with the H1N1 Spanish flu.
There’s no expert consensus on where it first broke out — it became known as the Spanish flu, but only because wartime censorship in other countries meant Spain was the first place it received widespread press attention. Many believe it probably started in army training camps on the Western Front. Soldiers returning from the war brought it back to their home countries. Others, though, think it broke out in the US state of Kansas and was spread around the world by American soldiers. In Australia, which had a population of 5 million, about 15,000 people died. PHOTO: In Adelaide, about 100 military tents were set up on Jubilee Oval for a quarantine camp. (State Library of SA: PRG
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Are Spanish flu and coronavirus similar? Spanish influenza and COVID-19 are both infectious respiratory illnesses, and they share some symptoms. Both can cause fever, coughing and aches, and both can lead to pneumonia. Both vary from mild to fatal. Biologically, the two diseases are very different — but the comparison persists because “novel” — or new — viruses are rare. Novel viruses can be particularly dangerous because immunity in human populations is low, and it takes time to understand new viruses and develop vaccines and treatments. “Whenever we see a pandemic, we are seeing something similar to other pandemics so that’s a fair enough comparison to make,” says Ian Mackay, a virologist from the University of Queensland. “But this is a very different virus to a pandemic influenza. It is a totally different virus and it spreads differently; it causes a different disease; it seems to target different groups.” The world is responding with similar social controls A century ago, medical knowledge was obviously well behind where it is today. “People had never even heard of influenza as a virus,”
says Kirsty Short, an influenza virologist at the University of Queensland who has studied the pandemic. “So how on Earth could you deal with that and contain it when you didn’t even know of the pathogen?” But governments knew enough to introduce travel bans, quarantine rules and social distancing measures — similar to those today’s governments have brought in around the world. “Cinemas and festivals were closed down,” Professor McCaw says. “People were asked to not congregate in shops and places like that. “So there were widespread efforts to limit contact among people — and they were highly successful in reducing transmission.” Those controls could prove even more successful this time Professor McCaw says we can take heart from what’s happened in China — where the Hubei province has been locked down, school and businesses closed, factories ground to a halt and people encouraged to stay at home.
PHOTO: NSW implemented strict health initiatives like quarantining and mandatory use of face masks.
“What’s happened in China gives very clear evidence that we can get what’s called the ‘reproduction number’ under one,” Professor McCaw says.
The clinical outcomes of the two diseases are also very different for children, adds Professor McCaw.
“So at the moment in China, on average, each person infected with coronavirus is passing that infection on to fewer than one other person.
“For influenza, children are a hub for infection and transmission, and all parents are aware of the infectious potential of their young children,” he says.
“If people hadn’t changed their behaviour, we would have expected somewhere around the millions of cases in China by now instead of the comparatively small number of around 100,000.”
“Strangely, and surprisingly perhaps, for coronavirus, children seem to be largely unaffected and those who are infected have less severe illness.”
So, he says, it looks like the transmissibility of coronavirus can be significantly modified through social distancing and good hygiene. “We could do that for flu in 1918 but not to the same extent as this one.” Largely, he says, that is because people with influenza are generally infectious for a day or two before they are aware they are sick — whereas people with coronavirus do not appear to be as infectious before they develop symptoms. “And this is really good news — it means that as long as someone who has developed symptoms is vigilant [and] reduces their contact with other people, they won’t infect as many other people as they may well have otherwise,” Professor McCaw says. Spanish flu and coronavirus appear to target different age groups Dr Short says one of the unusual features of the 1918 pandemic was it particularly hit those “in the middle ages of life — so around 35-40 or so”.
Many who died in 1918 were not killed by the Spanish flu A lot of the flu’s victims actually died from secondary bacterial infections, Dr Short says. “So it wasn’t necessarily the virus itself that was killing people, but it was making them more susceptible to other infections that were ultimately fatal,” she says. “We don’t seem to see the same thing happening with this novel coronavirus.” In 1918, doctors did not know how to best treat bacterial infections. “This was in the pre-antibiotic era,” Dr Short says. “So there weren’t really many treatment options available for people who had those secondary bacterial infections.”
“Normally when you see a flu outbreak, it typically affects the very young and the very old,” she says.
“But in this particular outbreak of [Spanish] flu, the elderly weren’t nearly as susceptible and that’s probably because they had some sort of crossprotective immunity from a pre-existing infection.” In contrast, coronavirus causes a mild illness for most people, but the elderly are much more susceptible to being severely affected.
PHOTO: An illustration of COVID-19 provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Cleaning Your Home During Coronavirus. Here’s how to kill it S p r i n g c l e a n i ng has taken on a n e w u r g e n c y t his year. Heeding t h e C o v i d - 1 9 prevention guidance f r o m t h e U S C enters for Disease C o n t r o l a n d P revention and other h e a l t h a u t h o r i ties, people are i n t e n s e l y w a s hing, dusting, and d i s i n f e c t i n g h omes and offices, with t h e k n o w l e d g e that lives may literally depend on it. T h o u g h t h e n ovel coronavirus i s k n o w n t o s pread mostly t h r o u g h r e s p i ratory droplets (like m u c u s o r s a l i va) from person to person, there’s evidence
that t r a n s m i s s i o n c a n a l s o happ e n b y t o u c h i n g i n f e c t ed surf a c e s . T h e s e i n c l u d e doo r k n o b s , h a n d l e s , l i g h t swit c h e s , r e m o t e c o n t r o l s , and e v e n i P h o n e s c r e e n s . A n e w s t u d y s uggests that the virus t h r i v e s o n p l a stic or steel surfaces f o r d a y s . T h e CDC recommends a t w o - s t e p p r eventive measure: “ c l e a n i n g o f v isibly dirty surfaces f o l l o w e d b y d i sinfection.” Some are taking extra precautions. Professional cleaning companies are now being deluged with requests for deep cleaning, a process that involves diving into forgotten nooks and crannies to snare dust, dirt and virus-carrying particulate. Compared to the casual dust-up, a deep clean is an obsessive’s agenda. It means hunting for dust mites behind furniture and cabinets, addressing scum from shower heads and faucets, scrubbing inside ovens, mopping floors under rugs, and sweeping along base boards, ceilings, and window frames. It requires emptying out cupboards to clean the surfaces within. Deep cleaning adds about an extra hour per bedroom and bathroom, according Jan de la Cruz, a customer service agent at the New Yorkbased housekeeping service Maid Marines. Absent of a health crisis, a thorough house
cleaning is recommended annually, he explains. De la Cruz tells Quartz that the pandemic has dramatically impacted their business. More clients are calling for the deep clean service or have increased the regularity of their service. On the other hand, some clients have suspended cleaning schedules for fear of letting anyone in their homes who may have come in contact with someone infected with Covid-19.
Cleaning is only half the chore. The CDC recommends spraying surfaces with diluted household bleach or cleaning liquids with at least 70% alcohol.
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T i p s to S tay Hea lt hy Wh i le S tu c k at Home D u ri ng Co ronaviru s Here are a vew tips provided by the Heart Association, to stay healthy while social distancing at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Workout/Exercise:
Going to the gym to workout my not sound too ideal right now, but you can still work out at home. You can do squats, push ups, planks or leg lifts. But most importantly, don’t forget about cardio. Even a walk around the neighborhood for 30 minutes will do your body wonders. Enjoy the fresh air! WebMD says you need 30 minutes of exercise per day. Will you make a promise to yourself to do this?
Manage your stress:
Yes, we know this can be a stressful time for everyone. However, try to manage your stress. It will help you stay healthy. Read a book, FaceTime a friend ... or use this time to prepare the garden.
Cut back on alcohol:
If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation. There are actually some benefits to having a drink from time to time, however, this does not mean you should start, the Mayo Clinic says. Avoid multiple drinks in a given day.
Eat your fruits and vegetables:
Especially if you are working from home, you’ve got a “break room” full of snacks and goodies. But think twice about what you are eating. Rather than munching on chips or cookies, how about grapes or nuts? The USDA recommends eating five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This can be vital to staying healthy. Get sleep: Most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, according to WebMD. Some adults, however, can get away with just six, but on the contrary, some need 10. Older adults (ages 65 and older) need 7-8 hours of sleep each day, they said. Listen to your body -- if you are tired, get sleep.
Stop smoking:
If you are a smoker, try to cut back. Light smoking may be safer than what you normally do, but they are both known to cause harm to your body. Quitting smoking
WASH YOUR HANDS! You’re going to keep hearing this. Wash your hands - a lot - for 20 seconds. • If you are out and about, find a restroom and wash them. • If you sneeze or cough, wash them. • And avoid touching your face, eyes and nose!
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KEEP MENTALLY AND PHYSI CA LLY ACTIVE DURI NG ISOLATI ON
What if you are What else can we worried about do? someone’s mental It is also important to think of “practical” ways to help, such health? as running errands on relatives’ Mental health charity Mind has tips for those who may be alone or worried about the virus, including putting extra photos up of people you care about, and limiting how long you read the news.
It says elderly relatives could also be encouraged to:
• stay active by cleaning, dancing, or doing seated exercises • get as much sunlight and fresh air as they can • join an online support community, such as E-friends There are also steps to help prevent loneliness in those avoiding contact or staying at home. Those staying at home should make sure they find time to do things they enjoy, such as watching TV, reading, writing, art or cooking. “Ensuring you feel stimulated and have fun protects against loneliness and improves your general wellbeing,” she says. “Remember there are other ways to connect with friends and family - for example, phone, email, social media. “Talking to people about your worries, about feeling lonely, or simply just about your day, helps.”
behalf or picking up supplies such as food and medication.
Simon Hewett-Avison, from charity Independent Age, also says families need to make sure elderly people have the supplies they need but urges a “balanced approach” rather than panicked stockpiling. Both the government and supermarkets have urged people not to stockpile goods.
Those who cannot visit elderly relatives should think of other ways of spending time together setting up a family group chat, for example, or playing games online. “If online communication isn’t possible, never underestimate the value of a regular simple phone call to offer social contact and support,” it says.
Families and carers should also consider contingency plans if the situation changes, the charity says, such as arranging for a trusted neighbour to help an elderly relative if they are unable to.
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