Wash your hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Cover your mouth and nose with your elbow or a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth if your hands aren’t clean.
Avoid close contact with anyone who is sick.
Clean surfaces you often touch.
Stay home from work, school, and public areas if you’re sick.
In addition to the above, the World Health Organization recommends these steps:
Check with your doctor if you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, and tell him or her about any recent travels.
Avoid eating raw or undercooked meat or animal organs.
If you’re visiting live markets in areas that have recently had new coronavirus cases, avoid contact with live animals and surfaces they may have touched.
How can I minimize the spread of Coronavirus on my healthcare visits?
If you have a fever with a cough or a fever with shortness of breath, please consult your provider by phone before any upcoming appointments.
One person is allowed to accompany each patient to an appointment unless additional assistance is required.
Anyone other than the patient who is coughing or shows other signs of illness will be asked to wait outside.
How is Coronavirus spread?
Through coughing and sneezing.
Close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands.
Touching surfaces with the virus, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.
What is social distancing and what are other terms being used for COVID-19 awareness?
The CDC recommends social distancing which means stay out of social settings, avoiding mass gatherings, and maintaining distance (approximately 6 feet or 2 meters) from others when possible. Here are other terms that have been used often when discussing COVID-19.
Self-observation means people should remain alert for subjective fever, cough, or difficulty breathing. If they feel feverish or develop cough or difficulty breathing during the self-observation period, they should take their temperature, self-isolate, limit contact with others, and seek advice by telephone from a healthcare provider or their local health department to determine whether a medical evaluation is needed.
Self-monitoring means people should monitor themselves for fever by taking their temperatures twice a day and remain alert for a cough or difficulty breathing. If they feel feverish or develop measured fever, cough, or difficulty breathing during the self-monitoring period, they should self-isolate, limit contact with others, and seek advice by telephone from a healthcare provider or their local health department to determine whether a medical evaluation is needed.
Quarantine in general means the separation of a person or group of people reasonably believed to have been exposed to a communicable disease but not yet symptomatic, from others who have not been so exposed, to prevent the possible spread of the communicable disease.
