Since the start of 2020, so many people have become more conscious about their personal health and hygiene. The Covid-19 pandemic has made many of us realise how much we can and should be doing to protect ourselves from viruses and bacteria more efficiently.
Let’s take a look at 8 important pieces of advice on how to properly protect yourself from Covid-19. This advice, of course, will help protect you against many other forms of viruses, too.
1. Wash Your Hands
From day one, the most common advice around the world has been to improve handwashing. If washing at home or in a bathroom, the advice is simple. Wash your hands with hot water and disinfectant soap for at least 20 seconds. If you wash your hands properly and thoroughly, it only takes 20 seconds to ensure you’ve killed and washed away 99.9% of bacteria.
If you can’t access water or a sink, use antibacterial hand gels. These gels come in handy little bottles or dispensers, so you can easily carry them everywhere with you. There really is no excuse for proper handwashing. Doing these two things will help you protect yourselves and others by not placing germs or viruses from your hands onto other surfaces.
2. Wash Your Feet, Too
This may seem like a surprise, but Covid-19 – along with many other bugs – can certainly be picked up on your shoes. The soles of your shoes walk on so many different surfaces, so it is highly likely that they will be carrying something. Brands like HealthySole® are helping to tackle this with ultraviolet technology. Ultraviolet light can kill up to 99.9% of bacteria on any given surface, your shoes included. Their simple machines allow you to step on, have some UV light pass over your soles, then step off, knowing that your feet are clean and you will not be bringing bacteria into your home. In fact, many hospitals use this technology too!
3. Wear A Mask
Covid-19, alongside many other pathogens, is most commonly transported by particles in the air. A cough, a sneeze, or even a loud shout can throw thousands of infected particles into the air. Once these droplets are up there, they can quickly settle in your nose, mouth, or eyes, leading to an almost certain infection.
The best way to prevent this? Mask wearing. Masks help by stopping these nasty particles from escaping, catching them in your mask instead. In this sense, they protect those around you. However, they protect you, too. These droplets in the air can easily settle on surfaces like handrails. If you were to touch this surface and then your nose or mouth, you’d likely catch the virus.
4. Keep Your Distance
Alongside mask-wearing, one of the best pieces of advice – and something that’s been drilled into people all around the world – is to keep your distance from others. Social distancing, physical distancing, whatever you want to call it, it’s the easiest way of keeping safe. Either by avoiding seeing people altogether – which would completely reduce risk – or staying a safe distance from one another, you can reduce the risk of picking up the virus through the air or through contact.
5. Get Vaccinated
During the first few months of 2021, various vaccines have become approved for use all over the world. These vaccines have been properly tested in multiple trials and approved as safe for human use. Most of these vaccines show an efficiency rate of 70-95%, meaning they are, by far, the best way of protecting yourself from catching the virus. As more people get vaccinated, less of the virus can circulate amongst the population, meaning fewer people can get severely ill and end up in hospital.
6. Clean Your Home
So cleaning your hands, your shoes, and wearing masks protect you from picking up the virus. But, cleaning your home can be effective too. There is still a good chance you’ll pick up virus particles when out and about, that can then be brought into the home and live on surfaces. To avoid this, clean all surfaces with antibacterial spray or wipes, clean door handles and other regularly touched items, and make sure everyone is playing their part in keeping the house neat, tidy and clean.
These are the top six tips for helping protect yourself and others from the Covid-19 virus. Keeping yourself and your home clean are great ways to keep viruses at bay while protecting your family. Travelling less and social distancing are ways to stop coming into contact with the virus in the first place. Soon, life will be able to go back to normal. But, for a little while longer, we need to keep strong in our efforts to reduce the spread of the novel Coronavirus.
