How to minimise your risk of getting coronavirus
- Washing your hands often especially before eating, drinking and touching your face. Soap and water washing for 20 seconds and thorough drying is best. Otherwise use a hand sanitiser with at least 70% alcohol.*
- Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing, but don’t use your hands to do so.
- Don’t share food, drinks or eating or drinking utensils.
- Stay at least 1.5m away from anyone.
- Avoid contact with anyone unwell with a cold, flu or coronavirus like symptoms. This includes no kissing, shaking hands and hugging. Advise them to seek medical advice.
- Avoid anyone who been in close contact with someone who is a confirmed case of coronavirus. Advise them to seek medical advice.
- Avoid contact with anyone who had recently been overseas.
- Stay home as much as possible.
- Avoid gatherings of people.
- Ask your boss if you can work from home.
- If you need to go to work and to use public transport to go to work see if you can avoid ‘peak hour’ travel, so you can travel when the bus or train is less congested. Try to avoid sitting next to someone else.
- Have the flu shot.
- Stay in general health. If you have a health condition make sure it’s management is optimal.
- Teach your children to practice appropriate hygiene including when at school.
- If possible keep your children home from school and keep them away from their friends.
- Limit the contact others have with your new baby.
- When taking a baby out have a mesh cover for the pram. Make sure your baby does not overheat.
- Overseas and interstate travel should be deferred.
There is no need to wear a mask that covers your mouth and nose, as long as you are well. Most commercial masks will not adequately protect you from getting a coronavirus infection. It is suggested a mask can increase your risk because the mask becomes moist with breathing and so coronavirus can be concentrated in the mask if you are exposed to it. An appropriate quality mask will help prevent you from spreading the virus if you are infected.
*We are always touching surfaces and it is not always possible to wash our hands immediately after touching a surface and so these finding can be scary. Don’t worry. Remember the virus enters the body through airways not through skin and rarely through eyes.The key to remaining healthy and not being infected from surfaces is NOT to touch your face or eat or drink anything until you have adequately washed your hands with soap and water. How long it is, in time, between touching a surface and washing your hands IS IRRELEVANT as long as you don’t touch your face or eat or drink anything before washing your hands.
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