Prepare a blog on safety and healthy life during the pandemic?
Answers
Explanation:
Wearing a mask is vital to protecting yourself and those around you from spreading the virus. Because so many coronavirus cases can be asymptomatic, wearing a mask protects others in close proximity in case you’re exhaling virus-laden droplets into the air around you.
A mask should also help with another precaution: don’t touch your face. While it’s not the primary way the virus is spread, it’s still possible to pick up the virus off a surface and infect yourself by touching your mouth, nose or eyes.
Also be sure to wash your hands regularly and thoroughly with soap, especially after returning to your home from being out in public. It’s important, too, to lather your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds to get them fully clean. A good practice is to keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer handy, especially if you’re out and about without immediate access to a bathroom.
Finally, be sure to socially distance yourself from others, staying at least 6 feet away. Because of the distance that exhaled droplets can travel, you want to make sure you’re not too close to someone, even if they don’t show any symptoms. And, yes, that includes even when you’re wearing a mask.
Coronavirus tips for going to restaurants
Going out to eat is a luxury we had to do without in the early days of the pandemic with restaurants largely reduced to offering take-out options only. In recent months, though, more eateries have reopened for dining-in.
But a recent CDC study found that “Adults with positive SARS-CoV-2 test results were approximately twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than were those with negative SARS-CoV-2 test results.”
Those results applied to people eating at any place in the restaurant, both inside and outside. The reason, according to the report, is because proper social distancing is often difficult in a restaurant setting and that masks are removed to eat and drink, meaning the chances of spreading the virus via respiratory droplets are increased.
Still, many feel comfortable returning to dine-in options, so here are some rules to follow.
Eat on the patio
Many restaurants are offering additional outdoor spaces. Some municipalities have even allowed for expanded outdoor seating areas so restaurants can seat more customers outdoors. And for good reason: there’s less risk of transmission of the virus via recirculated droplets expelled by infected eaters.
Being in the open air of a patio cuts down on the risk of virus-infected air droplets recirculating as it can indoors, especially if tables are spaced out appropriately.
Call ahead
If you’ve got a restaurant in mind, call ahead to see what policies the restaurant has and if they offer patio dining. If not, see what their policy is for dining indoors and what reservation options, if any, are available. Also, ask about hours and consider going at off-peak times for visiting, meaning a less crowded restaurant and lower exposure risks.
Wear a mask
This is a tricky one because, as mentioned before, you have to take your mask off to actually eat and drink. Do your best to wear a mask at all points when you’re not eating and drinking and when you walk through crowded parts of the restaurant, such as when you’re waiting in the lobby or going to the restroom.
Get delivery or takeout
Delivery and takeout are still the best, safest options right now. Even eating on an outdoor patio doesn’t diminish the risk of exposure considering social distancing and mask issues that come with eating at a restaurant. In any situation where you have to remove your mask for prolonged periods of time, there’s going to inherently be a better chance of contracting the virus.
Coronavirus tips for travel
Whether for a vacation, work or another matter, traveling is still happening across the country via all the usual methods. Some means of transportation have higher risks than others and there are many other factors to consider when hitting the road.
But, says pulmonary and critical care physician Joseph Khabbaza, MD, there are still ways to plan for safe travel. “By following the guidelines and precautions as they’ve been laid out over the past several months, like social distancing and wearing masks, it’s possible to have safe travel experiences,” he says.
Consider where you’re coming from…
First, be sure to be aware of what the COVID-19 levels are for the community in which you live. Because of the risk of asymptomatic spread, you could carry the virus from a high-spread location to a low-spread location.
…And consider where you’re going
Just as you want to know the levels of spread where you live, you need to know what the COVID-19 levels are like where you’re going. If they’re particularly high or have seen a sharp rise recently, reconsider your visit. You’d be traveling into a hot zone that will put you at greater risk of catching the virus.