7 Ways to Keep You and Others Safe

Written by Eleanor Martin

Over these past few weeks, our lives have changed quite drastically. We’ve gone from stressing about tests, going to school, and hanging out with friends to being locked in our houses for weeks. While we all are staying up late, sleeping in, and watching television; we also have to keep in mind that we ARE in the middle of a historic pandemic. It is important that we all remember to stay safe and sanitary.

1. Wash Your Hands Regularly

I am almost positive that you have heard this many times since we first went into quarantine. This is because it is very important. The CDC has emphasized how important washing your hands is. Washing your hands could help to save a life. And if you can’t get to a sink, use hand sanitizer. Below is a link to the CDC hand-washing website as well as a video on how to properly wash your hands.

https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html

2. Stay Home

The incubation period for COVID-19 ranges from 1-14 days. Some people never show symptoms. Throughout this period, people can still be carriers of the disease. This is a problem because some people will end up spreading the disease before they get symptoms and stay home. While the disease may not have a big effect on you, it could kill someone else. Although the chance is small because we are younger, even if you aren’t old and don’t have a health difficulty, you could still get very sick. There have even been a handful of kids that have become critically ill from the disease. This is why everyone needs to stay home. And if you leave your house to go on a walk or a bike ride, etc, social distance. Make sure that you get outside, take a walk, and breathe fresh air, but just stay away from people and stay safe. Give someone a wave or a hello and then go on your way. If everyone follows regulations and listens to rules, we could save countless lives.

3. Social Distance

Another important thing to do during this pandemic is to make sure that you stay 10 feet away from anyone that is not in your family. Coronavirus is spread by coming into close contact with someone that already has it. Germs are said to not be able to travel past about 6.5 feet. Because of this, if everyone stood 10 feet away from each other we could, slow the spread of the disease, keep hospital beds open, and save countless lives.

4. Bake Your Own Food

Another thing that you can do to keep Coronavirus out of your home is to make homemade meals. By ordering food, you may be risking bringing Coronavirus into your home. However, if you do order food, try to order a warm food because there is some evidence that heat may weaken COVID-19. Also, if you do order food, try to order from a small business. For example, if you want Thai food, order from a small family owned business instead of a bigger company.

5. Wipe Down Surfaces and Other Things Regularly

Door knobs, counters, railings, handles, mail, groceries, your phone, and more. All of these things carry germs. To make sure that your house stays sanitized, it is recommended that you disinfect frequently touched surfaces at least once a day. Also, did you know that you have been using disinfectant wipes wrong this whole time? How many of you have actually taken the time to read the instruction portion of the package? If you read the package, you will see that it says that in order to disinfect a surface, you must allow the surface to remain visibly wet for at least 4 minutes. When you wipe down a surface regularly, all you do is sanitize the surface. Also, make sure to let the surface dry on its own, wipe it down and then dry it with a paper towel immediately after.

6. WIC Products

WIC stands for The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. A buzzfeed article says this, “WIC participants — which include pregnant and breastfeeding mothers with low incomes and children under 5 — are granted a monthly check, voucher, or card that they can use to buy food staples such as cereal, beans, eggs, milk, rice, and more.” With everyone panicking and buying everything in stores, WIC products are scarce. People that don’t rely on WIC for food are buying everything that they can get their hands on. This is a huge problem because there isn’t enough food for people that rely on WIC. There are many posts online right now of single mothers not being able to get enough food for themselves and their kids. Please stop buying WIC products if you don’t need them! Let’s make sure that we aren’t depriving kids and their mothers of food because we are panicking.

7. We’re All In This Together

Last but not least, we need to remember that we need to come together if we want to have any chance of killing COVID-19. This is a great chance to do things for your community. Bake some muffins for the single lady next door and talk to her, make handwritten cards and send them to the people that you love, write articles like this one, post about ways to stay safe on social media, and more.

Sources

CITY VOICE STAFF

Writers at The City Voice

Either many writers contributed to the creation of this piece or the author wishes to remain anonymous.