COVID-19 (and the common cold and various flus)
For information regarding COVID-19 please go to www.who.org or www.cdc.org or your favorite reputable newspaper online or delivered to you. The following is compiled for your consideration, only. For your own benefit, please do your own research.
COVID-19 is one form of the coronavirus. Like the flu and common cold, COVID-19 transmits by air droplets and by touch, that we know so far. The COVID-19 virus is believed to last for up to nine (9) days on smooth and porous surfaces. Sunlight (UV rays) and handmade UV rays can shorten its lifespan. Hot and humid conditions may shorten its lifespan. It seem to do better in dry air, so like colds and flus it may be seasonable and we will get through this, soon. If you think you have been exposed, 14-days of quarantine is suggested. Call your healthcare provider right away and find out from them exactly what to do
What can we do right now?
Wash your hands often with soap-and-water at any temperature of your liking. Regular soap is just fine. Wash for at least 20 seconds. Wash the tops and backs of your hands, between your fingers, scrub your fingernails as they are the dirtiest parts of your hands. Scrub. Scrub just like you’re preparing yourself for surgery. Twenty seconds is the A-B-C’s sung once, or Happy Birthday sung twice. Then, dry your hands completely.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Don’t pick at your face or cuticles. Keep cuts covered until the skin is healed. Avoid unnecessarily touching any surfaces at all that you know may not be clean. After touching surfaces that you can’t confirm were cleaned, wash your hands. Keep yourself and your children really clean so you can continue necessary contact.
Consider playing a game of avoid touching any surface with your hands or fingers. Use the back of your knuckles to open doors that are ajar, use your foot, hips, or buttocks. Slip through open doors if you’re safely able. Game Rule: You can’t use your elbow, because that’s for coughing and sneezing!
If you cannot wash your hands right away, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Less than 60% alcohol and it has no effect. Follow that up with a 20-second soap-and-water-wash as soon as you can.
At home and at work, wash all of your surfaces with a disinfectant. Allow the disinfectant solution to remain on the surface for at least four minutes before you wipe it dry, if you wipe it dry. Disinfectant wipes are easy and really good for this. Wipe all door handles, light switches, manual switches on lamps, dresser drawer knobs, all countertop and table surfaces, and change your toothbrush every 30 days.
Wipe down your television remotes, phones, entire laptops and pads, keyboards, pens and pencils, steering wheels, radio controls, and seatbelts. Wipe everything you and others touch.
In your bathrooms, wipe the seat and seat cover down inside and out, wipe the flushing handle, the toilet paper holder, including the rod inside the toilet paper roll itself. Wipe all faucet handles, cupboard door knobs, any place that you or others touch with your hands. Flush with the lid closed.
Get your things clean, and then keep them clean. Wipe your things down again every 24-hours if you can; sooner if you have high use or droplets might have landed on them. You’ll figure out the pattern soon as you pay attention to your more immediate surroundings, differently. Since you’ll be paying attention to things differently, notice all the new things you can appreciate!
When you travel, be diligent and know that hundreds of hands have touched knobs, support handles, and seats. Never assume any toilet seat that looks dry is clean. Always place a paper barrier between the seat and your bottom. You can use 3-4 squares of toilet paper on each seat half if you need to. Also use a barrier to exit the stall or door.
The dirtiest items when you travel are the security trays that you put your objects in going through security, your food trays, the armrests, the seatbelts, and all doors and knobs. All the places that you touch were touched by someone else before you. Do not use the air vents on an airplane, bus, or train as that will circulate any virus in the air directly at your face.
If you cough or sneeze, do so into your shoulder, or your elbow, or inside your own blouse or shirt. If you are near somebody who is sneezing or coughing, try to be up-wind, or move yourself away from them politely. When you see people coughing or sneezing, ask them to do the same, and to tell-a-friend. This is a time to share these instructions with one another.
Masks should be worn by people who are ill or have been exposed, and who are not quarantined for some reason. If you are sick or have been exposed, Stay Home. Healthy people generally won’t benefit from masks. Most masks are not foolproof because of air gaps. People in healthcare and psychotherapy care, or who work in very close proximity to many others, may benefit from a mask, just know that masks are not 100% effective.
If you’ve been near somebody who has recently had a fever, cough, or shortness of breath, you may have been exposed. You may not have been exposed to COVID-19, you could have been exposed to the common cold or the flu, instead.
Say good-bye to the wonders of a warm felt-handshake, warm hug, or kiss. It’s just for now. Be open and curious as your find your best way to acknowledge the person before you. You can share a silent moment and smile. Nod warmly. Bow. Raise your clasped hands. Use words. We are learning new ways to communicate.
Get a flu shot, it’s not too late. Care for your body, keep it exceptionally hydrated. Don’t forget to try to avoid single use water bottles, if you can, please. Keep your water near you, and drink/sip often. Hydration supports the moist lining of your nasal cavities instead of dry nostrils with micro-tears that might invite a virus’s entry. Avoid eating or drinking unnecessary sugars, and increase your vegetables and fruit. In that order. The more animal proteins you eat the more water you will use to digest it, so especially if you eat animal proteins, keep water at your side. Don’t leave home without it!
If you think you’re sick and need to go to the doctor or the emergency room, call ahead and ask them how to proceed. If you’re contagious with a cold, flu, or COVID-19, calling ahead can help you avoid spreading it. Remember that some medicines artificially lower your temperature and hide your fever from you. We thank you.
When “stocking up” do so a little bit at a time. Please don’t rush the stores and clear out supplies for everyone else. Pick up some soup here and there, broths, dry goods, paper goods, disinfectants, and whatever else you’d need if you couldn’t have others bring things to you, if sick or self-quarantining. Check your prescription medicine supplies. If you don’t have a water filter at home make sure you have several gallons of water per person the best way you can.
Corona beer will not give you the coronavirus.
Remember the COVID-19 virus is currently believed to live on surfaces for up to nine days. Keep your nose hydrated and your hands to yourself as much as you can. Keep your surfaces disinfected, and change your air filter at home and work every 30-days, if you can, so you can get the best results from them. Know that this too, shall pass.
Remember that you are a natural healing entity. It’s in your genes, and it’s your birthright to be healthy and heal. If you take really good care of yourself, and those around you by protecting them from your germs, we’ll all be doing our best to get through this together, and be better for the experience. I wish us all good health.
From your psychotherapy and other health care providers to you:
If you believe that you might be sick, or if you believe that you may have been exposed to a cold, flu, or coronavirus call before you come in. For some of you, your appointment will be held by telephone or live audio-video. We’ll discuss all of this this at our next appointment and decide our best plan ahead of time so that your progress in treatment is not interrupted.
If you have any questions at all, please ask. We are here to help.
The best way to be informed though, is to make sure that you, yourself, have done your own research and are creating the best plan for you, your loved ones, your friends, and all of the rest of us, and modifying those plans as new information becomes available.
If you found this helpful any way, please share it.
Thank you,
JS