If you are sick… Steps to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 (Part I)
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Your level of risk for infection with COVID-19 depends on the odds that you have been exposed to the virus. The virus is able to live on surfaces but you are still most likely to get the virus from a person. People are most likely to be infectious when they are coughing and sneezing because the virus will be in the droplets expelled during coughing and sneezing.
Infection Precautions for Everyone
- For coughs/sneezes
- Cover:Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
- Dispose:Throw used tissues in a lined trash can.
- Wash hands:Immediately wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
- Clean your hands often
- Wash hands:Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. This is especially important after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing; going to the bathroom; and before eating or preparing food.
- Hand sanitizer:If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, covering all surfaces of your hands and rubbing them together until they feel dry.
- Avoid touching: Try to be aware and avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Household Items
- Do not share:Do not share dishes, drinking glasses, cups, eating utensils, towels, or bedding with other people in your home.
- Wash thoroughly after use:After using these items, wash them thoroughly with soap and water or put in the dishwasher.
- Clean all “high-touch” surfaces everyday
- Clean high-touch surfaces in your isolation area (“sick room” and bathroom) every day; let a caregiver clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces in other areas of the home.
You have not been exposed to someone very ill or known to have COVID-19
You are least likely to have been infected with the virus although this remains a possibility. You will most likely be able to monitor your symptoms at home and recover spontaneously without seeking medical care. Follow the steps below to help prevent spread to others in your household or the community.
- Stay home
- If you have a history of allergies, try your usual remedies. If you get relief with this is the likely cause of your symptoms
- If you have no fever, monitor your symptoms and use usual infection precautions as listed below
- Call your doctor or local health care provider if
- Your symptoms continue to be mild but last more than 7 days without getting better
- Your symptoms are mild but you develop a fever over 101(take your temperature) for more than three days
- Go to the ER or call 911 if you have any of the following or other distressing symptoms
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
- New confusion or inability to arouse
- Bluish lips or face
- When you go out, Avoid public transportation: if you can. Wear a mask when you leave the house if one is available. Practice infection precautions below on your way to seek medical care.
- At home separate yourself from other people in your home
- Wear a facemask if one is available
- Be sure to wipe down all surfaces after use with an alcohol based cleaner or a soapy cloth. Use infection precautions listed below.
- As much as possible, stay in a specific “sick room” and away from other people in your home and use a separate bathroom, if available.
- Limit contact with pets & animals: If you can restrict contact with pets and other animals, just like you would around other people because we don’t know enough about this virus to know whether they can get the virus or pass it on to other humans without getting sick.
High-touch surfaces include phones, remote controls, counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables.
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