Corona Virus (COVID-19) Protection That You Should Take As A Caregiver

While most people in more than 198 nations are either in self-isolation at home or quarantine facilities, healthcare professionals including caregivers, midwives, nurses, and doctors are subjected to an exposure to COVID-19 to fight the severe respiratory disease. They too need protection to safeguard themselves from getting infected. Are you a caregiver of a family member with a flu-like symptom? Are you worried about the kind of COVID-19 protection you must take as a caregiver? Let’s have a look.

Educate yourself on COVID-19

To keep yourself protected from the novel coronavirus, understand how the virus spreads. It primarily spreads through respiratory droplets that are produced when an infected person sneezes or coughs. You can also get infected from any contact with an infected surface or object. Symptoms such as shortness of breath, dry cough, and fever may happen after 2-14 days of getting infected. So, monitor your health, as well as, that of your loved one.

Wear disposable face mask and gloves

Symptoms are not developed immediately. It is found that there is a significant proportion of the population who are infected with the virus but symptoms are not visible. So, it is best to wear disposable facemask and gloves whenever you are likely to come in close contact with your loved ones. It is important to wear a cloth face-covering even when you are visiting a grocery store or your local pharmacy to mitigate the risks of getting infected.

Disinfectant all high-touch surfaces

When you are in a home, you may have visitors. Although this is now a remote possibility in the wake of a pandemic, it is better to take precautions than regret later. So, try to thoroughly clean all the high-touch surfaces of your home such as doorknobs, computer tables, handrails, countertops, and more with a disinfectant or with soap and water.

Maintain hand hygiene

Apart from all the protections that you may have taken, it is significant to maintain hand hygiene. Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Encourage your loved ones to do the same. You can also use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Remember, it is equally important to refrain yourself from the habit of unnecessarily touching your face unless your hands are clean.

Boost your immunity

Try to include more fruits and vegetables in your daily diet because to reduce our chances of getting infected, we need immune-boostingg nutrients. While you can include sweet potatoes, carrots, and spinach in your daily diet to have vitamin A, oranges and strawberries are always a good source of vitamin C. Also, try to include eggs, cheese or mushrooms for adequate intake of vitamin D.

As a caregiver, you can’t follow the recommended practice of social distancing to protect yourself from COVID-19, but you can still take a lot of precautions. You need to be extra careful if you are taking care of someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease because amidst coronavirus outbreak when it is important to stay at home round the clock, it becomes difficult to keep them active. After all, staying in home isolation and motivating others to do the same is a challenge that everyone is trying to deal with across the world.