In this unprecedentedly scary time, our collective focus should be on how to stay safe and sane during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. During a recent WHO briefing, Director General, Dr. Ghebreyesus confirmed that more than 400,000 coronavirus cases and 20,000 deaths have now been reported to them. He further advised against any groups thinking that they can’t or won’t be affected, but rather prepare and operate as if they will have it. I think it’s a sound advice and hope that every community within our own United States will realize its wisdom. As the many experts have been saying over the past couple of weeks, we must all do our part in the global battle of defeating this deadly coronavirus disease. Even before this 15 days social distancing plan implemented by the president, CDC officials have been advising us on some necessary precautions that we must all follow. Based on the combined advice of expert officials, here’s the main safety and well-being practices that I have been personally observing and reinforcing to family and friends.
PROPERLY WASH YOUR HANDS. As you probably know by now, diligent hands washing has been the number one agreed upon recommendation since the very beginning of this pandemic. The key term here is PROPERLY as experts have repeatedly reminded us that anything less isn’t fully effective. Hence the recent trend of telling and teaching people how to wash hands like surgeons. Many old publications on official website like the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) have continuously highlighted the importance of hand washings and stated how even the introduction of sterile gloves have never diminished the true necessity of proper hand preparation in the surgical world. So I urge everyone to practice proper hand washings as the baseline of self care and protection. Almost all experts including Dr. Fauci (one of the key players in this fight) defines effective hands washing with these simple terms: warm water, soap, and scrubbing (palms, back of hands, wrist and forearms).
KEEP FREQUENTLY TOUCHED SURFACES CLEAN. Another important recommend step to hands washing is keeping frequently used surfaces extremely clean. Though the CDC recommends that people clean those identified surfaces on a daily basis, I personally try to wipe them down with almost every use. I have always been of the school of thought that one can never be too careful; that’s just me. Regardless, I think it’s especially crucial for those who can’t unfortunately stay home, to wipe things like doorknob, car doors, phones as often as possible. In response to that advice, I have heard some complain that they don’t have Clorox wipes, Lysol and so forth. If you can’t find those items, be creative with what‘s available; fill a spray bottle with 90% water and 10% Clorox; mix aloe with pure alcohol; there are many more recommendations from trusted sources such as WHO and CDC.
PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING. At this point, I personally feel that no one should be questioning the necessity and importance of staying away from each other in our fight against this vicious virus. Unless you’re part of the group categorized as essential workers, PLEASE STAY HOME so we can slow the spread and prevent further deaths of vulnerable individuals. We all have a precious responsibility to safeguard our life, as well as that of family, friends, colleagues, neighbors and humanity at large. How many more have to die before certain individuals will take this pandemic seriously enough to follow the recommendations of our scientists and doctors? Haven’t we learned the irreversible consequences of such mentality and behaviors from history? We should all be doing our to stay safe and sane during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. So, PLEASE STAY HOME!!
CONSCIOUSLY CULTIVATE A POSITIVE MINDSET. The simple truth is that everything that’s currently happening with COVID-19 crisis is negatively affecting our mental health; whether it’s increased anxiety, stress, paranoia and more. While we’ve lost control over many important aspects of our life, we can implement certain practices to help us retain a degree of control over a few things, to include healthy mindset. If you’re working from home or helping your kids with remote assignments, do your best to establish a structured routine. In addition, identify a few things that you can still do from home, to nourish your body, mind and soul; our health experts highly recommend things such as green tea, stretching, yoga and meditation. You can easily turn one of those practices and more into daily family or couple activities. It is very easy for any of us to start feeling overwhelmed by the constant updates on this ever increasing pandemic. Another part of maintaining a positive mindset is staying connected to loved ones while practicing social distancing. I talk to my family members several times a day; I periodically FaceTime with the little kids in my life; I coordinate virtual hangouts, vide chats within my closest circles. Last but not least, use this social distancing period to catch up on your reading list, Netflix must see, and favorite music. It doesn’t really matter what it is, just find something that you enjoy and can help you cultivate that positive mindset.
Throughout the world, we are all facing unprecedented challenges with the deadly coronavirus disease. As expert like Dr. Fauci reminds us on a daily, we must continue to be vigilant and extremely careful in the fight against this virus. It frustrates me to see that certain people continue to recklessly endanger the lives of fellow human beings despite such advice and the growing number of cases. Everything that I am saying here has probably been said by many others in one form or another; so the goal of this article is to just remind us all to stay safe and sane during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis by taking heed of the recommendations and finding ways to keep ourselves busy/entertained. We want to win this war with the least number of casualties as possible. WE STAY HOME TO PROTECT OURSELVES AND OTHERS… WE VALUE EVERY HUMAN LIFE.
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