Seven Ways of Maintaining Personal Hygiene During a Pandemic (or Covid-19)

With the Covid-19 pandemic on top of everybody’s mind, it is vital to take precautions to ensure you and your family are as safe as possible. Germs are everywhere. From door handles to office phones to bathroom sinks to money, everything we come in contact with may have been touched by someone carrying this deadly virus.

It is why practicing good personal hygiene is vital for promoting good overall health during the flu season, and most importantly, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

That said, the Covid-19 is drastically evolving and changing the day-to-day lives of almost every human being on this planet. However, how you maintain good personal hygiene is not the only thing that’s changed.

The way you clean your home, receive deliveries, and prepare food for the family has also evolved. In the end, no matter how dangerous Covid-19 is, we know there are a few personal hygiene habits you can follow, besides social distancing, of course, to avoid contracting the disease and prevent its spread.

So, without further ado, let us take a look at some personal hygiene tips down below;

 

Ask your employers to introduce workplace hygiene practices and policies.

All workplace environments must be safe and hygienic for both visitors and employees. Not to mention, such a thing applies to every business out there, not just ones in the personal care and food sector.

Furthermore, businesses can also bring in an industrial hygienist to evaluate their workplace environment of issues that might impair their staff, customers’ health, and general well-being. If you care about workplace hygiene, why not become an industrial hygienist yourself? It’s as easy as typing ‘how to become an industrial hygienist  into your internet browser and following the mentioned steps.

Wash your hands regularly.

Do you know that germs and bacteria live on inert surfaces from a few seconds to several months? Unfortunately, Covid-19 can also stay on surfaces for a long time. So imagine these germs, viruses, and bacteria living on your home’s light switches, computer keyboard, or even the elevator button at your work.

However, most people don’t know that the best way to avoid such bacteria, germs, and viruses, especially Covid-19, is to wash their hands regularly. The CDC recommends washing your hands with soap and warm water for at least twenty seconds and wiping them with a dry paper towel. Of course, if running water is not available, you can always use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, but nothing beats good ol’ water and soap.

Cover your mouth when sneezing and coughing.

Good personal hygiene doesn’t only mean keeping yourself clean, but it also includes the practice of covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing. But, you might ask, why is this important if I haven’t contracted Covid-19?

Well, in short, for most viral infections, such as Covid-19, germs might’ve already started growing inside your body without any symptoms showing up. And sneezing and coughing will introduce these germs into the air via microscopic droplets.

So hygiene experts recommend covering your mouth with your sleeve, arm, or your elbow crook, instead of using your hands to prevent the spread of germs into the environment.

Avoid sharing personal items.

Nail clippers, handkerchiefs, towels, razor blades, toothbrushes, and combs are sources of infectious bacteria, fungi, and viruses such as Covid-19. Therefore, it is wise to avoid sharing your items with other people. Plus, you must also avoid using other people’s stuff because there is no guarantee that the other person doesn’t have Covid-19.

Furthermore, if you have children, you must also remind them about the type of items they should not share with other children to keep them safe from the dreaded covid-19 virus and other infectious diseases.

Wear a face mask.

As Covid-19 cases drastically climb in various countries, governments and healthcare professionals strongly urge people to wear face masks whenever they leave their homes. Such a thing is vital because Covid-19 spreads from person to person via respiratory droplets produced when an infected individual talks, sneezes, or coughs in front of another person. However, a facemask can block these droplets from coming in contact with you or the other person’s face.

Thus, it acts as a physical barrier and prevents virus-containing particles from transferring from an infected individual to another. Moreover, numerous studies show that a face mask is a small but powerful tool in the fight against Covid-19 prevention, which is reason enough o wear a face mask whenever you go out or come into physical contact with another person, whether they’re infected or not.

Disinfect and clean high-contact surfaces.

It is still unknown whether or not Covid-19 can spread from stationery surfaces to people. That said, it is wise to take some extra care and clean or disinfect high-contact surfaces inside your home and workplace. These include toilets, desks, sinks, faucets, doorknobs, laptops, computers, light switches, to name a few.

To disinfect and clean these surfaces properly, you can use store-bought alcohol-based disinfectants or sanitizers. However, you can apply a few drops of white vinegar to the inn-doubt surface and clean it with a dry paper towel if you’re looking for a DIY solution.

Wash your groceries and other food items before consuming.

The ingredients used to cook food are high-contact items and exchange many hands before reaching your dining table. Therefore, there is no way we can tell whether a person who handled a particular food item had Covid-19 or not. However, the best thing you can do to ensure your groceries and other food items are safe from Covid-19 germs is to wash them under hot running water thoroughly.

That said, according to the FDA and CDC, avoid using commercial produce washes, detergents, and soap on food items like vegetables as fruits as they contain harmful chemicals, which are equally dangerous like Covid-19.

Conclusion.

In the end, our skin is a natural barrier against harmful germs that might cause sickness. However, new viruses and infectious like Covid-19 have found alternative routes to enter our bloodstream due to our carelessness.

That said, by adjusting our hygiene habits and incorporating a few behavioral changes, we can easily prevent the spread of Covid-19 and other harmful viruses and diseases.