Many people overlook the significance of good hygiene, which is a big no-no. However, due to the fast spread of COVID-19 in most countries, practicing personal cleanliness is your one-way ticket to safety.
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In the time of this pandemic, failure to look after yourself and your hygiene can increase the chance of developing coronavirus disease. What is happening for the past months is alarming, yet being anxious and panicky will not help us at all. To protect you and your family, here are a few guidelines on how to stay healthy and prevent sickness.
Be Mindful About Social Distancing
Social distancing means keeping space between yourself and other individuals whenever you are outdoors. Why is this important to practice? COVID-19 can spread among people who are in close contact (within 1 to 2 meters) for a prolonged time.
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Generally, spread happens when infected individual sneezes, coughs, or talks and virus-laden droplets are transferred to other individuals who are in close proximity. Hence, following the social distancing method can prevent the spread of a possible, more significant outbreak since people can easily transmit the virus – even before they know that they are sick.
Practice Hand Washing and Keep Your Body Clean
Whether you enjoy eating with your bare hands or prefer using a spoon, it is essential to have clean hands on your plate. Fingers are the usual carriers of microbial germs from interaction with infected people, pets, as well as infected items and surfaces.
You should also know that a person can be infected by coronavirus through merely touching an object or surface that was exposed to the pathogen, then touching their eyes, nose, or mouth. COVID-19 can live for hours, even days, on a surface – depending on different factors like humidity and sunlight.
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Washing hands properly for twenty seconds or more can limit the transmission of harmful pathogens that can cause disease. After handwashing, use a dry clean towel or tissue to pat-dry the hands and remove excess water. If hand washing is impossible to do at the moment, you may use a good custom hand sanitizer that can help eliminate 99.9% microbes.
When Do You Need to Wash Hands?
You can keep yourself and your loved ones stay healthy through regular proper handwashing. Wash your hands at regular intervals throughout the day:
- before, during, and after food preparation
- before eating
- before and after caring for the sick
- before and after treating wounds
- after using the toilet
- after diaper changing
- after sneezing, coughing, or blowing your nose
- after touching pets, pet food, or pet wastes
- after disposing off garbage
Aside from handwashing, bathing and changing into fresh clothes is essential in maintaining thorough physical hygiene. Indulge in additional care for your feet since they often come in contact with specks of dust and germs. Make sure to wash them clean before entering your kitchen and before sleeping.
Cook in Tidy Surroundings
Cleaning the dining and kitchen area can contribute to personal hygiene as well. Inadequate cleaning can cause harmful microbes to breed and eventually may lead to contamination of the food and water.
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You should always remember to clean your hands before cooking and the area where you plan to cook. Your kitchen should be dry and sanitized to avoid any food or water contamination that may cause food poisoning. Also, be cautious about your hair from falling into the food as hair can be a potential source of any microbial infection. Not to mention sneezing, coughing, and even smoking should be prohibited in the cooking area.
Furthermore, make sure to wear washed clothes or clean aprons whenever cooking since dirty clothes tend to carry germs. More than that, it is preferable to keep your nails short to prevent any accumulation of dirt underneath them.
Don’t Just Clean, Sanitize and Disinfect
Cleaning is an activity of removing dirt or debris from a surface and usually done with a cloth or wipe with a soap or detergent. But we all know that cleaning is not enough as we need to do some sanitizing and possibly even disinfecting.
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Sanitizing includes removing microbes from the surface, killing germs and bacteria in a restricted period. Disinfecting is the best way to clean a surface as it can kill both viruses and bacteria. So if you want to attain a clean, hygienic home environment, make sure to perform the holistic approach – from cleaning to sanitizing till disinfecting.
Conclusion
To sum it up, being clean is an initial step to sustain good health. And a healthy body is the product of knowing the importance of personal hygiene by following healthy practices religiously, which is crucial to avoid unwanted illnesses like COVID-19. Always note that unhealthy surroundings not only disrupt one’s health but also spread disease among other people.
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