Coronavirus: Tips And Tricks For Self Home Quarantine
Quarantine is a state or time or place of isolation in which people or animals that have arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to infectious or contagious disease are placed. Right now most countries have quarantined their citizens returning from high-risk countries, for a period of 14 days.
Why does it require to last for 2 weeks?
The symptoms of SARS-COV 2 are said to develop after 10 days. That means the incubation period, the time for the entry of virus into the human body to first symptom of that person, would take between 7-10 days. They take a buffer of another 4 days and make it a 14-day quarantine.
What is self home quarantine?
During a pandemic, it is a health emergency and the basic duty of every responsible citizen to follow the directives given by their respective governments. The governments are advising their citizens with possible exposure to stay home as far as possible and go out only for emergencies, that too for a very short time. It is, thus, better to postpone all the not-so-important work as far as possible.
So, that means one should ideally stay home unless absolutely necessary. Avoid school, college, work, movie theaters, and offline shopping. If you need to go out, wear a surgical mask.
What is the difference between self quarantine and self isolation?
Self quarantine is done by people or communities who have possible exposure, thus separate themselves. Self isolation is for a patient who has a confirmed case of virus. The person should self isolate to prevent the spread of virus to family and friends.
6 Tips for Isolation
- Have a separate room in one corner of your house, dormitory, or office with an exclusive bathroom. Close the room for all practical purposes. Every surface you touch could become contaminated. There should be no visitors, and it is important to keep a distance of three to six feet between yourself and others.
- Wear a mask. You can prepare one at home with 3 folded cloth and elastic. If you have to come out of the room, you should wear it all the time. If mask is not around, you can wrap with any cloth or scarf. You should also know the etiquette to dispose it off properly. No mask should be reused. The mask bin should be opened after 72 hours only as the virus will die within 24 hours. Please wear mask when you visit a doctor.
- Practice hygiene. If you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth with tissue or do it in the fold of your elbow. Discard the tissue in a trash. Wash your hands immediately with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. You can use a hand sanitizer if you do not have soap and water near you.
- Disinfect all the frequently-touched surfaces such as countertops, table tops, door knobs, phones, keypads, tablets, bathroom fixtures etc. You may put bleach powder on it to disinfect. Do not share any items like bed, glasses, utensils etc. with others.
- Monitor your symptoms by yourself. Your symptoms may reduce over a period of time, that means you could be developing immunity within. If, however, the symptoms worsen, please reach out to a hospital with critical care units. Drink plenty of water, spend time in sun.
- Other members in office or home should always wear mask, goggles, and gloves whenever they need to contact the infected person. There might be a possible transmission of virus through body fluids of infected person. Special care needs to be taken for members who are over 65 years of age, who have long standing problems such as Diabetes, heart disease, immune-compromised individuals.
The experiences of viral spread in China were in family clusters. So, learn from their experience. Always stay safe and healthy!
In case you want to know more about this deadly Corona virus, consult an Internal Medicine Specialist now.
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