Simple Steps To Prevent Coronavirus (Covid-19)

There are so many advice on the internet on how to prevent coronavirus. To simplify the advice, we shall take a look at the most important. This will make it easy to remember and adhere to.

Microorganisms (microbes) are small living things that are everywhere. They are in the air, clothes, water, food and even in our body. They have so many classifications based on some factors. We have viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and some others but these represent the major class. In other classification of microbes, they say they are airborne, sexually transmitted, etc. Majority are harmless to humans while some others are harmful.

Viruses sometime classified as non-living have shown over the years to be more difficult to deal with. Most of the antiviral agents are only effective in the early stages of viral infection. In some other cases, they only slow disease progression but do not cure the person of the infection.  Some viruses are very deadly. The most recent and new virus is called coronavirus (covid-19).

How To Prevent The Spread Of Covid-19

Coronavirus is a group of viruses that cause respiratory disease. It is spread from person to person through droplets from an infected person. These droplets come from the nose or saliva from the mouth when an infected person sneezes or coughs. The spread is through contact with the droplets into the eyes, nose or mouth.

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It takes about 2 to 14 days for symptoms to start to manifest. The symptoms are usually from none to mild and then severe. Not every person that was infected will show signs and symptoms. But it seems that every infected person can spread it without knowing.

Test is done to count the number of the virus in the lungs of symptomatic persons. However, new test are under development to detect the virus even in asymptomatic persons. They will make use of antibodies detection.

Symptoms for the first days are sore throats that come and go away. Severe cases can include dry cough, itching throat, etc.

There is currently no cure or vaccine for covid-19. No hope for a cure or vaccine anytime soon.

The only way out is to hope that an existing drug does the job. A study of chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin is under investigation. However, it will take more than a year from now to be able to develop a drug or vaccine and that is only possible if protocols are broken. And there is no guarantee that the drug or vaccine will work just as the case with human immune virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS).

And it is a pandemic affecting over 200 countries with over half a million infections and more than 30000 deaths globally. Recovery is below 200000 with the rest either at home or in the hospital. The fatality rate is about 5 percent with those above 50 years and or having underlying health conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, asthma having more fatality. It affects people of all races, climate and age. There are no official documents yet what makes it worse.

'Prevention is better than cure' so they say. That is why so many countries are putting up measures to prevent the virus or reduce the number of infections. But how can individuals protect themselves and their families from covid-19.

Hand washing with soap and running warm water is the best. But it is difficult to get warm water running. Running water can do it just fine. An alternative means is the use of alcohol based hand sanitizer. Facemask and hand gloves are only recommended for medical personnel taking care of sick persons including covid-19.

Hand Washing

Hand washing is the best way to protect yourself and others from covid-19 and other infections. Washing should be done as often as possible. It should be done before, during and after preparing food and eating. It is also advisable to wash hands after touching dirty places like the toilet, or anything that can harbor the virus and other infections.

This move is important because although the virus does not infect humans through hand, humans more than once in a while use their hands to touch their face. This can lead to infection if the hand is contaminated from touching a contaminated surface. For healthcare personnel, hand washing should be done before and after seeing a patient and immediately you get home.

How does hand washing protect us? It is simple. Soap contains chemicals that cleans the hand of dirt. The soap makes the dirt hydrophilic (water loving). And many microbes hide in dirt. And most dirt's like grease are hard to remove with ordinary running water because they are hydrophobic (water hating). Soaps also dissolve the fatty layer that coats coronavirus including covid-19.

The fatty layer is weak because there are no covalent bonds. When the virus is dissolved, the water washes the dirt and the virus away from the hand because the dirt is now hydrophilic (loves water) and moves along with the water. This makes the hand free from microbes and it's particles.

But the above will not be achievable if the hand washing is not done properly. This is the right procedure.

Hand Washing Procedure

Washing hands

1. Open the tap

2. Bring both hands together and put them under the running water. Make sure both hands get wet back and front

3. Remove the hands from the tap leaving the tap running

4. Add soap to both palms using liquid or rub solid soap between both hands

5. Drop the solid soap

6. Rub both hands together to make a lethal

7. Using one palm with lethal, rub the back of the second hand through the fingers. Do same to the other hand

8. Form a semi fist with both hands and interlock them to wash the inside of the hand. Don't forget to focus on the thumb. Wrap one hand around the thumb and twist back and front. Do the same to the second thumb.

9. To clean the nails, point the fingers in the palm and rotate back and forth

10. Put both hands in the running water until the hand is free of lethal

11. Dry hands with a disposable tissue paper

12. Use the tissue paper to turn off the tap if it is not leg operated

The whole process should take about a minute.

Hand Sanitizer

Hand Sanitizer

What if there is no soap and running water? There is an alternative though not as effective but better than nothing. It is the use of hand sanitizer. There are two types of hand sanitizer available today. Alcohol and non-alcohol based hand sanitizer. Non-alcohol based hand sanitizers contain quaternary ammonia. It is not as effective as alcohol based hand sanitizer. Alcohol based hand sanitizer recommended for use against covid-19 should contain at least 60% alcohol. It should be between 60-95%. At this ratio, it can denature microbes with outer coating walls like those of covid-19. It attacks the protein coat that envelopes the virus thereby killing it.

But it is not effective against some other microbes like norovirus. It can dissolve grease and other dirt in the palm. But since there is no running water, the dissolved grease will accumulate again when the alcohol dry up in the hand. And grease and other dirt protect viruses. So people with dirty hands should look for soap and running water. Only those with clean hands should use hand sanitizer. Also, hand sanitizers do not remove all types of harmful chemicals.

Proper Use Of Hand Sanitizer

The proper use of hand sanitizer involves applying it in enough quantity to one palm, rub both palms together to spread it around both palms. Rub each palm on the back of the other hand through the finger. In fact, follow the same procedure when washing hands with soap and running water after application of the soaps until the sanitizer gets dried.

Facemask

Facemask and hand gloves

Facemask is a piece of material worn to cover the mouth and nose. It is designed to prevent passage of particles including microbes through it. There are different types of facemasks. They are heavy duty respirator N95, surgical mask and home made mask. The degree of protection they all offer vary from one to the other.

The heavy duty N95 face mask is designed to prevent both aerosol and droplets from entering the mouth and nose of the wearer and also from the wearer to the patient. It excludes as much as 95% of particles. The only disadvantage is that it is expensive, can't be used by people with a beard and makes breathing difficult. Covid-19 patients with difficulty in breathing cannot use a heavy duty N95.

The surgical facemask is designed to exclude only droplets. Droplets are more heavy and travel a short distance compared to aerosols.

Homemade face masks have not passed through the normal testing. However, a group of investigators confirm that it does not exclude as many particles as heavy duty respirator N95 and surgical face mask but it is better than going bareface in critical times. One study even put it as 5 times effective compared to bareface.

From time immemorial, medical doctors and scientists working with sick persons and dangerous chemicals respectively are always advised to wear facemasks to protect themselves. However, times are changing or have changed. It seems the world needs facemask more than medical doctors and scientists. The world health organization (WHO) is advising people against the use of facemask.

Their argument is that the facemask will give users a false sense of protection. They insist that facemasks should only be worn by sick persons who don't want to transmit the virus to their friends and family or a person taking care of a sick person. Others on the streets don't need one.

The surgical facemask captures droplets and not aerosol. Luckily, it is believed that covid-19 is transmitted by droplets and not aerosols. This makes wearing a surgical face mask good. But some research that showed that SARS could transmit through aerosols in the laboratory did demonstrate same with covid-19.

However, since SARS was not transmitted through aerosols in real life, it is believe that their present experiment on covid-19 may not be replicated in real life. This argument suggest that facemask can help break the chain of transmission.

Since surgical facemasks are effective in protecting humans, will it not be a good idea to always go out on one? There are several arguments against the WHO stand on the use of surgical facemask. They believe the face mask protects people in crowded places. But if we reason it from WHO view, it makes sense to diss the facemask. This is because many people do not know how to use it hence risking it all.

Procedure For Wearing Facemask

Before wearing a surgical facemask, wash hands with soap and running warm water or clean hands with an alcohol based hand sanitizer. Locate the upper part of the surgical facemask. It contains a stiff bendable edge or metal that can fold along the line of the nose. Use the coloured side to face outside and the white side should touch your face.

Place the metal above the nose region. Use hand to drag the bottom side to cover the chin. Press down on the stiff metal to close all gaps in-between the nose and elsewhere. NEVER TOUCH THE FACEMASK DURING THE PERIOD OF USE. Remove the facemask when it is damp, dirty or when no longer needed. When removing with bare hands, remove using the rope with it. Do not touch the surface. Discard in a close waste bin. Wash hands with running warm water and soap or alcohol base hand sanitizer.

The Right Side Of Surgical Facemask To Wear

There have been several information shared across various platforms over the months on covid-19. One of such is how to wear surgical facemask. It said that the coloured side should face inside when the person is not sick and the white side inside when the person is sick. A little research showed otherwise. The coloured surface is hydrophobic or hate water. It helps to prevent droplets from staying on the surgical facemask. On the other hand, the white surface is hydrophilic i.e water loving. It helps absorb droplets. So when you wear the white side out, the droplets will stick to the mask because it is water loving. After a while, it can diffuse through into the coloured side. Aslo, mistakenly touching the facemask after the droplets have been absorbed into the facemask can contaminate the hands making it dangerous.
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The white side should face inside to absorb droplets from cough, sneezing and talking. The coloured side face outside to prevent droplets if infected persons from sticking to the mask.

Hand Gloves

Since the covid-19 can survive for hours when it comes in contact with surfaces, especially metals, it becomes dangerous to touch infected surfaces. Covid-19 is not transmitted through the hands. But it is the nature of man to always touch the face and it happens involuntarily. It becomes important to break the barrier. Hand glove comes to the rescue.

Hand gloves are not good for the public. This is because hand gloves make one touch unnecessary places because they have a false sense of protection. And the use of hand gloves does not prevent one from touching the face. This makes it a really wrong thing to do. The surfaces of hand gloves makes it easy for virus and other microbes to stick to it. Even more than the way they stick to hands. The only people that need to wear one are those in the medical field. They use surgical kr latex hand gloves depending on the situation. Since they are working, they hardly touch their face.

To prevent infection when using a hand glove, the following should guide all.

How To Use Hand Gloves

Wash the hands with running warm water and soap or alcohol based hand sanitizer. Wear both pairs before moving into the room with the sick person or office. When done, remove both hand gloves without touching the surface of the gloves using the inside. Dispose it in a waste bin and wash hands again.
To prevent leakage in the gloves, it is good to cut the nails.

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