5 Ways to Stay Illness-Free When Your Whole Family is Sick
Is everyone else at home sick except you? Before you get infected, or any member of the family transfers the virus to you, you better start working to prevent illness.
With this pandemic, surely, constantly carrying hand sanitizer, opening doors using your elbows, and not touching your face have become "second-nature habits" to you already.
However, getting rid of germs at home becomes a struggle, especially when all your housemates are ill. According to Eyla Boies, MD, a pediatrician, and pediatrics clinical professor at the UC San Diego Health and infectious disease committee chair at the American Academy of Pediatrics-California, when a family member falls ill, "Other members of the household are likely to fall ill too" because of their close proximity.
More so, the pediatrician added, as bugs spread throughout the household, the work only turns out to be much more difficult.
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Experts say, when the virus spread throughout the household, keeping the home clean only turns out to be much more difficult.
5 Ways to Stay Away from Sickness
Keeping the hope clean and sanitized may undeniably be a struggle if your whole family is sick. This does not mean, though, that you're in a hopeless situation.
Here are 5 of the effective strategies experts are recommending which you can try to reduce our chances of getting infected by others at home:
1. Avoid Coming Near the Sick Person
The American Board of Internal Medicine's chair of infectious disease board, George Abraham, MD, said, "If at all possible," the best tactic is to keep the infected family member isolated.
This is specifically recommended for the flu, and especially COVID-19, added Abraham since both illnesses "involve respiratory spread, that is, droplets with the virus spread in the air" when the person with the infection breathes and coughs and sneezes.
2. Wear a Mask
Even if you're home, you may want to wear a cloth mask when someone in the family is sick, and you can't avoid coming into contact with that person.
If this family member who is ill is wearing the mask, and others at home are also wearing one, they are protecting each other from the spread of the virus.
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3. Have Some Ventilation
When the sick person sneezes, coughs, or breathes out, the germ-filled droplets spread in the air. Therefore, just as you put it in time to eliminate germs and bacteria from the surface, you would also want to exert some effort to eliminate them from the air.
If possible, open a window to increase air circulation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. Sometimes though, the CDC also said it's not possible.
If it is impossible to have opened windows for the air to circulate well, you can choose cleaning the air by utilizing an air purifier or air cleaner.
4. Get Adequate Sleep
If you really want to stay healthy and stay away from illness, start by having adequate sleep. Sleep experts say poor sleep is associated with immune suppression, "So the ability to combat infection goes down," explained Abraham.
To achieve better sleep, opt for a healthy diet, and engage in regular exercise. Dr. Boises said, resting well and keeping hydrated may not prevent infection from spreading, but it may enable one to recover faster and not be as sick as those who don't get to rest well and drink adequately.
5. Get Vaccinated
Ideally, people get vaccinated early during the flu season, which usually starts in mid-October in the United States. That's because the CDC said it takes 14 days for the vaccine to take effect at combatting the flu.
Getting the flu shot is the most effective strategy to prevent flu from occurring, the CDC also said. However, if someone in your family has the flu, and you haven't been vaccinated, go to the pharmacy near you or your doctor's office for your flu shot.
Dr. Abraham recommends that both the person who fell ill and the members of the household get the flu shot for protection from the strains of the flu.
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Check out more news and information on Vaccination on MD News Daily.
Oct 28, 2020 09:00 PM EDT
