Tips: a professional’s outline for avoiding COVID-19

Avoiding COVID-19 Like the Plague

 Michael Gray, PhD (microbiology)

The ground has shifted underneath people around the world due to the pandemic of COVID-19. With the closing of schools, churches, restaurants, athletic events, etc. and mandates to work from home and even to “shelter in place,” families are suddenly spending unprecedented amounts of time together. This could be a very good thing if it is managed wisely.

Children can be taught many invaluable lessons by living with their families through the COVID-19 pandemic. One of those lessons, however, should not be fear and dismay (Isa. 41:10).Even if someone in your family were eventually to test positivefor COVID-19, it does not mean that the rest of the family is already or will eventually be infected. 

To understand the spread of disease, consider the analogy of starting a wood fire at a campground. Many of you can testify that having matches, paper, kindling, and dry wood do not in themselves guarantee a fire. A common experience is to use many matches trying to create a fire that will be self-sustaining. Think of an individual case of COVID-19 as a single match. It would be ideal if that match would burn out (the infection would run its course—usually without complications except in a small minority of cases) without igniting paper or kindling leading to combustion of logs and a large fire. This is exactly what isolating cases of COVID-19 is designed to accomplish.

Because COVID-19 is transmissible before an infectedindividual knows he or she is ill, it is important for apparently healthy families to immediately begin to practice a higher level of hygiene than normal as they are sequestered together. This will allow a match to burn out without starting a larger fire. We know much more about how infection spreads than during the plagues that raged in Europe in the 1600 and 1700’s. In spite of enormous casualties then, there were many survivors.

Here are some things that those in the midst of the plague would have done if they had known:

Rigorous handwashing starting with warm water to wet the hands and then proceeding to use soap (preferably liquid) to create suds. Vigorously rub your hands together and wash up to your wrists. Work around your cuticles and underneath your fingernails as well as between your fingers. Create lots of friction for at least 20 seconds. Rinse thoroughly with warm water until you are sure the soap is gone. Your hands will be much wetter than you expect if you have done this properly. If your hands feel sticky, you still have a soap residue on them which will make it more likely you will pick up contamination from your environment.

Be aware of where your hands have been and wash them immediately if you touch a potentially contaminated surface.

Regularly wipe down common surfaces such as kitchen counters, doorknobs, refrigerator and stove handles, faucets, etc. with dilute chlorine bleach solution (1/4 cup bleach per 1 ¼ gallons of water) or Lysol solution.

Disinfect phones, iPads, computer keyboards, remote controls, keypads on microwaves, stoves, dishwashers, and the like with a paper towel moistened with very small amounts of an alcohol-based cleaner or Lysol solution as permitted by the manufacturer (with the device turned off).

One person (wash hands first) should serve all food at a meal to avoid contamination of serving utensils which would occur if the serving bowls and plates are passed around as you would normally do.

Cups, utensils, plates, bowls, etc. used in the meal should be rinsed in the sink and then immersed for 10 minutes in a dilute chlorine bleach solution (as above). This water can be drained using a gloved hand, the dishes rinsed, and then washed as usual with detergent. 

Avoid holding hands at meals.

Each person in the family should have his own tube of toothpaste to avoid cross-contamination as paste is dispensed onto multiple toothbrushes. Toothbrushes should be stored separately.

Avoid overcrowding. Spread out in the house. 

Dispose of used tissues promptly.

Breathe through your nose, not your mouth.

Sneezes and coughs should be done into the elbow. Individuals with chronic coughing should not share spaces with others—confine them to a room of their own. Be aware that the air in that room may be contaminated with droplets that can transmit disease. Depending of the rate of air exchange, droplets can take 30 minutes to settle out of the air.

Avoid touching your face, especially your eyes, nose, and mouth. Inoculation of viruses into the eyes is a common way to transmit colds and flu and well may be a means of propagating COVID-19.

Be aware of the potential of disease transmission in your home, but don’t be dominated by it. Most of these action steps apply whenever someone in the house is ill regardless of the illness. It is not inevitable that any disease needs to pass through every member of the family. Basic precautions listed here can make life more predictable after this pandemic eventually passes into history.